Baby Boy's Nursery: Before Construction

I am skipping the "Meal Planning Monday" post this week because, you guessed it - there is no meal plan.  It is a short week and Thanksgiving is Thursday so we're just sort of winging it.  We ate sushi at Lilly's request last night (clearly her fave) and tonight Dan was in charge so we had carnitas (maybe I'll post that recipe [courtesy of Chris] sometime  because it's fantastic).  We are still trying to decide what to eat tomorrow night and we might just try to squeeze in a date night on Wednesday, and then on Thursday I plan to be too full from lunch to eat for three days straight.  Ha!

I realized the other day that I never posted photos of Lilly's nursery - I'll have to do that at some point before she's out of her crib (add it to the list of posts I need to do, oy!).  That realization got me thinking that it might be fun to do a progress update for BB2.0's nursery.  I think I've mentioned before that we didn't actually have a room for him, so we are in the process of building one.  

Let me back up: we have three bedrooms - the master and Lilly's are upstairs and the guest bedroom is downstairs.  I wasn't ready to uproot Lilly and I certainly didn't want to move her downstairs (I had nightmares about her wandering around the house at all hours of the night whenever she decides she's ready to transition t a big girl bed).  I also didn't want to put Baby Boy downstairs because I want him to be close to us.  Lastly, all of our family lives out of town and we want them to still come visit us slash babysit have a place to sleep (hence the transformation of that room from guest bedroom only to combination guest bedroom and playroom - updates on that to come at some point as well).  Anyway, all of those things combined ruled out the downstairs bedroom as a nursery for the boy child.  We have a loft upstairs that currently overlooks our living room, so the solution was obvious: turn it into the smallest nursery ever!  It was an office before, and someday when the kiddies are old enough to share a room it will be an office again - just an enclosed one.  Here's what BB2.0's room looked like prior to the construction (which started last weekend while we were out of town):

If you're standing in our living room looking up, this is what you see.  The half-wall will become a full wall to enclose baby's room.

Another view from below.

Standing at the top of the stairs looking into the loft/baby's room.  The half-wall that overlooks the living room is on the right.  We are having a window put in on the back wall.

Another view of the room. 

Half-wall overlooking the den.

I have always liked that loft space and had big plans for it so I will miss it, but this is definitely the best thing for us (and little man).  We came home from the mountains to discover all of the walls in place, which was exciting!  I would definitely recommend finding a contractor that will work on the weekends to complete projects so as not to disrupt your schedule.  I will say that the room looks even smaller than I thought it would now that it's enclosed, but there is plenty of space for the necessities.  I also think that once the window goes in, it will help the room look less small somehow.

We have finally decided on at least one piece of furniture for this nursery (a crib), and I have my eye on a few other pieces.  I'm hoping there are some online Black Friday sales on baby furniture.  :-)  Either way, the construction was definitely just what I needed to push me to get moving, because this baby will be here before we know it!  Now, if any of my Raleigh friends know anyone who makes baby bedding that won't break the bank, holler at me.  I need a crib skirt and some curtains!

Happy almost Tuesday - hurray for short work weeks!

Sarah