Creativity,  Family Life

Designing a Vintage Nursery Decor

This is going to be a wordy post. As this was originally a conversation response on Facebook, but then it got too long for my wall…

The nursery originally was painted with a satin kitchen and bathroom sage green paint below a natural wood chair rail installed by the Enginerd with a Vanilla type color above it. The doors to the closet and the door inside the nursery was also painted with the green. The far wall with the window had paneling that we put up that was a beautiful natural color. It was gorgeous. We then had sage green curtains that went to the floor as well. About the week, the Einginerd finished with the chair rail, we found out that he was going to lose his job with 90% of everyone else and we had to sell our house. We now live in a rental, and AppleBlossom is in our bedroom.

Recently I have come to decide since we are going to live here for a few years until we can save up again to try to buy another house that I want to make this home instead of just the place we live. (We bought the house in Georgia in October 2008, I became pregnant in November, he was laid off in April, AppleBlossom was born in July, and we moved here in October 2009. We sold the GA house in April 2010…) Being a rental, I cannot paint or change the cover plates (outlets/light switch) or hang anything that takes more than a single nail. It is the guest room that I have decided to convert to a guest room/nursery.

AppleBlossom is threatening to climb out of her crib (a hand-me-down that was given to us in our time of great need) and so we had to start looking into the idea of a toddler bed. [In case you are unaware… AppleBlossom is 11 months old… She will turn One on July 31st!! She has been walking for two months…] What we ended up buying is a convertible crib. It was worth the money, but it will take 10 weeks to get here.. now nine. So I decided that with the transition to a toddler bed, we might move her to her own “place”. We’ll probably start the new crib as a crib, then go to toddler bed… The new bed is Antique Black, meaning it is black, but rubbed red on the edges. So pretty!

The original decor and everything that I told people I wanted for her nursery was Classic Pooh. So far we have Classic Pooh stuffed animals, crib fitted sheets and then a crib comforter and bumper pads. We also have two wall art pieces and a gorgeous framed art print from my SisterB. Then there is also a growth chart. Now I decided to go out and seek if I could find a lamp, night light, clock and fabric. Target no longer carries Classic Pooh. It’s all gone. It was clearanced when AppleBlossom was born, but everyone kept telling me oh, it’s a phase it will come back. It’s not back, it’s gone. The fabric is licensed to JoAnn’s Fabric and it’s gone. All that is left is if a store happens to have some. Well I don’t even have a JoAnn’s in Memphis. I’m told that the closest one is in Mississippi! I’ve searched ebay, I’ve searched Etsy, and Amazon.com. Nobody seems to have Classic Pooh decor anymore. I’m devastated.

Well. The plan was to find Classic Pooh fabric, and make a quilt for the full size bed and then matching quilt for the toddler bed and other decor. The door for the plan has closed, so I needed to find something new. In conversation with my SisterB she suggested instead of being too matchy with the Classic Pooh that I find out when the books were written and go from that time period in nurseries. First off people make sure you realize I mean Classic Pooh, this is not your average Disney Winnie the Pooh. The colors and artistry are completely different. I’m not going for red-shirt Winnie the Pooh. The original Winnie the Pooh books were published in 1926 and 1928. Yesterday I started doing some research and trying to find anything about nurseries in that time period and came across a really cool blog dedicated to all things baby vintage. I was able to see some interesting ideas. Another thing I discovered is a website that has a massive library of Winnie the Pooh Clip art including Classic Pooh. I think is a very plausible idea to print some and frame it…

One thing I do have are the embroidery patterns for Classic Pooh (click the image to see larger picture). Once I realized that I was not going to be able to get Classic Pooh fabric, I decided that I could use other fabric and make a quilt and embroider Classic Pooh things on it. The issue now is finding the material and finding a quilt pattern. Today I went to Target for a last ditch effort to see out Classic Pooh. Nada. No Classic Pooh, not even clothes. *sigh* I did however see Target Circo Love & Nature Collection which is adorable! There is so much matching stuff and I could go that route, but then it would definitely all be girl and I like the idea of keeping it plausible for a boy (just in case – you know?). It reminds me of one of the Vintage nurseries I found HERE. (See, I could make all those pillows and stuff…)

So anyway… I don’t want to go with the Owls, even though I love them. After leaving Target a little disgruntled (but excited about our new Carter’s 12 mo Pj’s!!) I headed to the Arlington Quilting Barn to look and see if I could find any fabrics. In hand I had a print out of the Classic Pooh poster print (see above) to see about ideas for coloring. The colors that I see are orange, brown, yellow, green and blues. You could also plausibly bring out pink from Piglet. I had research 1920s nurseries and not found much (except old adverizements for cribs that look remarkably like bunny cages…) But while I was in the quilt shop I had an epiphany. What about 1930s reproduction prints? These types of fabric are huge in popularity with quilters right now. You can find them everywhere from most design houses. Now I’m excited again!

So now. I have Classic Pooh embroidery that will fit in 4-5 inch squares. I have a million fabrics to choose from. Now I need a pattern… and ideas. I think I can make this work. If I can indeed find a way to work with these fabrics then I can also make a wall hanging/clock/pillows whatever and find a great way to decorate.

Thoughts? Opinions? Help? See any Classic Pooh stuff near you?

BTW, I finished two quilt tops on Monday! I have to upload the pictures, but images are coming soon!!

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The Creative Madness Mama also known as Margaret is a Christian Stay-at-home Mama, married to the Enginerd, quilter, cross stitcher, avid reader and book-a-holic. As book blogger for various publicists, she loves to share the latest and greatest about books coming out as well as her needle art and other crafty projects with some pictures of her fourteen-year-old AppleBlossom, twelve-year-old OrangeBlossom (the Princess), nine-year-old Almond Blossom (the Rascal boy!), six-year-old (red) Mermaid Warrior, the four-and-a-half-year-old Viking Dragon, and Huckleberry (due in June 2024!) in between. Homeschooling, cloth diapering, breastfeeding, babywearing, bone broth brewing, tea drinking, list making mama full of a little creative and a lot of madness.

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