Guest Blogger: Kara's "Collected" Nursery

Ready for our first ever guest blogger?!?  I hope so because you are going to love her post!  Meet Kara (along with husband Zach), she is an insanely creative and crafty girl. 

Amber Engfer Photography

As you can see from their "Bump" session photos, they were anticipating the arrival of their first baby which meant nursery decorating!  Kara shared a few of the photos and I was so smitten with their creation that I begged her to share it!  Get ready, you will be smitten too!  Take it away Kara....



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Hello Hammers and High Heels readers! My name is Kara and I am excited to be guest posting here today.  The lovely and talented Carla asked if I could share the nursery that my husband Zach and I created for our 1 month old daughter, Odella Delphine. When I found out that I was pregnant, I was really excited to have a reason to completely design a room! Throughout the process, we tried to incorporate furniture that we already had and DIY anything that we could to save $$$. We love vintage shopping, flea markets, and thrifting excursions so I think that the nursery has a "collected" feel. Here is where we started:

I made this color study...I knew that I wanted it to be girly, but not too pink. We already had a green lounge chair and a turquoise rocking chair that we wanted to use. I built in shades of coral and metallic accents. {love those tiny gold shoes!} All original images can be found on my pinterest boards.

The room is long, skinny, and tiny. We painted the walls the palest shade of coral blush- it has the prettiest rosy glow when the sun shines in! The fluffy white rug is from Target.

Hanging above the crib is a piece that Zach scored from a coworker's garage and spray painted rose gold {originally a brassy gold-tone} - I love all the chandelier crystals that drape down- they look really pretty in the morning sun and cast rainbows around the room!

{Quilt photo by Amber Engfer Photography}

We loved the vintage look of the Jenny Lind crib. It's a popular crib in the blog world, but really is a great value for the look-only about $150! I made the colorful pillows and plan on making a crib skirt sometime soon. I also made the quilt during my last few weeks of pregnancy- it was my first quilt! I was inspired by this quilt project- a great "cheater" quilt for non-experienced quilters! Cute felt bird mobile was a gift from my cousin!

I knew that we wanted to start an art collection for our little girl, and we have so many creative friends that it came together easily! I hope to continue to build the collection as Odella gets older and love that most of the prints would look great in the rest of our house if we want to rotate them. Special thanks to Allison Black, Emily Hendley, and 3 Fish Studio {a print studio based in San Francisco that was kind enough to let me pull the Robot print during a studio visit} for all the art wall contributions!

We found this awesome rocker at a flea market over the summer and added the sheepskin from Ikea, a sweet knitted blanket that was a gift from my cousin, and Robit the Robot, purchased from Elisa of Finch's Holiday Boutique a few years ago.

The green lounge chair is from the 1960s {and actually vibrates really loudly if you plug it in...strange} Zach found it at a yard sale when we were in college. We think that it will be great for storytime! I made the pillow and added the white furry throw from Target. Hanging above the chair is a letterpress alphabet print that I bought from a print studio connected to the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum. {gotta love $10 "imperfect prints"}

The sweet round baby watercolor paintings were a gift from my great aunt- not sure how old they are, but we are thinking 1930s or 40s...pretty cute! The window covering is a cheap pull down roller blind covered with fabric. I think that it really brightens the room up and was really easy to do- I just used hot glue to stretch the fabric over the blind, but you can find a better {more permanent} DIY here.

The lamp was my grandmother's and the green frog bank was another thrift store find by Zach. {I wasn't convinced at first- the frog was a strange brick red color... Zach painted it green and now I love it! It makes me smile every time I see it!}The dresser/changing table was a labor of love- we found it on Craigslist, originally white+gold, with stickers stuck to it, and broken drawers. Zach fixed the drawers and we re-painted it a sunny coral color! We need a few more pieces of artwork for the wall next to the mirror...

And now, the cutest part of the nursery....introducing Miss Odella Delphine Kopp! Fantastic newborn photo by Amber Engfer Photography! For more adorable photos of our sweet baby, check out Amber's blog post. Thanks again for the opportunity to share Odella's room!!! Follow me on pinterest or check out some of my past projects on my blog.

xoxoxo kara