Anchors Aweigh

It all started with a bed.

For years, I've been drooling over the Pottery Barn Kids catalog & imagining the rooms that I would one day create for my kids. There were so many things that I loved, but I always thought that this bed was perfection...

 I couldn't imagine a more amazing bed for a little boy...among all of the plastic toddler beds and Spongebob bedding, this speedboat bed with details reminiscent of the 1940's is so classic. I wanted it bad, but we would never spend that kind of money on kids' furniture...we just couldn't.

Several weeks ago, my mom bought it for Liam...and when she told me, I burst into tears. Giving is definitely her (and my dad's) love language. They are both unbelievably generous and get such satisfaction from giving people a gift they really want and couldn't purchase themselves.

So with the countdown on until the bed is delivered (in two weeks!), my mom and I have been searching for the perfect paint, furniture & accessories.

Not positive, but I think we've picked a color. (Of course, colors never really look quite accurate on a computer screen, but it's close enough... On my screen, the color is a bit darker than it is in person.)

We purchased this Madras Bedding: 

And this Chenille Border Rug:

And these Fisherman Sconces:

My dad, who is unbelievably amazing at refinishing furniture, is helping me turn this super-cheap craigslist dresser purchase into this crisp white nautical style dresser with a stained wood top:

We found a floor sample of this nightstand (cheap!) and will refinish it to match the dresser:

We have this bookshelf from Ikea that will be painted Navy and tilted on its side-- we'll fill the cubes with (red?) baskets or canvas bins to hold his toys.

 He's getting the Anywhere Chair for Christmas:

We had our rehearsal dinner at a restaurant in Charleston called The Boat House, and as a decoration, we ordered a banner spelling out "Blakely" in nautical flags. It's currently hanging in Rob's office so I don't have a pic, but we'll hang it on the wall. It looks like the flags here:

We're going to remove the wood blinds in the room and install blackout shades, then hang some navy panel curtains with grommets from pegs using rope like this:

And the best thing? I'm currently trying to track down a used (or new & cheap) sail to hang behind his bed. I think I need a minifish sail-- I've got a few sailing enthusiasts looking into it for me.

And that's Liam's new room, which should be coming together very soon!!

The painting will be done next week, the rug should be here in a few days & the bed will be delivered in two weeks. I hope we'll get started on refinishing the furniture in the next few weeks. It may take me a while to find the sail and finish accessorizing the room-- but we hope to have everything done within the next month or two.

To clarify, Liam is obviously not big enough to sleep in this bed yet! We'll be decorating his room as if he was, then setting up the pack n' play for him to sleep in until he's ready to move into the bed (with rails), so that we don't have to buy another crib. I want to move him into his new room several months before the new baby arrives to avoid any potential association with the new baby displacing him. The dresser that we're refinishing will have a changing pad on top, so the room will be just as functional as a nursery, and will hold most of his toys, which is needed as we're losing our extra bedroom where we keep them now.