Before and after: Nursery

It’s been a while since I blogged about the baby room, so I figured: why not do a nursery update? Quite a few things have changed since my last post about Tala’s room, and I’d love to show them to you.

Before we even started with the nursery room renovation, some walls needed to be demolished. We decided to call a professional company for that and went with PNW Demolition, which I can`t recommend enough.

The biggest change in the nursery has been the crib. From its previous incarnation as a bassinet…

… our Stokke Sleepi had to be reconfigured into its crib form when Tala started sleeping in her room at three months. Have I said how much I love this bed and that it can grow with our baby?

Tala also outgrew her duyan, which now serves as a storage basket under the crib. And yes, that is a kulambo! The mosquito net became absolutely essential in the summer. Who knew that mosquitoes were part of the Amsterdam canal house dream? Though the weather has turned, we’ve kept the mosquito net up—because as Invader Stu has so perceptively pointed out, mosquitoes here don’t leave, they just put on an extra scarf.

More details and pictures after the jump!

After my first DIY mobile with paper ornaments, I was inspired to create another one above Tala’s crib. I bought a wire hanger with clips from Rare Bird, a really cool store in my neighborhood, to hang a few colorful odds and ends.

At the moment, the mobile sports a fabric flower from an old hair accessory, honeycomb paper ornaments, bright paper gems from these templates and tutorial at Minieco, a paper sculpture of a dancer from the Sunday art market on the Spui, and a tiny T-Rex that Marlon made out of pipe cleaners while he was bored at a seminar.

On the rocking chair are a few new cushions from home. The T Scrabble tile cushion is from one of my favorite stores in Manila, , and was a really sweet gift from Cecile a.k.a. Chuvaness. The black cushion with iconic Manila street food is actually one of Marlon’s old Team Manila t-shirts, which I recycled into a cushion cover. I can’t wait until Tala’s old enough to try fishballs, squidballs or isaw (chicken intestines) for real!

Remember our photos from JR’s Inside Out Project? We put Tala’s picture up on her bedroom wall with some washi tape. I love that she has a huge poster of herself in her room, that doesn’t look cheesy.

Speaking of washi tape, here’s an idea for a quick and easy furniture update: use washi tape as trim! I used washi tape to add a pop of color to the edges of our plain Ikea Mandal dresser…

… as well as a subtle hint of pattern inside the drawers.

Tala has turned into a little storm of activity when she’s being changed. She’s been grabbing and pulling at the cards on the mini-gallery of prints beside her changing table, so I’ve had to replace a few. Can you spot the difference?

I really like the way Tala’s nursery is evolving just a little bit at a time. Hope you like it too!