Ahhh! When will the baby-related madness end?! I promise, we'll be back to our regularly-scheduled vintage fashion programming very soon! :) In the mean time, I have a little more baby fun to share and I'm too excited to not post about it. Thank you for bearing with me!! This is a REALLY long post but I had too many pretties to share! 






We'll have two kids in one tiny room in a few weeks so I've been hard at work making the best use out of every square foot. Decorating a nursery for two is hard enough but when you have "one of each flavor" as my nurse worded it, it becomes even more of a challenge. We rent this two bedroom townhouse so painting and any serious changes were out of the question.

Oh, I don't think I've mentioned it yet but our little boy's name is "Rhys" as you can see by the pictures! :)


 Fairy Garden Meets Vintage Nautical
When I decorated Olivia's nursery, I wanted a room that would grow with her, both for simplicity and for our budget. I drew inspiration from things that made me smile when I was a little girl and from there, I let my imagination run wild. When I was little, I loved gardens, fairies, mermaids, birds and butterflies. I do love pink but I also used plenty of green, purple, blue and brown to keep it soothing and not so "pink". Olivia's butterfly shaped accent rug is from Home Goods.

When we were choosing a nursery theme for Rhys, we also wanted a soothing environment that would grow with him. I love the nautical theme because it reminded me of my love of mermaids and the sea and a child and it was more soothing than wild jungle animals or bright red Elmo. When we found out that we would have two peas in one little pod, I was happy to find that our boy's theme adapted well to Olivia's existing decor. The wall decals and fish shaped bath mat are from Target. I cut letters out of scrapbook paper to spell the kids names above their cribs. I arranged these themed wall decals on each side of the room to tie the two sides together.

A place to lay their heads




For Olivia's crib bedding, I was set on sewing it all on my own. I used whimsical, vintage-inspired fabrics designed by Heather Ross and solid, inexpensive crib sheets. My mom is a fairy/fantasy artist so Pj's mom used a piece of my mom's art to hand embroider this beautiful baby quilt for Olivia. Now that Olivia is too old for bumpers, I have taken her bumpers apart and am using the Heather Ross fabric to make a twin sized quilt for her.









 Since I didn't have as much time for sewing crib bedding this time, I found a cute crib bedding set on ebay for a song. We're using the Tiddliwinks Sailboat crib set. I also had this cute little crab print swaddling blanket custom made by camillam on etsy. I used this little vintage inspired sailor print fabric to cover the Boppy pillow.


 The crib was the single most important baby purchase for me so I wanted it to be comfortable and cute but above all- safe! I opted for a convertible crib with no drop down sides or other moving parts. We went with the Cadence 4-in-One by Baby Mod for both kids but they're different colors. A plastic storage tote fits neatly under each crib and holds extra sheets, blankets and waterproof crib pads.


A Cozy Nook for Snuggle Time


  For late-night feedings and pre-nap stories, my rocking nook was a must-have. This compact hand-me-down glider fits perfectly at the foot of a crib next to this vintage bookshelf (which was the stage for many of my grandma's tea parties when she was a little girl). The bookshelf holds books from mine and Pj's childhoods as well as some new favorites.I sewed the cushion covers for the glider using durable indoor/outdoor canvas and dressed it up with Pj's beautiful blue baby blanket.
 Since both mine and Pj's mom kept a few of our babyhood keepsakes, I used them to decorate the nursery for our kids. They hold sentimental value and add to the vintage inspired look.

Books were always very important to Pj and I when we were kids so we kept many of our books to pass on to our kids. Our collection includes a lot of fairy tales, Beatrix Potter and classics like Stone Soup and Alice in Wonderland. We also have the "Olivia" books, of course as well as several of those sappy books that always make parents cry like Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman. Books are very important to Olivia too! She spends much of her time rocking in the chair, looking at her books on her own. These are some of my favorites...



Diaper Storage


 I'm a cloth diapering momma but since we didn't have space for our changing table anymore, I had to think of a new storage solution for my two sizes of cloth diapers (50 prefolds per kid). Since we keep baby clothes in drawers, we had plenty of available closet space. I used a cheap wire rack to store diapers, shoes and out of season coats/jackets. A pretty box sits on top and keeps track of our Hemp Babies diaper soakers and Thirsties Duo Wrap covers.



 Clothing Storage for Two

 

For Olivia's clothing storage, I found an old beat-up dresser at a thrift store for $20. With a new coat of paint and wrought-iron drawer pulls, this dresser holds an ample amount of clothes and is a lovely addition to the nursery.

A few pretties and a wooden box for small baby needs sits atop the dresser. The carrot shaped dish holds diaper pins and snappi diaper fasteners. The terrarium was made by me and the antique owl paper weight is from my Great Great Grandma's collection.

For Rhys's clothes, we didn't have room for another dresser in the nursery but a small hand-me-down dresser fits perfectly in my bedroom and doubles up as Pj's night stand.

Toy Storage
 It's not vintage or even vintage inspired but I LOVE our toy organizer (pictured above). It keeps toys out in the open so the kids won't have to dig around and dump out a whole toy box. It has a small footprint which frees up more floor space for playing.

                                                                       Making it Pretty
When space is at a premium, the best way to use what you have is to aim high- on the walls. We had several wall shelves which were handed down from family or picked up at thrift stores for a few bucks a piece. Shelves with hangers hold  headbands, decorations, books and a few heirloom nick-nacs. This shelf holds Olivia's fairy bells and a portrait of me as a baby, drawn by my momma! When Rhys gets here, the pegs will also hold his little hats and springtime jackets for both kids.

My mom is an artist so a few pieces of Grandma Mickie's art hangs on the walls. An embroidered butterfly made by my mother when she was 3 years old also hangs on Olivia's side of the room  Her friend, Lisa Hunt sent me the gift of these beautiful art prints from her Fairytale Tarot and Fantastical Creatures Tarot collection. I hung Lisa's Fairy Godmother between the two closet doors so she can keep an eye on both of my sleeping babes. The vintage  metal owl is from my Great Grandma's collection.



  Pj and I made this paper butterfly mobile, which was inspired by a similar (and much more expensive) version from Pottery Barn Kids. We cut butterfly shapes out of white card stock and tied them to fishing line, then attached the strings of paper butterflies to an old embroidery hoop. They hang just above the a/c register so they flutter gently when the air kicks on.






I found these antique German blocks that spell "Olivia" while Pj and I were visiting my aunt in Denver, CO while I was pregnant with Olivia. I found matching vintage blocks to spell "Rhys" from vintagebyalexkeller on etsy.

Anyways, that's my vintage inspired nursery for two! It's a tiny space but it holds everything we need and then some! As the kids grow, the cribs will convert to toddler beds, the rocking chair will probably be replaced by a little table and chairs for coloring and reading and baby toys and clothes will be passed on to others. I hope that you enjoyed this little tour of my favorite room in the house!