Our nest is changing

We've been working on a few fun home projects this spring, and thought you might enjoy seeing them!  

The first was my personal favorite - updating Robbie's nursery for our little girl!  I wanted to make a few deliberate changes that would really transform the room, at minimal cost.  What we are ending up with as it all comes together is exciting to me!  I love it.  It's not completely finished so this is a sneak peek.

I found her crib bedding (see picture below) on sale at the Nods and Ends Outlet - and it inspired the color scheme and mural that my mom and I just painted.

We matched all of the colors in the bedding to paint chips, and bought little cans of paint (3 shades of pink, sage green, and brown) to use in the wall mural.  I wanted to do something big on the largest empty wall in the room - the one the crib and changing table are up against - and a tree fit the theme perfectly.  I already had this cute Dwell Studio blanket (from Target), so I incorporated the birds into the mural as well since the blanket matches the bedding perfectly and I will most likely leave it out on the glider as a throw.

And here is the mural, as it unfolded!  

(Forgive the glare, we painted the room with a satin finish when we were setting up the nursery for Robbie, and I really wish we had used a flat instead.)

Chalk outline:

Blocking in the tree and branches:

Adding the leaves and a few birds:

The row of birds on the lowest branch on the right side aren't painted in yet.  When we name our baby girl after she arrives, THEN we will paint this little row of birds in - and I thought it would be cute if each had a letter on it so that her name was spelled out.  I have since added beaks, eyes and legs to the birds as well.  You'll get a final picture of the nursery after our little girl is home and I have a chance to finish off the details!

Over memorial day weekend, we also had the exterior of our house repainted.  We are really happy to be done with the dark brown / evergreen color scheme, and love how neutral the tan and black combination turned out.

Is it odd that I adore black doors?!?!  This makes me so happy!  I love a black door with a lightly colored wreath...

Lastly, we had the family room and kitchen painted one continuous color - they were previously 2 different colors (green and cream) and yet they share one continuous wall along the back side of the house, which meant there was this random 'seam' that attempted to split the space, but instead was just awkward (decoratively).  Not a huge deal, but I am also not a green-wall person unless it's more of a sage, and this was celery green.  ::I just lost all of my male readers in one fell swoop!::

We decided on Silver Sage, which is Restoration Hardware's most popular paint color.  If you go into the store, most of the walls are painted Silver Sage.  It's seriously the most perfect color - not too cool, changes with the time of day and amount of daylight, and fluctuates between shades of blue and green.  I am in love.

So that's what we've been up to, nesting-wise!  Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have a finished basement/playroom to show you as well.