It's Nursery Time- Cribs & Colors

Well, it's official. We have started the process of working on the nursery. While some of you were out enjoying the typical July 4th festivities or maybe spending the weekend at the beach, we decided to change things up a bit this year since we had the long weekend and start working on some projects.  It's always nice to have a long weekend, so with the Thursday/Friday combination this year, it allowed both of us to have some extra time to put towards something useful-- which in the end we decided painting the nursery would be a good start....but let's just say that ended up leading to other things. (more on that in a minute)

We both agreed easily on the color of the walls for two reasons:
  1. We already had the paint which meant - FREE (one of my favorite words)

2. We knew the color of choice was a neutral and we could work around just about any color combination with it

Now, I know some of you out there are going to die when you see what color we choose (and that's ok-- we'll forgive you for not liking it), but we love this shade and have it in other spaces in our home- you just have to know how to balance it.... so are you ready for the reveal?

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Don't laugh at our drop cloths...this works for us (if you are a professional painter- just close your eyes)

 I had to laugh as several people had recently asked Nate, "What color are you doing your nursery in?" -- To which he responded "Grey".  I thought that was an awesome response and quickly told him there was probably a great reason for their puzzled faces and strange reactions as this was not "THE color" but they were probably referring to what would be going with the grey walls. He laughed and said he realized that after they had that "deer caught in the headlights expression" written on their faces.  So, to those of you who thought we were being boring and gloomy with a grey and white nursery, think again. We promise we're going to spice it up for you and it will not be grey and white. The funny thing is that we did have a little bit harder time agreeing on colors-- there are SOOOO many combinations that I particularly love and could choose; however, this is not just my decision (even though Nate says it really is since I'll be the one doing most of it). Although we are in the final decision making phase on colors, we are starting to lean a certain direction; however, we are going to keep you in suspense a little while longer as we make our final decisions.  

----Now, back to that phrase "painting the nursery was a good start, which led to other things..."-- let's just say we had not intended to put together the crib or put anything else in that room yet; however, I guess once the room was painted we thought the next natural step was to figure out where the crib would go. That said, before I knew it Nate was ready to put it together (and what wife says "no" when her husband is ready to build stuff?) 

While opening up the box and sorting through the pieces, we came across this package of screws with a little red string attached. Now for the average person, this wouldn't mean much of anything, but for someone adopting from China- they'd notice this little detail and a few thoughts might run through their head. So for a quick piece of Chinese folklore & to share a Chinese proverb- this is a very common thing to see with China (as red means good fortune or joy in their culture- which is why during Chinese New Year and other celebratory times you will see red everywhere as they view it as a sign of "good luck")  Keep in mind that it is important to understand the culture as it is a window into many of their practices, thoughts, beliefs, etc. There is a popular ancient phrase often noted by the Chinese:

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break."

So obviously seeing this little red string/thread, it just was a fun little detail that just made us smile. (and for those who have any questions rolling around in their heads- we don't believe in folklore, good luck, or ancient Chinese proverbs, etc. but it's still a part of Chinese culture that we're just pointing out)

So with that, the crib assembly began...

....And within less than an hour, the bed was done and the furniture arranging began.  

Fun story though- we thought our package had come without instructions because we couldn't find them anywhere-- so had practically torn the box apart and sifted through all sorts of stuff looking for these instructions after all of the pieces were out. We were laughing because we figured something like this WOULD happen to us and obviously we didn't want to risk "we think we know how to put a crib together" only to have something tragic happen later down the road once "Little One" is in the crib (as we all know this would not look good to have to report to our agency and China after placement, right?) That said, we finally looked back at the pieces we had taken out of the box and you guessed it, the papers were attached to the back of one of the bed pieces and we had totally overlooked it when we took it out. (whew...crisis diverted-- even though I am confident Nate would have put it together properly even w/out instructions)  

So, now we have walls painted and crib together and spent some additional time over our holiday weekend talking through other nursery details.  (which for me meant thinking about all of the artwork and crafty details I could soon get my hands into that involved paints, hot glue, fabric, and lots of other fun things-- to which Nate has resorted he will not be involved in--haha) That said, we'll keep you updated as things start to unfold in the weeks to come.

We hope that you enjoyed your 4th of July holiday weekend however you chose to spend it!