Megan's (Honey We're Home) Nursery Design for the One Room Challenge

A few months ago, I received a super sweet email from my friend, the talented and beautiful Megan, who is the face behind the blog, Honey We're Home. Megan explained that she was taking part in the One Room Challenge and that the room she wanted to make over for the challenge was her son's toddler room. She explained that was expecting her second child and that she wanted to create a nursery for her new baby! I was thrilled for her, but even more thrilled that she requested that I help her design the nursery. I immediately said, "YES!" I don't have the opportunity to design nurseries very often, but I love creating special places babies and their families. It was a bonus to be working with a friend, who I have long respected and admired.

When Megan first contacted me, she was early in her pregnancy and did not know the gender of her baby. We knew that a few weeks before the One Room Challenge reveal, she would be able to find out if she was having a boy or a girl. We agreed that it would be best for me to design a gender neutral nursery to get the started and then make changes and tweaks to the design after Megan found out the gender. Megan had a very strong feeling she was going to have a girl, so even though I knew the Nursery design would be suitable for a boy or a girl, the design board leaned a bit more feminine.

If you are not familiar with the One Room Challenge, you can read more about it here, but in essence a group of Designers and Bloggers are asked to makeover a room of their choice in just 6 weeks. The participants are also given a list of wonderful sponsors, which they can choose to partner with for everything in their rooms from furniture to accessories and even paint. As a result, Megan sent me over a list of sponsors that had signed on and asked me to use as many products as possible in the design from those sponsors. As new sponsors were added, Megan and I could work on changing up the design a little, if needed.

Here is the initial design board that I came up with....

I was so glad when Megan let me know that she absolutely loved it!! 

Megan started by ordering the major pieces for the room. She had the room painted and had custom built ins made for the space. She told me from the beginning that the built ins would be part of the design, since she plans to eventually use the room as her office. 

A few short weeks later, Megan found out that she is indeed having a girl! Talk about Mother's intuition! We decided to tweak the design by eliminating some of the navy and adding more lavender in the space. Over the next few weeks we exchanged numerous text, phone calls and emails. I sent Megan over new options for art, lighting, rugs and pillows, which were all sourced from the ORC sponsors. The process was so smooth and seamless. Megan was a complete joy to work with and never failed to tell me how appreciative she was for my help. She did an incredible job pulling the space together...while in the throws of pregnancy, no less! I wish I could have been there with her to see the room come to life, but that wasn't possible because we live in different states! 

When Megan sent me a picture of the room the night before the One Room Challenge, I teared up when I saw it. Not only was it beautiful, but the thought of my friend, bringing her baby girl home to this new room, really pulled at my heartstrings. 

Here is the result of my collaboration with Megan. I think we made a pretty fabulous team!!

Photo Credit: Honey We're Home

Photo Credit: Honey We're Home

Photo Credit: Honey We're Home

You can see more of Megan's finished nursery and read more about her experience participating in the One Room challenge on her blog. 

A huge thanks to Megan for asking me to help design this special place in her home!! I can't wait to see a picture of her baby girl in her new nursery!

SHOP THIS ROOM

(You can shop this room and my design board by clicking on the product images below)

Local Client Project Reveal: Baby Girl Nursery

 Hello, Friends, I hope you had a great weekend. I'm back today to share with you one of my latest projects, a beautiful nursery for a very special baby girl.

Since I first showed the design board and a little peak of this project on Instagram, I have received many comments expressing excitement to see the full reveal of this nursery. I too, have been excited to post this completed room, but there were some events that took place this past week which made me question whether or not I should post and share this particular project. With permission from the family of my client, who has become a very dear friend, I am sharing her story.

I first met my client when she contacted me about helping her makeover the family room in her home. As an interior designer, I regularly spend many hours with my clients and their families. I often get to know these families in a different way than others do. My clients let me into their lives and into their homes. Because of this level of exposure, designer - client relationships can often turn into true, meaningful friendships. That has been the case with this client and her family. I have come to love her and her family, consisting of her husband and 2 sweet little girls (ages 5 and 18 months). After designing her family room, she asked me to design her Master Bedroom. Again, I spent many hours in her home and with her darling children. You can imagine how happy and excited I was when she told me that she was expecting another baby. After she and her husband discovered they were expecting their 3rd baby girl, she asked me to design a nursery for their new addition. I got right to work. I presented her with this design board.

She loved it! Products were ordered, walls were painted and wallpaper installed. Things were moving along well.  On a Tuesday, I checked in on my dear friend and the nursery. She was overdue and would be going to the Hospital the next morning to have her baby girl. Her sweet baby was born the next evening. Both Mom and baby were doing great! They were discharged from the hospital and returned to their home 2 days later.

It was 2 days after that, on Sunday evening, that things fell apart. No one had any idea, but my friend had suffered some complications, either during her pregnancy or her delivery, we are still not sure, and she was stricken with a heart attack 4 days after she gave birth. 911 was called and she was taken to a local hospital and was then life flighted to a larger hospital. Through a series of miracles, her life was spared. She is currently still in the hospital in the ICU and has a long road ahead of her. Her heart was severely damaged from the heart attack and she also has a tear in her aorta. She will likely need a heart transplant in the future. She will be in the hospital for quite sometime, but she is a fighter. The strength, courage and faith she has displayed over the past week is remarkable. She is such an amazing woman! I know she will be coming home and be reunited with her Husband, daughters and her sweet new baby girl soon.

I'm sure you can understand why I wasn't sure if I could or wanted to share this nursery with you. So why did I? I knew that my client had planned on having her baby's newborn pictures taken in the Nursery. I know how excited she was to see the nursery complete and to have me share it with you. This past week, her sister and I worked together to make sure that the Nursery would be absolutely perfect for the newborn pictures. On Saturday morning, I had the privilege of being there as the photographer took pictures of my friend's little angel.

My sincere hope is that this nursery, and the newborn pictures taken, help bring some joy to my dear friend during this time. I hope that she knows how much we love her. I hope she knows how many prayers have been said for her and her family. I hope she knows that her Father in Heaven is aware of her and her family and is watching over them. If you are willing, I also ask you to pray for her as well. I can't wait for the day that she is able to come home and rock her baby girl in this new nursery.