Saturday, October 20, 2012

Pinterest pressure


The word "nursery" kind of makes me shudder.

One, because it's so twee and cutesy. Two, because it implies the lot of care, attention, time and money required to create it. Like it requires a Capital Letter N of Importance. That it must have fresh pastel paint, a full set of new matching furniture, a  cute theme. Thoughtfully chosen baby-friendly artwork on walls, and themed toys perched just-so on shelves and surfaces--things like owls, giraffes, flowers, wooden trucks. Practically what Pinterest was invented for.

See?

I do not have a nursery. To be honest, I still stumble on saying the word 'babies' out loud. We do have a room for the...babies. I wasn't even thinking about decorating it or trying to create something cute and pretty and adorable and nursery-y.

And then I realized that I should. That it's something everyone does or is supposed to. This made my heart sink a little--we are trying to be budget-conscious and really, we're not the cutesy type. But then I found myself looking at a friend's nursery pinboard and seeing all the very cute things out there. With dismay. I did create a...baby board, but with the promise to myself that I would not seek out or pin those cutesy, expensive things that I just can't (or don't want to) do. If I had the money, maybe I would.

I decided we had to paint. The bedrooms in our house are all painted different colors, and the baby room is a sickly yellow-green. I found myself envisioning a happy, sea-foam-y green room with all white furniture. With some kind of theme that I could magically come up with. Dammit, Pinterest!

The trim around the window, closet and door is ugly, porous, regulation brown wood. I got an IKEA crib on craigslist (saving us about $40) which is a birch color, and told Mister M that we needed to paint it white. My dad is bringing down some furniture next weekend, including an old white IKEA dresser of mine, plus the beautiful wooden rocking chair that I myself was rocked in as a baby, so it's well over thirty years old. It's kind of a golden color; maybe it's pine? It's shiny and looks practically new, and of course I wouldn't paint it. There is a bookshelf in that room with a bunch of my books on it, but it's black. I thought--very briefly--about painting it or covering it in white paint, before realizing that here lies madness. Again, damn you, Pinterest!

We did buy wall paint, a happy, sea-foam-y green. I'm actually bummed that I can't do any of the painting, because I quite enjoy it, I'm good at it, and Mister M hasn't really done much. My mom is coming next week to help us get stuff ready, so now that will include helping us (well, him) paint. I promised to do the taping, since that's about all I can do.

We have to put together the crib, and I want to sort through all the clothes and gifts we have received and bought. Currently they're in piles, bags and boxes in the baby room. We need a rug--the floor is a kind of fake wood and needs a covering.

So I'm trying to re-set my expectations--we'll get the basics of furniture together, and it will be functional. At some point maybe I'll make it cute.

...I just fell into a thirty-minute rabbit hole of Pinterest browsing! Dammit!

The other thing I want to do is photos. This should not be a surprise if you know even a little bit about me. This will/should be the only time I'll be pregnant, and I would love to have beautiful, professional photos of me and my belly to commemorate it. I haven't done a ton of shots of myself, what with the move and settling in. I could play with some studio-type shots here at home, I suppose, but I don't have a ton of equipment or wrap/clothes. And I can try to set up a few shots of Mister M and me together, but I would rather have someone else do the cute posing of us together in some lovely outdoor location (now that the rains have started, of course).

We don't really have the money for this. However, I am willing to spend my own money for a newborn photo session, since I don't think I'll be physically able to do much photography on my own. (Which will kill me. I'm sure I will try anyway and/or direct Mister M to try and get a few.) And they only ever get bigger, so I know I will want some gorgeous photos of this first phase.

Did I mention that we need a second car? Mine is 14 years old, hardly worth anything, and needs work both big, medium and small (which will all together cost almost as much as the car is 'worth'). For example, the felt interior ceiling is falling down, and the back tires need replacing. We will be looking for a newer but used SUV type car with plenty of room for car seats, stroller, and assorted other crap. These vehicles do not come cheap.

Man, being rich would make life so much easier right now. And so much cuter.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can understand not liking the word nursery. It does sound like a word from a bygone era. I'd probably just go with "baby room." On the other hand, nothing wrong with making it looks like a kid room, or cute, if you will. I looked at the link you posted and one was super cute and simple. Two Chinese lanterns hung above the crib (those are cheap!) and polka dots in the background. Easy and cute :) Good luck!

And just like your wedding, I think it's worth it for the splurge on photos!

Anonymous said...

I can understand not liking the word nursery. It does sound like a word from a bygone era. I'd probably just go with "baby room." On the other hand, nothing wrong with making it looks like a kid room, or cute, if you will. I looked at the link you posted and one was super cute and simple. Two Chinese lanterns hung above the crib (those are cheap!) and polka dots in the background. Easy and cute :) Good luck!

And just like your wedding, I think it's worth it for the splurge on photos!

Nacho Lover said...

@ L: Yeah, I am going to do the photo session, or at least the baby one.
The nursery thing...I just don't think I know how to make things cute! Like it requires ideas and coordination and I just don't seem able to do that. :/

Nancy Cavillones said...

If it makes you feel better, I did not have a "nursery" for the girls until we moved to Connecticut, because we basically lived in one room (you remember!). However, I did wish I had one because I loved the idea of creating a space just for them, that was kid-friendly and would keep all their crap out of other parts of the house! I still haven't done anything major with their room but you don't have to spend a lot. I have a lot of hand-me-down toys, they have a cube storage system from Target, I ordered some fun toys bins online to corral all their stuffed animals, a lot of their toys are gifts or from consignment stores/freecycle. The stuff on the walls is their own artwork and art we already had. It's nice to be inspired but there is no Nursery Police. As long as you enjoy being in there and it's a safe space for them, that's all you need.

Karenina said...

My little boy is 3, and my little girl is 6 months, and I have never had a nursery. Don't worry about it.

As for the car-- we just had to buy a new car, one that would take 2 car seats and one person in the back seat, and also have enough trunk room for groceries. And one that wasn't too expensive. We ended up with a used Hyundai Elantra Touring with only 5K miles on it for $16K-- and I love it. It isn't an SUV, really-- more station wagon-y, but more sleek and not boxy. Anyway, my two cents...