Personal and Non-Traditional Art in the Nursery | One Room Challenge Week 5

I can't believe next week is the reveal! The nursery has definitely come a long way in 5 weeks and today, we're so excited to share with you a few of our favorite artistic touches we've added to the room. I will say, there was an internal struggle for some time when deciding what we wanted to hang on the walls. Because the truth is, I didn't want to hang anything really which is pretty opposite of how I normally feel (have you seen what's above our bed?! Haha). The wallpaper itself makes such a statement when you walk into the room, and I didn't want to take away from that or add so much that it loses that peaceful feeling.

Faye's nursery had a completely different vibe, and the huge initial art pictured above (easiest tutorial right here) was the right thing for her room. But even if we did know what this baby's name was going to be--I don't think the same kind of thing would fit in here. And although the room will surely evolve over time, maybe a photograph of the girls after she's born on the walls?, for now, we decided on three different kinds of "art" for this room.

The first was this mobile from West Elm, that moves like a mobile but feels more like an art installation.

I looked at so many mobiles and none of them felt just right until I came across this one that could work in any room in the house--really! I was really drawn to the variety of shapes and finish, but when it arrived we were blown away with the quality.

It was very well packed and Chris especially loved that we didn't have to worry about strings of a traditional mobile getting tangled. To hang it, we put an anchor into the ceiling and then screwed a small brass hook into that.

The mobile came with additional string at the top if you wanted to hang it lower, but for our standard 8' ceilings, hanging it directly from the eye at the top of the rod was perfect...and easy peasy.

The second piece of art we added is a little more personal--an ultrasound print of baby girl herself!--from Baby Blue Print on Etsy.

Here's how it works--you email the shop your ultrasound print (you can scan it, take a picture with your phone--easy!) and they create a beautiful print in your choice of a variety of different sizes and colors. We are fortunate enough to call the owners of the sweet shop friends of ours so Ellen came over with swatches of all the colors they currently offer (they're always adding more) so I could see which would work best for the room. In the end, we decided on a dusty pink called Rose in their 5x7 size so it could live easily on the changing table or a side table next to the glider.

I slipped it in this simple acrylic block frame (so slick!) that's self-standing and it makes me smile every time I see it. If you're still trying to think of the perfect Mother's day gift for the new mom....

The last thing we added in the room was maybe less art, and more accessory, but it required putting a hole in the wallpaper--deep breaths! We hung a mirror over the changing table. The ever popular Target brass round mirror, because it's just that good and inexpensive and it mirrored the circular knobs on the dresser in shape and color so perfectly. We actually have the same exact mirror over the fireplace in our family room/playroom. We brought it up here to try it and loved it so much, we went and bought it again.

A few of you mentioned to try putting a small X in the wallpaper and peeling it back so it would be easy to repair if we ever decided to change what or where something was hung on the walls. It definitely seemed worth a try...

But, goodness! We could not get the paper peeled back. Perhaps it was just too fresh or the glue was really strong stuff. We thought it was better to make one small hole than try a force it back and have it rip. Fortunately, we were right on a stud so we could skip the anchor and drill one small screw in place.

We still have a few things to finish up (there's more than just the changing pad missing! Ha!) before next week's reveal, but we're stop excited to be in the home stretch!

If you have missed anything up to this point, you can check out:

Week 1: Befores and the plan
Week 2: Adding all that trim
Week 3: Hanging the dreamiest wallpaper
Week 4: Details on the rug and dresser

See how the other One Room Challenge participants are doing this week (Is everyone going to make it?!) by clicking the links below:

Centsational Girl | Christine Dovey | Dwell With Dignity | The English Room

Glitter Guide | House of Brinson | House Updated  | J+J Design Group | Lark & Linen | Abby Manchesky

Nesting Place | Old Brand New | Old Home Love | The Pink Pagoda | Rambling Renovators

Erica Reitman | Sketch 42 | Suburban B’s | Erin Williamson  Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH