apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Like the entrants in our Smallest, Coolest Contest, the nursery and the house overall is small. But Becky and Andrew do have a leg up on a lot of us - Becky's sister is a talented architect who has agreed to help plan the room. However, like many of us, they are space-constrained, time-constrained and would like to complete the project within a reasonable budget.

From the photos we can see that the room currently is being used as a study/catchall space. The built-in book shelves are staying to provide storage and display. A window (not shown) provides natural light and there is a small closet in the room. The wall color is staying - it reads more golden on the walls than it appears in the photos. The couple purchased the Room With a Zoo crib set from Babystyle to coordinate with the wall color.

Andrew says: I generally have no patience when it comes to home improvements of any kind. (It took me three years to finish removing wallpaper in the junk room well enough so we could hire someone to finish the job.) Yet the impending arrival of the Wee-Tot has awoken a collective nesting instinct in the four of us my wife, Becky, our two dogs, Molly and Lincoln, and Yours Truly. The Nursery will be born. Or will it? Follow our efforts to watch as we try to reclaim the junk room from a state of nature and transform it into a habitat sufficiently urbane for a future denizen of the U-Street Corridor. Maybe well start with changing the lightbulbs.

Becky says: Andrew and I do not always agree when it comes to decorating. I tend to like clean lines and uncluttered spaces. (That said, I do appreciate the occasional antique.) Andrew likes the traditional. So, would we like the same nursery furniture? To my surprise, we did. We went to a few baby superstores in the area, and we found most of the furniture to be too stuffy, too clunky and too ornate for our small future nursery. So we started to look online, and we loved a lot of the modern furniture lines Argington, DucDuc, Oeuf. Andrew loves to say oeuf. In fact, the word has taken on a new meaning, i.e., weve taken to using it as the sound of exasperation or resignation. (We have to order a crib four months in advance? Oeuf.) We also decided that we wanted to go for a gender neutral theme. So, we took the plunge and bought a crib set from Babystyle. (It was on sale!).

Things we know: Becky has decided on the Monte Luca Glider. They are pretty sure that they are going with the the Oeuf crib.

Things we don't know: Everything else is wide open.

To get them started, please share any comments, advice or ask a question.

(Thanks, Becky + Andrew!)