Right from the beginning of this second pregnancy I knew that one of the things I wouldn't have spend any time worrying about this time around was room preparation. Well, okay, let me back up and say that I did know we would need to decide which room this little one would occupy but once that decision was made - it would be smooth sailing. I mean, I already had all the stuff. The bedding, the furniture, the wall hangings, etc. What a relief, right? Yeah, right.
Of course, first let's not underestimate the magnitude of the actual room decision. And honestly, we've known this might become a bit of an issue at some point from oh, say, the day we put an offer in on this house. Sadly, what was not at issue was the fact that Jeff would be kicked out of his office. Yeah sure, he happens to use that room to help generate our family income when he's not on client site - but still - something needed to give and his office was it. (Unfortunately, while it seems that the most obvious solution would be for him to take over the downstairs den/office area, the design of the built-in work space in that room does not work well for people taller than about five feet. It actually would have worked better for us if they had left that room as an empty space.) So, we knew from the start that his office would likely be relocating to the basement area, making it a dual purpose second living/office area.
But the next question was whether that office would become the new baby's room or the new guest room (obviously making the current guest room the new baby's room). This is where our opinions differed. My husband, Mr. I-look-at-everything-from-a-very-logical-point-of-view, was strongly in favor of using the small room as the baby's room. His argument being: A) How much space does one little tiny baby need? (um, did he notice the size of our last one?); B) It would be all the more convenient to have the kid right next door as Ian was when he was a little tike; and C) While we do love every one of our guests dearly, the current guest bedroom location just seems a little more natural than the smaller room right next door to ours. Meanwhile, my argument was that while I totally got all of his arguments, I just happen to like the other bedroom more. It's larger, it's brighter, it has a better view out the windows and well, it just makes me happier when I'm in there. So, we'd broach the subject every now and then. He'd voice his opinion. I'd do the whole, "I hear you" thing and then make my perhaps more subjective but I felt, equally compelling, arguments and then we'd drop it for a while.
Until one day not all that long ago, I was on Facebook and saw a post from Sharon, who (along with her husband) bought our old house in Arlington and also happens to be pregnant with their second child. She had a status update about being so pleased that
Restoration Hardware Baby & Child had so much great gender-neutral stuff for decorating their new baby's room. This immediately spelled trouble. Restoration Hardware? Baby & Child? Hmmm...I knew they had dipped their toes into the baby market but how far? I figured I'd go check out the site. You know, just for fun. And off I went. Within a few clicks I was perusing multiple pages of what had clearly become an entirely new business line for RH. And first of all, let me ask, how did I miss this when I was going through all these decor issues with Ian's room? Annoying. And second of all, it was like one-stop baby room shopping! Great colors that weren't too cutesy (and Sharon was right - some very nice gender-neutral selections) with coordinating bedding, lighting, wall colors (all their stuff matches their paint colors perfectly - imagine that!) and let's not forget a plethora of coordinating overpriced accessories that include wall hangings, storage baskets, blankets, stuffed animals, etc.
By my fifth or so visit to the site, there was a plan forming in that planner head of mine. It went something like this: "Well, you know, maybe - just maybe - I wouldn't feel as bad about that little room if we spruce it up a bit. You know, paint the walls a lighter color to brighten it up and make it seem larger, change out the bedding..." And before I knew it, the UPS man was dropping this off at our door:
For anyone wondering what the heck it is - it's a crib bumper. A cuddle plush crib bumper in chocolate with silver sage piping, to be specific. Which, I know are somewhat controversial these days, but we did use one with Ian until he was five(ish) months - which is probably how this one will go as well and why I purchased it for 50% off. So, suffice it to say that we have a plan now, which is that our new bundle of joy will be occupying Jeff's former office next to our room for at least the first year or two. The guest room will remain as-is for now (minus some closet reorg). We'll be using all of Ian's old baby furniture (I didn't go that out of my mind!) with the new bumper, a new sheet and crib skirt (both
identified but I'm waiting to see if they also go on sale at some point since we have time) - along with likely a new table lamp and shade, and perhaps some new storage baskets that match the new colors. The wall color will be RH's
Silver Sage - though there's a decent chance we'll use the Benjamin Moore match called Gray Wisp simply because we like BM paints and know we can get a good quality low VOC option there.
And last, but not least, the one remaining issue with the smaller room was/is the closet. It's a fairly small closet that has one hanging bar that is up way too high for it to be functional for me on a daily basis. So, the solution there is that we'll be taking out the existing bar and shelf, patching/prepping the closet and installing a new
Elfa closet system from the Container Store that will have a combination of hanging space, drawers and shelving. And with that, I can now report that our next child will not be homeless. Item one checked off the list, only about fifty three more to go and we'll be ready. Oh, and if anyone needs a like-new cute lamb baby bedding set from Pottery Barn Kids - complete with matching rug - it'll be on Portland's Craigslist soon.
Until I write again.
aisles. (Those product placement people are soooo smart!) It was in pretty blue packaging - and let's face it, I'm a sucker for pretty packaging - and the name was Depth. There was a lotion, a body wash, hand soap, shave cream, shampoo and conditioner. The lotion had a tester so, among the four they had available, I selected a scent called "Ocean Blossom." Suffice it to say that it was love at first smell. I spent the rest of the time in the store sniffing my hands to take it all in. Hopefully that didn't look too strange. 
