My Sweet George...

the quiet beatle would have turned 69 years old yesterday. he's a very transcendent lyricist, which is comforting given that cancer took him far too soon. his death makes so many of his songs, especially from his solo career, even more meaningful.

happy birthday, george.

Baby V's Room

Decorating baby's nursery has been a really fun little ongoing project for me. i really enjoy things like color and art and decor, so finding special pieces for van's room has been a good time.

when i was pregnant people were always asking me what "theme" the babies room was going to be. i hate themes, and that fact is really evident once you take a look at my house. i've never been one to buy the "bed in a bag" or a sofa with all it's corresponding furniture...what fun would that be? buy what you like! i received a lot of puzzled looks when trying to explain to people what van's nursery looked like, but i think it turned out alright. and as with every other room in the house, it's a constantly evolving space.

i thought i'd share some of my favorite elements.

the crib was purchased by my mom as a gift. i picked out the bike print fabrics from spoonflower, and my aunt made the bedding. i still need to get some grey sheets and have his blanket made from the green bike fabric.

Above the bed hangs this awesome little mobile compliments of gramma and granddad. i'm a pinterest geek and found a similar mobile to this and fell in love. gramma made some modifications so it would better suit van's room and voila!

this record wall mimics a larger wall we have in the dining room. i liked the idea of incorporating a little of our style into his room in a more kid friendly way. i actually bought the sesame street records at a vinyl shop in portland before i was ever thinking i'd be pregnant. who could resist a soul sesame street record? i mean, come on!

guests at my baby shower were asked to bring a book to help build van's library. my dear friend amber purchased him this awesome ikea bookshelf to hold his new book collection along with some cool odds and ends we've put on display that includes one of my dad's accordions, a vintage viewmaster we picked up at denio's (it came with a ton of slides of churches of the american northwest...zzzzz), tony's grandfather's marble collection, and a ninja turtle lava lamp. hah!

another bedroom favorite is his awesome, homemade alphabet. guests who rsvp'd to my other baby shower were each asked to bring a specific alphabet letter to help me with the alphabet display i wanted to create for van. i was expecting to receive generic letters from the majority of ladies invited but was so surprised to see how seriously these women took their task! each letter is so creative and unique. they look great along the moulding in the nursery. i'm beyond thrilled with how it looks and we get compliments on this part of his room all the time.

i'm pretty culturally involved and knew i wanted to incorporate van's heritage into his room somehow. i found these adorable italian counting cards from children inspire design, had them laminated and display them on one of the more narrow nursery walls. they have these really great luchador prints i'm considering getting so van can rep his mexican side. we'll see. my friend has an alphabet from CID behind her daughter's crib that's seriously adorable. if we had more walls i know i'd be shopping there a lot more. such cute stuff!

thanks to ikea, pinterest and my crafty friends, van's room only gets doper and doper! i'll try and share more as we begin to add and switch things around.