Now that my nesting bug finally kicked in, I have been getting things in order in the babies room. If you just started following or don’t know much about our house, its itty bitty. It’s an old beach cottage that is somewhere under 600 sq ft (aprox 520 sq ft). It’s technically a two bedroom but you can imagine with 520 sq. ft. those bedrooms are pretty small, especially the second bedroom. Also, because the cottage is from the early 1900′s closet space is nearly non existent, therefor we built Mama’s closet into the second bedroom.
You may find yourself asking: why aren’t they moving?
Well, because our house is pretty adorable. And we love living in Santa Monica (a place with sky high rents we somehow have sort of avoided). Because we love being able to walk to the beach. Because we love our massive yard and vegetable garden (we didn’t even have a fire escape in SF). Because we love that we have a little mini house, instead of an apartment. And because we love that having a small house forces us to edit and keep things as simple as possible. And because, tiny as it may be it seems like a great place for our family.
But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its challenges.
When we first found out we were pregnant we did briefly consider the idea of whether or not we should move. If we moved, it would be one more thing on our plate and we decided to rule it out early on. We are crafty and organized and figured we could make it work. Even if John sometimes feels like the walls are moving in on him (I imagine our house feels even smaller when you are 6’2″).
So I started doing some research. Looking at Manhattan moms for ideas. Women who managed to have babies while living in 300 sq. ft. apartments. And deciding what we would actually need and what we wouldn’t. Because if you ask me, Americans tend to buy waaay more than they need, especialllllly when it comes to babies. Those families that have “playrooms” full of plastic crap toys in what used to be their living room make me cringe. And I started to feel like it was definitely possible and I kind of liked the challenge.
Since I am finally getting things in order in there and I’m hoping I can wrap it up shortly and photograph it before the baby arrives, I thought it would be fun to share a little teaser in the meantime. So here is a little style board that will give you an idea of what we are cooking up!
I re-used some things from elsewhere in the house or from our storage unit and added in a few other things on the cheap.
We knew we wanted the Bloom Alma Mini Crib because of its size. When a co-worker of John’s told us she had one and would sell it to us for $100 (including the organic mattress and sheets) we jumped at the chance. Initially I had wanted the white one because I thought it would feel calm and minimal in a tiny space. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the orange color at first. But at that price, I figured I would make it work. In the end I actually ended up loving it and I think it set the tone for the whole room!
My mother gifted me her original Knoll butterfly chair and a new leather sling seat for it. I knew I loved the chair but I had no idea where I was going to use it in our small house. It felt like a shame to put it outside, although, there literally was nowhere else to put it. Initially I thought if the nursery was going to have a chair it needed to be a rocker. But one day John sat me down in the Butterfly chair and put the headphones on me (playing Yo Yo Ma) trying to get his pregnant wife to just relax for a bit and I actually fell asleep in the chair! I figured if I could manage to fall asleep in it then I could nurse in it.
I love the mix of textures in the babies room and I love that its just the right balance of soft enough for baby but sophisticated enough that it blends with the rest of the house. Can’t wait to finish it up and share the real deal with you!!!
