the painted nursery!

Bowie and Tatum's room (The Nursery) is very close to being finished. We have to install and paint some quarter-round along the baseboard, install the ceiling fan, and do some small touch-ups... but really, it is close. So close, in fact, that Bowie has started sleeping in his room.

The weather has been too cold to spray paint his new (antique) cast iron bed, so Bowie is settling for a mattress on the floor and his new big boy bedding.

One thing I would like to point out about the above picture is how beautiful the walnut still is even though we painted it. Really, it would have been an extremely expensive venture to have the planks re-planed, and tongue and grooved. So we did, in my opinion, a remarkable job of giving new life to wood salvaged from the hayloft of a barn that was being torn down and burned.

Anyway... look at the saw marks. Every board looks like that... just like when you run a comb over sand. Someday, the boys can run their fingers over those saw marks and maybe imagine all the animals that lived in that barn.

I think the bed stayed neat and tidy for about a minute. Just long enough for the boys to run into the room and decide to try out the bed. Here are the monkeys jumping on the bed! Dane (5) and Bowie (3).


For now, I am digging through all the toys and books we bought for the room and throwing them up on the shelves. The giant giraffe is not staying there -- but I do think he looks pretty cute peeking out of the cubby like that! I really love the way the floor turned out. Staining it ebony was the way to go -- it just looks great against the pale blue walls.

Here is a peek at the ceiling. People thought I was crazy when I said I wanted corrugated metal on the ceiling and faux beams. But I think the creamy white paint on the metal and pure white on the beams makes it look cozy and friendly (and not rustic!).

I also had to do some explaining when I said I wanted to keep part of the old ceiling framing to make a shelf. I wanted to do a nightlight feature up there, and it turns out to be one of Bowie's favorite things in the room! Flipping the switch... err... pressing the push-button switch lights up the shelf and casts a soft, dreamy glow across the ceiling. This was taken in the afternoon since at night, I just cannot get a decent picture of the light!


Next up... wire in the overly complicated ceiling fan, install / paint quarter-round, strip the salvaged door knobs and install, find the trim for the bottom of the doors that has been misplaced / paint / install, and begin painting furniture black.