An Update on Violet's Room

Please forgive the grainy photo! It was a quick snap with my iPhone. The last time we talked about Violet's room we were trying to figure out the best way to get her a cozy "nook" similar to the alcove in her bedroom at our former home. The winner turned out to be using curtains to sort of canopy her bed. Next we had to figure out if the layout of Violet's room would allow us to actually do this. The other day we tested out a few furniture arrangements to see what would work best.

After we had all of the major furniture pieces in place, I took a pair of curtains and hung them from the ceiling using some string and tape (classy looking, I know!), to see if we liked the look. Violet was a little upset at first about the idea of her furniture being shifted around (change is hard, even if it's wanted change!), but when she saw this she gasped and said, "It looks so pretty in here, Mommy!" I knew we had a winner. I'm planning for longer drapes, a framed out top, and four panels rather than two. Here area  few of my inspiration images:

I really love the look of the built-in bookcase in the above photo, but unfortunately there is a vent that prevents a bookcase from happening without a lot of extra work (Kev has enough on his plate as it is!), so I don't think that will work in Violet's room. I'm trying to keep this as low-maintenance as possible because I know he already has so much planned for this summer.

The colors in the photo above are so pretty, and so Violet. She's a purple and pink fan forever. In fact, she wants to keep the current purple wall color of her room, so we're probably just going to paint the trim and maybe the ceiling. I also love all of the pattern and the fact that the curtains are lined with a contrasting color/design.

Love this space too! So fun with the punchy colors and kid art. I definitely want to include some of Violet's artwork in the space (you can see one of her many rainbow paintings in the photo up above). What I'm trying to decide currently is what color fabric/curtains I want to use. Should I stick with white with a fun tassel or pom pom trim? Or maybe go with a more bold color? What do you think?xo, Lauren

Images 1 . 2 . 3. 4

Image 1 Credit: A Lovely Lark

Image 2 Credit: Trevor Tondro

Image 3 Credit: Melanie Acevedo

Image 4 Credit: Lily Z Interior Design
*I hope all of these are correct - I pinned them long ago and some of them are no longer visible on these sites.

Ideas for Violet's Room: Creating a Bed Nook

The girls have handled the transition to our new house fairly well, but it's definitely been a bit harder on Violet. She was at an age where she had started creating real memories in our first little house, and there are things she misses dreadfully. Her top two complaints are missing her "secret garden" (a large rhododendron that was in front of our house that she would play beneath), and her bed nook. She just loved that she could close the curtains and feel like she was in her own secret fort. She misses the coziness of sleeping in that little space tremendously.

So as I've been thinking about how to design her new space, I've been trying to think of creative ways to give her that same cozy, adventurous feeling. My Pinterest board for her room is full of these sleeping "nooks," whether it be a cupboard-type bed, a canopy, or even a lofted playhouse. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. I love this cupboard-style bed. The designer actually created it out of necessity to hide a staircase. I think it would give Violet a really similar feeling to her previous bedroom (and those red check curtains are so cute!):

2. Here's another very similar bed nook. I love that this one has storage beneath and the curved edges and little wall light are just adorable:

3. Here's a super-fancy version of a cupboard bed with all of that gingerbread trim. I absolutely adore that one of the drawers pulls out to reveal stairs, and I think Violet would love the sconces on the inside (especially if they were on a dimmer switch!):

4. It looks like this one was created with just fabric, which is something I could more likely accomplish on my own without as much help from Kev, although it probably would look this professional and tailored than this photo!

5. This is from good ol' IKEA, which I'm guessing means that it has potential to be a "me" project as well. It looks like you just suspend this curtain rod system. from the ceiling, hang curtains, and voila - instant dreamy bed nook:

6. This is incredibly adorable. I've found a bunch of different versions of playhouse beds (even some that you can buy, although they're completely out of our price range. I even found one that is a hack of the IKEA .

7. And last but not least, here is a more trendy and insanely adorable bed nook complete with shiplap and some of my fave wallpaper! I adore the little inset bookshelf:

Now that I've collected a bunch, I think it's time to show them to the boss (AKA Violet) and see what she thinks! Which is your favorite?

Sources: 1 . 2. 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7

Lucia's Lovely Space

I'm so excited to share Lucia's beautiful room here on A Lovely Lark today! I "met" Lucia's mom Carla when I first began using Instagram, and I've followed along with her feed ever since. When her daughter Lucia's room popped up on my feed recently, I reached out and asked her if I could share her daughter's lovely space here on A Lovely Lark. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! 

My husband, Evan, and I moved from New Jersey to Lancaster almost two years ago.  We have two children, Lucia who is 5 and Evan who is 2.5.  I'm a stay-at-home mom while Evan works in finance.  When we built our house, we made sure Lucia's room was first on our list to accomplish.  She had some major adjusting to do and we wanted her room to feel like "home".

Since the painter braved the ceiling and walls, all I had to do was decorate and Evan moved in her furniture!  Lucia helped pick the paint for her ceiling before we moved and also assisted with sticking the polkadots to the wall!  My linear child had them in a strait line across one wall.  That's when she learned that it's ok to "scatter" :)  I think the intention for Lucia's room was to keep it classy, but playful.  This room will grow with her; we kept the basics simple (bed, dresser) but we allowed ourselves room to splurge on updates when she develops more of an opinion about what she wants in her space.

Lucia received her dollhouse from her Grandy when she was two.  He went All. Out. with stair railings, molding and even a furnace!  I painted the family dolls as well as the princess dolls (Elsa, Anna, Merida and Rapunzel).  Sadly, when Lu's little brother came along, some things were destroyed.  Now that he's a bit older, they play dollhouse together and I love hearing them laughing and quietly imitating their daddy and me!   

Lucia had a gallery wall in our old house and had helped make some art that easily transitioned into her new room in Pennsylvania.  We had some of the other pieces and just added more personal pictures, like her as a baby, and her holding her brother for the first time.  She particularly loves the ledge that her daddy made which holds the overflow of books, pictures of her friends, cards she receives, or whatever she "loves" at the time.  She can easily clip it to the twine and take it down as she pleases.  

I pretty much fell in love with the Dash and Albert rug years ago and knew it would be perfect in her new room.  It has so many colors which you can play up with accessories, sheets, pillows and more.  Since the rug was from her previous room, it was easy to change things up a bit with the paint colors, but keep the familiarity which was important to her, and us.  She felt safe and comfortable which was all we could have hoped for.

I think my favorite pieces are the ones that have been hand-made - the four book shelves and ledge that house the ever-growing collection of books, her dollhouse and the dolls, as well as the gallery wall.  I'm a sucker for art, especially art that my girl can whip up and be proud of.  Lucia also loves the cross-stitch birth record that her Uncle in Iowa made for her.  He made one for my husband and used that same design for both of the kids birth records, but changed up the colors. I had it professionally framed at Michaels.  It's beautiful, and Lu loves that it's "like daddy's" and she loves to tell people she was born in New York :)  

We had a lot of fun decorating her room, and it's evolving as she gets older and as our house becomes more of our home.  We are really proud of this room and we hope you love it as much as we do!

Thank you so much, Carla! Carla was kind enough to share sources with us as well:

Source List

Jenny Lind Bed:  Land of Nod

Dresser:  Land of Nod (Discontinued)

Jenny Lind Side Table:  Land of Nod

Knobs:  Anthropologie, Local shop

Rug: Dash and Albert

Book/Art Ledge:  DIY

Chunky Book Shelves:  DIY

Dollhouse:  DIY (Adapted from YHL)

Dollhouse Furniture:  Amazon

Dolls:  DIY (Wooden Pegs from Etsy)

Gallery Wall Frames:  Ikea

Art:  DIY, Etsy Artists

Curtains:  Ikea

Adhesive PolkaDots:  Etsy

Quilt:  Land of Nod

Cloud Pillow:  Land of Nod

Other Pillows:  DIY

Bean Bag:  PB Teen

Sheets:  PillowFort (Target)

Lights:  West Elm

Paint:  Benjamin More

The Mural is Up!

My sister sent over some photos of the finished map mural - doesn't it look amazing in the space?! Now I can't wait for more. It's so fun to see an idea come to life :) (Here is the original design board in case you missed it!)

And kudos to my brother-in-law for putting it up so beautifully! xo, Lauren

An Update on Violet's Room

I've had a few people ask to post some updated pictures of Violet's space, so I had a few extra minutes the other day thanks to my parents (what would we do without them?!) and snapped some new pics. We've switched out the twin bed for a toddler bed, as I mentioned here, added a little stool/nightstand for her water cup at night, I'm trying to come up with a new rug solution because the old one had gotten pretty gross (it's REALLY hard to vacuum because it has raised areas. Remind me to never buy a rug like that again! There was definitely a reason this one was on sale), switched out the curtains (love the pretty tassels - thanks Serena & Lily!), and other than that just a few new accessories - sheets (purchased on super sale and being used in both Violet and Lucy's room), pillows, and artwork (mostly Violet's paintings and my DIY project). Just as a reminder, here's what it looked like when we moved in:

So without further ado:

I haven't done much to the dresser area, but I do have a few things I want to change, so I'll share that area after I spruce it up a bit. I have had my eye on this lamp from Land of Nod for like a decade now, so that will probably be in the mix, and I'm considering a pegboard project...stay tuned :) So there ya go. Maybe someday I'll finish up the nursery and take a few photos of Lucy's room too!
xo, Lauren

P.S. Violet's original big girl room + Violet's nursery

Sources
Tassel Curtains: c/o Serena & Lily
Pull-down Map: eBay
Wall Hooks: West Elm
Doll House: The House that Jack Built
Tiny Dollhouses: Lille Huset
Bed: IKEA
Faux Sheepskin: IKEA
Train Set: IKEA
Umbra Horizon Crunch Can: The Container Store
Stool/Nightstand: Serena & Lily
Basket for Books: Dunnes Stores
Letter "V": Anthropologie
Sheets: Anthropologie
Bench: IKEA
Bench Cushion: DIY
Bookshelves: IKEA
Star Pillow on Bed: Hello Milky
Colorful Pillow on Bench: Fine Little Day 
Gold Pillow on Bench: H&M
Mountain Poster: Fine Little Day
Blocks: How Now Design
Map Puzzle: Zulily
Alphabet Puzzle: The Land of Nod
Dresser: Craigslist Find
Star Garland: DIY

Nursery Finds to Energize and Inspire

When the new year rolls around, I always find myself craving fresh, bright, invigorating colors. I came across a striking rug on Etsy that combined traditional kilim patterns with a fun color palette and thought it would be perfect for a brilliantly colorful nursery design! I pulled colors from the rug and threw in some glitzy metallic accents and came up with this fun idea board. You can find sources over at my ideabook for Houzz.com right here. xo, Lauren

P.S. A Euro-Inspired Kids' Room and a Happy Nursery Design

Like a Popsicle on the Fourth of July

Other than, of course, the obvious fireworks and red/white/blue, July makes me think of hot, glorious summer days filled with pools, lemonade, and popsicles. So when I came across this popsicle print on Etsy, I knew it would be the perfect jumping-off point for a summer nursery:

Clockwise from top right: popsicle print, baseball print, crib bedding, whale, pillow, baseball toy, beacon sconce, glider, dresser, rug, zinc letter, storage bin

xo, Lauren

Lovely Links + Giveaway Winners

A few of my favorite parenting links from this week:

1. Lovely newborn/family photo shoot by Paige Lowe Photography via 100 Layer Cakelet
2. To the parents of little ones...
3. Beautiful - "And then I worry less and breathe deeper, knowing that our children will always settle into themselves – as long as we wait for them."
4. Thoughts on the "big girl transition".
5. On holiday madness.
6. On the so-called 'mommy wars'.

And here's what I've been sharing on Apartment Therapy lately:

DIY Ideas:

10 DIY Easter Treat Bags
Create Your Own Duvet Cover
Create a Starry Ceiling
Toys You Can Make Out of Cardboard
DIY Ideas to Freshen Up Kids' Dressers

Lovely Little Spaces:

Before & After: Baby E's Nursery
Washi Tape Ideas for Kids' Spaces
More Washi Tape Ideas for Kids' Spaces
Desmond's Tiny Travel-Themed Room
Aden & Isabel's Colorful Shared Space

Lovely Little Things:

20 Wooden Baby Gyms
Gilded Artwork for the Nursery
15 Bassinets, Cradles, and Baskets
20 Super Stylish Storage Bins

If you'd like to see more of my Apartment Therapy posts, you can check them out here. 

And last but not least the winners of the giveaways...

Home Depot giveaway: Tammigirl
American Blanket Co.: eRin

Congrats ladies, and thanks to all for playing! Happy Friday everyone - xo, Lauren

Lovely Links

I haven't shared any Friday links for quite a while now, so I thought we were due! Here are six lovely links for your weekend:

One: The prettiest handmade gift wrap

Two: An adorable room for a little girl

Three: The best way to give a gift card

Four: An amazing IKEA hack

Five: A lovely little bunny 

Six: A whimsical DIY sweater

Merry Christmas everyone!!! xo, Lauren

Lovely Little Space: Woodsy Girl

Guest posting over on Bungalow Kids today! You can check out more details and sources on this woodsy little girls' room here.

Baby No.2 Nursery Ideas

Sources: (clockwise from top left) Paul Marrot Artwork, Crochet Flower Garland (handmade by my grandmother), David Trubridge Floral Pendant, Swing Stripes Curtains, Dwell Studio Meadow Crib Bedding, Terrain Tall Rope Basket, Presidio Glider, Blabla Wooly the Sheep, You Are So Loved Print, Egmont Toys White Rabbit Lamp, Wooden Alphabet

I've gotten a lot of questions about if we are a) finding out the gender of baby number two and b) if we will be changing the nursery decor. Yes, we are definitely finding out if this little bean is a guy or gal (December 6th is our ultrasound date!) I think we may have the ultrasound technician write down the gender on a card like we did the last time with Violet and open it at a later date. There's just something about that moment that I want to be personal, and I don't want to share it with a stranger. We may even have a very small gender reveal party with family afterward. Since we won't be having a shower this time around I thought it could be a fun way to celebrate together :)

As far as the nursery I would like to change the decor a bit but keep the main pieces (crib, dresser, etc.). The only piece of furniture I'd be thrilled to change out is the glider, but I doubt that will happen because we are pinching our pennies so that I can stay home for a while with the baby and Violet. If the babe is a girl I'm really loving the items above. I thought it was kind of funny that after putting the idea board together I realized the color scheme is very similar to the current nursery. Of course we won't be able to afford many of the above items but in a dream world this is a favorite look of mine. I'm still thinking on the boy thing - that's so different for me I don't have a vision in my mind of what it might look like yet. Stay tuned! xo, Lauren

P.S. Don't forget to enter the holiday giveaway - win an Ergobaby carrier and over $700 in other loot for your little ones!

Two Lovely Nurseries

Alice's Warm Modern Nursery . Jane's Jewel Box Nursery

If you haven't had chance to check them out yet you definitely have to see the two most recent nursery tours I posted over on Apartment Therapy Family - they're lovely! xo, Lauren

Lovely Little Room: Max's Sloped Space

Today's photos are from one of my absolute favorite blogs for eye candy: Katie's Pencil Box. Katie is not only a master of photography, but also of making those mundane moments of everyday life look like art. Her home is no exception. This particular room belongs to her son Max. He's quite the writer and photographer himself - I loved reading his letters to his new sister (whose space I'm dying to see)! And I'm always impressed when he takes photos of his lovely mama. I love that Katie was able to keep this room light, neutral, and true to her style, but still give it the perfect vibe for a growing little boy. You can see more of Katie's lovely home here and visit her blog here.

A big thank you to Katie for sharing Max's space with us!

Lovely Little Links

Emily Meyer of Tea Collection has the luckiest daughter!

These little clowns would definitely be the life of the party.

Toilet paper rolls fit for a little king (or queen).

Perfect summer DIY.

The sweetest (and most portable) little dollhouse.

Pink dress + red tights + red shoes.

Looking for an inexpensive show stopper for your little space? Look no further than this DIY wall art.

Have a lovely weekend!

xo, Lauren