The Nursery... Our House Renovation Project

This week the house renovation is taking off... in the next couple of days, the scaffolding will be going up, and by next week, the builders will be in!

I am a big old mixture of emotions! Excitement, trepidation, optimism and anxiety. I can honestly say I have total faith in our builder, and he comes with the highest praise and recommendations by our friends, but that doesn't change the fact there's going to be a lot of change, a lot of noise and a lot of dust around these parts.

And a little tiny piece of me, amidst all the excitement and thankfulness that we can do this, is grieving a little bit. Perhaps that's too strong a word... but I have so very many happy memories in this little house of ours, just as it is, and while the changes will be wonderful and necessary for our growing family, a little piece of my heart will always remember the little house we first brought our babies home too.

And one specific little room.

The Nursery.

This little bedroom has been home to all three of our babies at some point. It has had its furniture moved around, the single bed was added between Heidi and Jonas as, for a little while, it served as our guest room. And that single bed has proved very welcome when I have wanted to be near a sick child, or just wanted to rest a weary body during a 3am feed.

It's a box room in essence, though a large one at that, which comfortably holds a single bed and a cot and good storage as well. It's a sunny, colourful, cheery little room, and I love it.

The curtains are blackout curtains... cheap, plain Argos blackout curtains, and I lovingly sewed on each individual fabric star when I was pregnant with Ava. So much expectation and excitement awaiting the arrival of our first baby, all poured into those curtains. I don't think I'll ever be able to get rid of them.

We always planned to make the nursery a neutral affair, knowing it would probably serve more than one baby, and so the walls are painted in "Ivory Lace" (Dulux) and the details a muted blue and green. We have always had surprises when its come to the gender of our babies, so we wanted something that would work for boys or girls. I sewed the little blinds for the internal windows during my first pregnancy and those little fabric squares have served our babies well, keeping the light out from the landing.

I finally finished the bunting the day before Ava was born. Talk about cutting it fine!

Now it is a little haven of rest for our littlest boy, and there is nowhere else he'd rather be when he's tired. Of all our three, this one loves his bed the most. I can count on one hand the number of times he's cried when I've put him down for a nap in his cot. He just lies there, smiling and droopy eyed, rolls over and off I go and leave him to it. Occasionally, I'll hear him chattering away to himself, but for the most part, he's asleep within three minutes of me leaving the room. He's not so great at sleeping in his buggy, but do you know what? I'll take that!

This room will have a little bit shaved off in the transformations to make way for the staircase up to the attic. It will still be home to our little man, but a slightly smaller version of itself and I suppose therefore will have a slightly different feel. The loss of the internal windows will mean theres no longer need for those little patchwork blinds I lovingly sewed, and the bunting will be a little on the long side. It'll probably need a new lick of paint, and a bit of a freshen up...

But I'm pretty sure it'll stay the sunny, colourful, cheery room which I love.

And those curtains are not going anywhere.