Farmhouse Nursery // Shelves & Picking Art
THE FARMHOUSE Before I start this post, let me just say, please ignore the hardwood floors. After ripping up the carpets in the nursery, we discovered that the wood floors are in DIRE need of a sand and refinish (apparently the previous owners didn't believe in tarps...?!), but we're waiting until we have all the bedroom floors exposed before tackling that project.
Okay, so we had this big, blank wall in the nursery and I struggled for weeks deciding what to do with it. I would have loved to have a desk or a cozy reading nook there, but because of the wall's position (it's essentially along the walkway between the door and the baby nook), anything sticking out would have been in the way. So, a low-clearance design option was a must. But that's as far as I got.
Here's what the wall looked like while I debated options.
My first thought was to hang a gallery wall and I even had a lot of art ready to go, but I wasn't really excited about that option. What this room really needed was more books accessible for the little guys, so shallow shelves popped into mind.
Narrow ledge shelves are nothing new or groundbreaking (not only are they all over the internet, but I used them in our first dining room some 8 odd years ago), but they are the perfect solution for here.
Building the shelves was pretty simple. I told Garrett what I wanted (essentially a 'u' shaped shelf no wider than the thickness of the open door), and 2 hours later he had crafted them out of a leftover pine 1x4. I didn't take any pictures during the process, but here are some more resources should you want to build something similar: 1, 2, 3. Garrett filled the seams in our shelves with wood putty and then sanded them down. The next morning, we hung the shelves and caulked any remaining seams.
Next we primed the shelves. And eventually we will paint the shelves the same color as the walls (Simply White), but I'm waiting until we get the paint out for our master bedroom. In the meantime, I've propped up lots of books and art for all of us to enjoy.
Picking art was the hardest part of this project. I don't think of myself as having an art eye, and I don't have a clue about cool artists. I also don't have a big budget for original paintings, for that matter. So I went with my gut and picked out images that I found fun and whimsical and thought my family would enjoy.
Sources: 1 (Frank S. Guild) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 (Paul Cezanne) | frames
All the prints are from Etsy and Costco's image gallery. I'm still waiting for some of the art to arrive (did you notice the empty frames on the shelves?), but in the meantime, we're working on our master bedroom for the One Room Challenge and recovering from eating faaarrrr too much cake during Brooks' birthday over the weekend ;) I'll share this space again after we paint and get all of our art up on the shelf. Oh and did you notice my Rejuvenation Skyline rug came in (!!!!)?
Please dish! Share your go-to sources for inexpensive, fun art in the comments. I'm still searching for some great pieces for our master bedroom!
If you're interested in learning more on anything in the nursery, here's everything I've written to date: paint, carpets, wallpaper, design plan, hanging chair.
xoxo
-Cathy
p.s. Tara and Percy are in the New York Times! If you don't know who I'm talking about, check them out because they are amazing and everything they touch is gold!
p.p.s. Emily Henderson (yes, THE Emily Henderson), posted a picture of our #6daykitchenreno on her Instagram account! I jokingly told my sister it was the biggest moment of my life, but really, I'm feeling sooooo flattered!
p.p.p.s. We have ripe, plump Concord grapes coming out of our ears right now. And despite never being a grape girl in the past, I can't get enough of their candy sweetness. I already used some 40 + pounds of grapes in grape jelly (that recipe is awesome!) and grape syrup (some of the jelly didn't set), but what else can I use them in??!!