Welcome to Elise's bedroom! Before she was born, Hubs and I spent a lot of time in this room. We sat on the floor imagining what our baby was going to be like, and how we could create a space that would meet his or her needs. Since we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, we wanted to keep it neutral. We also knew we wanted it to have a Montessori influence. We decided on child-sized furniture, natural materials, low-hanging pictures, a floor bed, etc - things that would be inviting to a small child and encourage movement. Anyway, here are the results! It is so much fun for us to see Elise thriving in this space!
Elise has been sleeping on her floor bed at night and for naps since she was twelve weeks old. Before that, she sleep in a
bassinet, or with me on the couch. :) Having a floor bed has really worked out well for our family, and I plan on posting more about our experience soon!
mattress: sultan florvag (ikea)
rug: wool tufted rug (world market)
mirror: old - hubs attached it to the wall with trim.
wall decor: left to right happy garden embroidery pattern (little dear),
fox decal (wee gallery),
art cards (wee gallery),
bird print (christine sutton)
mobile: mobile hanger (michael olaf), dream catcher (gift)
shelf: unfinished wooden crate (joann fabric and craft store)
knitted hedgehogs: smith pattern (ysolda teague)
Elise's room is upstairs, and when she wakes up from a nap we can hear her through the ceiling, crawling to either her shelf or her closet! She rarely wakes up crying - we end up going upstairs because we want to see her, not because she needs us.
curtain: you can barely see it, but my mom and I made it from
redwork renaissance fabric (moda)
wall decor: woodland wall graphics and
art cards (wee gallery)
chair: old - friends of my parents made it for me when I was a little babe
closet: we bought and installed closet organizing hardware from
lowe's, and adjusted it to child-level
laundry basket: old -
something similar (montessori services)
shelf: martha stewart cube organizer (home depot) - hubs attached a piece of white beadboard to the back
mobile: hot air balloons (flensted mobiles), purchased at
The Livingston Kite Company
Oh, Elise and I have spent many an hour in that chair! I wasn't sure I wanted to put a such a monster of a chair in her room, but it has really been nice for nursing, snuggling, and reading books. Eventually it will go somewhere else in the house, and then this corner will evolve into a new space.
chair: blain (best home furnishings - storytime series), purchased at
Bibs and Binkies
side-table: old - an awesome garage sale freebie
sailboat painting: a christine sutton original
Inspiring Montessori bedrooms:
Love : )
ReplyDeleteWonderful, really inspiring, cant't wait to imitate!
ReplyDeleteThanks
Maria (and two month old Molly)
I love the black and white splashes everywhere!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of this but I have an honest question... Where are the toys? I have a 2 year old and try to have toys that promote imagination and a lot of wooden toys. But it seems that her rooms is filled. You only have, like, 4. Are they somewhere else? Just wondering. We do t have a lot of space. Like a playroom. Just wondering how I'd be able to downsize so drastically.
ReplyDeleteI try to keep Elise's room simple because I want it to be a relaxing place for her to sleep. If there were too many toys, I think she would be off her floor bed playing all night! We spend most of our time in the living room, so that's where the majority of Elise's toys are kept. Here's a link to what our living room setup looks like: http://ittybittylove.blogspot.com/2013/06/our-living-room-is-definitely-heart-of.html. Our home is small, but we have an amazingly large linen closet where I am able to store a lot of the extra toys. This allows me to limit the number of toys that are out at one time, and I am able to rotate toys depending on Elise's interest. This works really well for us right now, but I'm sure it will change as Elise gets older. My plan is to include Elise in deciding which toys to have out on the shelves and which toys to store in the closet. We'll see how it goes!
DeleteI am hesitant to moving my DD out of her crib for that same reason, she will be out playing with all the toys. I just don't have anywhere to put them :0/ thanks for responding. It's something's to think about. I want to homeschool and incorporate montessori style learning. I will definitely be referring to your blog!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your daughter's room. I love the black and white prints and have some as well in our living room and the nursery. However, we are still co-sleeping and I am debating what to do next. Sixtine sleeps on a floor bed but I have a crib in Victoire's room that she uses for naps which makes it not practical as I nurse in my bed and have to transfer her then - would make my life ten times easier if she had a big bed for me to lie down on. I am considering buying a single mattress and put it right by her crib mattress (it is great quality/organic) and sell the crib. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteThank you! Oh my, transferring Victoire from your bed to her crib for a nap sounds stressful. I'm not at all brave about moving Elise while she's sleeping - that's one of the reasons I love the floor bed so much. I would definitely consider putting a mattress alongside her crib mattress on the floor. I think I've read about people doing that. I have a friend who's daughter slept on a crib mattress on the floor - she nursed her there, but I don't think it was comfortable Our routine is that I nurse Elise on her bed and then slip away when she falls asleep. Most nights she wakes up around 3 or 4, and I then I go in and sleep with her until the morning. I'm curious to know what you decide!
DeleteHi! I love this room! I'm using it as an inspiration in making my daughter's play room!
ReplyDeleteJoyce (tooorganized.blogspot.com)
Thanks for the kind words! I can't wait to see how your daughter's playroom turns out!
DeleteI'm loving all that I read here.
ReplyDeleteOnly recently I found out about Montessori and would like to give it a go now that my son is almost 2 yrs and need to have the transition from his cot to the toddler bed. Do you think I still on time to do it or is it just too late?
Gracias
Sagi
No, I don't think it's too late! Give it a try! I'm sure you'll discover that you've been doing many Montessori-type things with your son all along. 2 years old is the perfect time to start finding ways to support your son's independence - it will save you both from "the terrible twos." Thanks so much for reading!
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