I’m so excited to finally share our little girl’s nursery with you! Sure, she’ll just be a little baby who sleeps, and poops, and spits up everywhere. And for the first couple of months, she’ll actually be snoozing away the nights (fingers crossed!) in a bassinet in our bedroom, rather than in her crib you see here. But still, it was so fulfilling to put together a fun, friendly, and cute little room for our little girl who will surely have all of those characteristics and more! I hope we can spend lots of time in here, reading together, playing pretend, watching the squirrels run through the backyard, and wave at the trains that go by. Hopefully she will love her room, and when she’s old enough, together we can add special touches of her own.

As an interior design school graduate, and a person who just generally loves to decorate, I was sort of super bummed out by the tiny bit of our budget we were able to allot for putting together a nursery. I told myself it didn’t matter. I reminded myself that babies don’t care about nurseries, and that I shouldn’t either… but none of those things worked. I still found myself obsessing over this project, and somehow managing to pull everything together on a shoestring budget. I feel pleased and blessed to be so happy with the little space. And now I have motivation to turn my attention to planning the decor of the rest of our home.

• Our drop-rail on the crib is currently facing the wall, and will be bolted to disable that feature.
• The art hanging above the crib is securely fixed with heavy-duty foam tape.
• The chord for the balloon lamp on the crib wall has been secured to the wall with coax staples.
• The flooring in our home is terrazzo, which is marble chips laid into cement and sealed.
• I shared some planning details for this room at this post and this post.
• Below, I’ve noted where items were purchased/how they were revamped.

• dresser: hand-me-down from my grandparents
• rocking chair: Craigslist find – 1955 rocker reupholstered with a blanket by me and Phil
• lockers: Craigslist find, repainted by my father
• pepsi crate: vintage
• white toy basket on lockers: Marshalls Department Store
• floating book shelves: Umbra Conceal Floating Bookshelf from Amazon
• three-unit crate shelf: Marshalls (gift from parents)
• side table/typist stand by rocker: thrifted
• yellow lamp: thrifted
• pouf under typist stand: DIY (my process shown here)
• set of two interlocking wall shelves: vintage (from Etsy)
• crib: Craigslist (gift from parents)
• rug: Flokati purchased on eBay 4 years ago
• pom pom garland: made by me with yarn scraps
• rag doll on interlocking shelves: Oh Just Dandy on Etsy
• striped knit bunny on crate shelves: Bi Bi oj Blaka on Etsy
• knit bunny in white basket on lockers: BlaBlah Kids
• all linens (crib sheet and changing pad cover aside): vintage or handmade by me/as gifts
• coral flock screen print: purchase from Three Potato Four four years ago
• all other art, toys, books, and clothing: thrifted and/or vintage
• curtains: Lowes
• wall paint: Valspar brand (from Lowes- can’t recommend it) color: Champagne Pink
• curtain rods: Bed Bath and Beyond

On the cusp of my third trimester, I began to really miss my vintage dresses. Their structured waists and fitted busts just don’t work with a pregnant girl’s body, though. So I began scouring Etsy for something to tide me over for the duration. I found this cute house dress after searching for “trapeze dress” in the vintage section. When it arrived at my door, I chopped off the sleeves, and shortened the length to my knees. Sometimes turning a somewhat frumpy vintage housedress into something stylish is as simple as a little snip, snip, stitch, stitch! (And speaking of housedresses…. I feel like a house. ha!)

O U T F I T   D E T A I L S :

dress: Bohemian Bisoux | shoes: thrifted | hat: Secret Past (Cuyahoga Falls)
photos by Phil

As a child, I enjoyed watching The Pink Panther cartoons on Saturday mornings, but was surprised to one day discover that the animated series was actually derived from the open credits of a series of spy-spoof movies. I watched the Peter Sellers Pink Panther movie series a long time ago, and remember being mildly amused by the bumbling pseudo-French police inspector. So recently I thought I would revisit The Pink Panther movies, beginning with A Shot in the Dark.

The Pink Panther series feature Peter Sellers in what is perhaps his most famous role- that of French police inspector Jacques Clouseau. Clouseau is quite the silly character, taking himself very seriously as a detective, though he fumbles and complicates situations at every turn. His character is also subject to running jokes, like everyone’s inability to understand the words he’s actually saying, or the way he infuriates the police chief with his incompetence, though managing somehow to catch the criminal in the end.

A Shot in the Dark begins with, well, you guessed it! A shot in the dark. A prominent citizen is murdered in his home, and much to the police chief’s dismay, Clouseau is assigned to the scene. The lovely maid, Maria Gambrelli, is found holding the smoking gun in her hands, but what should be a cut-and-dry case is turned into a police spectacle, as Clouseau simply can’t believe such a beautiful woman could be capable of doing a murder.

The plot doesn’t really develop much beyond the absurd romance between Clouseau and Maria, or the mysterious gloved murderer who follows them around. But as the story races from scene to scene, it manages to slow down quite a bit for silly interludes which heavily mock the spa genre- such as a Clouseau’s arrest for going undercover as a balloon salesman without a vendor’s license, or his inability to properly synchronize his watch with his fellow detective.

I guess you should be warned that The Pink Panther series can be overwhelmingly goofy at times, is often a bit crass, but is definitely entertaining. I appreciate the somewhat slap-stick style humor mixed in with dry wit and ’60s spoofiness. (Spoofiness is really the best word for it- trust me!) If you’re not one to enjoy a silly ’60s comedic spoof, this might not be for you. But if you’re new to the genre, I say, give the series a try!