Toddler Room Transition

It's about time I start blogging on here more regularly, right? Right. As I'm pretty sure my monthly updates of Sadie are 99.9% so I don't forget anything (because, as you know, it's incredibly important that I remember what her nickname was at 14 months vs. 19 months).

Anyhow, I want to get back into sharing recipes, house projects, parenting, etc. A little bit of everything as we continue to enjoy our kooky little family.

Top of mind for me these days is Sadie's room! Yes, room - she's not a baby anymore and therefore does not have a nursery (although it seems like just yesterday I revealed Sadie's finished nursery).

It's amazing the amount of hours logged in that sweet little room, and how many changes we have made to it over the course of the past (almost) 2 years: adding in bookshelves, purchasing a toy bin/bookcase, removing all picture frames near the changing table (to keep them away from grabby hands)...so far the space has been able to keep up with our growing girl but soon we'll need to make some changes.

As Sadie gets bigger, I get more and more anxious about her room being down in the basement, two floors below our own bedroom. What works out really well with this set up is that her current room stays relatively quiet, meaning she's less likely to wake up when we have people over, someone rings the doorbell, we're cooking, etc. Steve can also have client meetings at the house in the evening because she's nicely tucked away in her little room. But as she gets bigger and someday soon will be transitioning out of a crib and into a real bed I don't like the thought of her down in the basement all on her lonesome. I want her closer to me!

So, soon we'll be making the necessary steps to transition Sadie into what is currently Steve's office on the main floor of the house.

The upside of this transition is:

• The room is closer to our bedroom
• The room is larger, with higher ceilings, nice windows, hardwood floors and a big closet
• The room is big enough that someday in the future it could accommodate two kids (not any time soon!)
• The room isn't in the basement
• I'm super excited about decorating a new room (!!)

The downside of this transition is:

• The room is directly off of the front door, meaning she will hear every doorbell, dog bark, mail delivery, etc
• Steve will have to move his office downstairs to her old room, which is less space and means he can no longer have evening client meetings at the house
• We'll have to move our piano out of that room and back into our living/dining area
• We can no longer use that room to store incredibly random things - our winter coats, things for the dog, odds and ends
• We have to spend a decent amount of money to replace a door in her new room before we can move her into it

So, these changes aren't exactly a perfect world scenario, but we live in a small house with a great location in a wonderful city, so I assume we'll always have compromises. Right? Right.

With that out of the way, on to planning a new room. The fun stuff. Sadie's room currently looks something like this:

And because we already have invested in this great dresser, we'll still be using this mustard yellow in the room.

And as much as I like the look of our West Elm Rocker, I don't really think it would fit well in the new space. Plus, we never really rocked in it so if we have another baby I don't feel the need to really have a rocker. I'm also incredibly sick of the fabric and that shade of blue (probably because I've been looking at it far too much over the past two years), so I'd love to refresh things a bit in the new space. Starting with some simple, gray curtains:

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We also got this awesome chair earlier this year upholstered in a great faux bois (re: wood grain) fabric. It's currently in our living/dining room but would potentially be displaced by the piano. I think it would integrate perfectly into Sadie's new room (don't mind the army of stuffed animals), pairing nicely with the yellow.

 

 

Initially we'd have Sadie in her crib, and then transition the crib into a toddler bed of sorts. Once she outgrew that setup, we'd need to get her a real bed. I was interesting in some sort of loft bed but I think it would be years and years before I'd be truly comfortable with her sleeping way up high. I love the classic look of this Jenny Lind-style bed.

 

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Finally, since we'll be making the switch from carpet to hardwood for Sadie, we need a rug! Fortunately we already own this hopscotch rug from CB2, and it's held up incredibly well over the years. It just needs a good steam clean and it will be all set for her.

 

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I think the furniture would really pop in a fun way, and everything else could be kept really neutral but still fun.

 

So, those are the plans. Now it's just going to be a step-by-step process of getting everything transitions over the next month or two: house repairs, moving of furniture, buying/selling furniture and other items, etc. Oh, and getting Sadie really, really, really excited about her new room!