So today we are going to be talking talking a little more about our home Reno. Specifically Niles’ safari themed nursery.

So when we did our first big renovation we didn’t do much in his room. We weren’t sure what we wanted to do with it at that time. And it was the room where we put everything.

It was kind of our storage room. It also had the only bed in the house so when Michael and I wanted to spend the weekend working on the reno, that’s where we stayed. 

We really decided we weren’t going to touch this room at all during the renovation. Then when we did the bathroom renovation this room shares a wall with the bathroom. So they had to bust a huge hole through the wall.  The one room we weren’t going to touch! But we found the exact paint color so we just repainted that hole.

Becoming a safari themed nursery

Anyways, when it became time to become a nursery there were a few things that we wanted to do.  Ended up getting a few renovations of its own to become a safari themed nursery. 

Nursery book nook – built in window seat

The big one was the window seat.

Niles’ room faces to the front of the house, there is a little dormer that goes to the front as well.  Laura found this cute photo on Pinterest of window seat.  And we thought that seems easy.

It was like a little reading nook, and it just looked really adorable. There was a big stuffed animal on it and little shelves with books. I showed it to Michael and said this doesn’t look like it would be that hard.

Dormers are super awkward spaces.  We have one in our room too and it’s literally just Tusker’s little space/sleeping area. He has his bed there.  No it’s not super weird because it has some reason. But in Niles’ room we were like what are we going to do with this spot?

Didn’t want to cover it up we wanted to still have access to the window. And I saw this picture online and thought it would be perfect. I showed Michael and he said that it definitely looks like it would be super easy.

We looked up a couple of directions or how to use but we pretty much just went for it.

It is pretty much just a 2 x 4 frame like a cube.  Removed the crown molding or trim whatever it’s called so that it looks like it’s built-in.  The rest of the room is plaster and lath, so it was easy enough to attach the cube and it just sat there.

It’s especially nice because he built it with the latch at the top so it has a ton of storage.  We put random stuff that we rarely use in there.  It’s nice because he does have a smaller room so the space is purposeful and is great storage.

Framed nursery pictures

So we put some bookshelves there. They’re actually mini picture frame shelves.  They are from IKEA. And we just put some books up there and some games I think there’s like a puzzle and a picture frame too.  And we added some pillows with some African fabric.

His whole room is an African/Kenyan safari theme.

Then we added a giant elephant to fit the safari themed nursery. Or also sewed a pillow using an old mattress topper for the top of it.

It turned out really really well and was so easy. Do you have a dormer in a kids room this is a super easy, really practical addition you could do.  And it looks like it was original to the house.

The rest of the room his room we pretty much kept it how it was and just decorated.

Choosing a crib

Must’ve looked at 100 different cribs. I don’t know why picking a crib was so hard.

Yeah I think we looked at the same hundred cribs like five times.  Finally picked one I think from Wayfair.

DIY Changing Table

Thing that was difficult was the only piece of furniture that we had for his room was this really pretty antique.  I wanted something that would go with it but not necessarily match.  We use this dresser as his changing table, and put the hatch baby scale on there as his changing mat.

We are interested in more of the stuff that we got for Niles we did a whole blog post about a minimalist baby registry in the things that we put on for him. And that is like number one. I absolutely love that hatch.  It’s saved us when he was a newborn and struggled to gain weight.

End it turned this piece of furniture that we already had that we really loved into a changing table. We just put a basket next to it to hold diapers and wipes and all the goodies. 

We use this dresser for all of his clothes as well. So we have some plastic clothing dividers from IKEA that help organize all his baby clothes.

The storage bins are a lifesaver for baby clothes. Their clothes are so tiny that if you just threw them into a big drawer it would be a disaster so it’s nice to have them organized in these little bins.

Safari Themed Nursery art and Giraffe shelf

A couple of other things from his nursery. Above his bed I had my dad, who is an architect/good at art stuff, draw two animal pictures.  One of a giraffe and one of a lion.  We just put those in some IKEA frames really big above his crib.

They’re really big. I liked the scale of them I wanted his room to stay pretty simple. I didn’t want to just put a lot of stuff in it. Again if you read the things we got for him blog we really wanted to be conscious about the amount of things he had.  I think we are like right at the cap of too much stuff in his room. 

So we want to limit the amount of things on his walls.  We have those two large drawings my dad dead. My sister made this really cool little “stay wild” wall hanging that she gave us at our baby shower.

On the back of his door he has a little wall hanging height chart that I’m excited to use with him later in life when he can stand. We brought that back from Kenya.

Then one of our sweet friends Emily embroidered him, the Cross-stitched this beautiful thing for him that is framed on his wall.

Giraffe shelf

And then Michael also made a gigantic giraffe shelf. It’s something we almost purchased from crate and barrel.  It’s like $500 so we decided not to buy it because we are totally DIY people. So it was really just us guessing how to put it together but it was really fun.

And then we just styled it with some books and toys and stuff. And then one more thing that is hanging on the wall is his name. But I got him his name written in cursive from Pottery Barn that we put next to the giraffe shelf.  I love that.  It’s such a cute baby gift idea.

Glider and Lion rocking horse

And the last thing that we have in there is the glider that we got from Amazon. I thought you were going to say his rocking chair.  Because he has like a lion rocking horse.  Sister got us that. It was a must-purchase. And we got a giant giraffe to go with it from H&M kids.

Basically just all the quirky things.

Then most of all the other little tidbits are things that we brought back from Kenya.  We were living in Kenya I wanted to buy so many things. But I didn’t want to come back home and just have a house full of stuff from Kenya so we decided while we were there to collect things to turn into a future baby nursery theme.. a safari themed nursery. And so that’s what we did and I think it turned out really nice.

I’m so going to say that I think the rug is very fun too.  Very quirky pattern and texture. When we first got it I was very iffy about it but now I love it. 

I will try and list as many things in his nursery with links.

You’re putting together a nursery and have any questions just ask with love to help. Just remember IKEA, Wayfair, and you can do it yourself.. and Crate and Barrel!

Congratulations if you’re putting together your own nursery. Hope you enjoy these few inspiration pics.

 

• For the nursery:
  • IKEA frames 
  • Pinterest book nook inspiration 
  • Hatch baby scale/changing table
  • Black out blinds
  • UBBI diaper pail
  • White noise machine
  • Glider
  • Humidifier
  • Monitor
  • Wayfair crib
  • Large stuffed elephant – IKEA
  • Over the door hanger 
  • drawer dividers (Ikea)
  • the real giraffe shelf – Crate & Kids
  • lion rocker  – Crate & Kids
  • giraffe stuffed animal – H&M 
  • Lion laundry basket