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Nursery Tour: Cate Cordelia's Modern Library

cate-3.jpgChild's name and age: Cate Cordelia, due any day now
Location: Redlands, California

With a pair of book lovers for parents, as well as a wonderful literary middle-namesake (Anne of Green Gables fans will get the reference), it's a pretty sure bet that Cate Cordelia will grow up with an appreciation for books. Her mother, Andrea, who also happens to be a librarian, was gracious enough to give us a tour of Cate's nursery and show us the many ways that books and reading have been incorporated into this lovely room.

 
 

cate-16.jpgWhat was your inspiration behind Cate's room?

Our house is filled with books, why should our first baby's room be any different? I am a medical librarian and both my husband and I are readers, although I am responsible for most of the non-medical books in the house (hopeless accumulator). We have a charming 1928 bungalow in Southern California that we have thoroughly enjoyed fixing up. We are completely done with the rest of the house, so when we found out we were pregnant, we were ridiculously excited to start on another project.

cate-7.jpgWhat were your design criteria? Were there any challenges you had to overcome?

Being big planners, we loved and incorporated a lot of ideas we found through Ohdeedoh, but we also had a few other criteria. We want to have our kids pretty close together, so we were willing to pay a little more for quality pieces that we could use for multiple children of either gender. I don't want to buy three sets of crib bedding in the space of a few years.

In about ten months, we are moving to Manhattan for my husband to complete a one-year cardiac anesthesia fellowship. We evaluated everything we bought for the baby's room in light of a small city apartment. Example: we wanted a glider/rocker but it needed to look appropriate in a living room. The Ikea dresser/changing table will probably be for all three of us in our New York year.

cate-13.jpgHow did you incorporate the idea of books and reading without making the room overly "theme-y"?

Well, this was actually kind of hard for me. I could fill up every available space with books/book-related paraphernalia. I am that much of a nerd. I had purchased the Pottery Barn Kids Schoolhouse book rack at least 18 months before I was pregnant because I love illustrated children's books so much that my collection was out of control and I had no way to look at the covers... they were all shelved the traditional, boring, spine facing-outward way.

I love vintage reading/library posters and found a used book called 75 Years of Children's Book Week Posters sponsored by the Children's Book Council (ISBN: 0-679-85106-2). It was SO hard to pick just two posters. I paid $14 to have Aaron Brother's come up with a custom mat to fit inside an inexpensive frame. We put everything together ourselves to save a little money.

Also, the framed Olivia print above the gilder is from an issue of The New Yorker that I saved from a few years ago. Olivia and her mother reading Good Night Moon? As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it in a baby's room someday.

We also have a few owls in the room. I have loved owls ever since I took a "Birds of Prey" course in college, but again, didn't want to get too crazy with any one theme.

cate-22.jpgWhat tips do you have for finding great children's books?

Books ARE really expensive when you buy them new or all at once. I am a huge yard-saler, thrift store, library book sale type of person. Rarely do you pay more than $.50 per book. You can also find good deals on Amazon's used books and eBay. I have four nieces and I pretty much only buy them books as presents. And I am really picky -- there are so many dumb children's books out there. So, over the years, whenever I buy my nieces a book I bought myself a copy as well... an instant way of building a great collection over time rather than spending a fortune all at once.

cate-21.jpg
Thanks so much for the tour, Andrea! And our best wishes for many happy years of reading ahead.

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Nursery Tours, books, reading

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Comments (15)

As a fellow librarian, this is the nursery of my dreams! It's just perfect! And I am soooo jealous of the Olivia print from the New Yorker. Great job!

posted by amarrano on 2008-09-30 09:45:31
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oooh, love the paint color. probably because it's the same color as my boys' nursery. :) i covet that bookrack too. hmm, maybe for their birthday?

posted by pyjammy on 2008-09-30 09:47:44
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This room is sooooo dreamy. I love the owl lamp.

posted by EricaHT on 2008-09-30 11:58:03
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I love this room! And it was smart of you to grab the bookshelf when you saw it. I believe it's no longer for sale (or at least not listed online), and it's thinner than other display bookshelves out there.

posted by LaneC on 2008-09-30 12:00:24
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can Andrea share the paint color name/number? great room, especially love the books!

posted by bekka on 2008-09-30 12:30:13
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FYI for those like me who want to copy the bookshelf look - I found a similar (but not quite as nice looking) bookshelf on walmart.com under toddler bookshelves.

posted by LaneC on 2008-09-30 12:40:08
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What's the Walmart link? I cannot seem to find a similar-looking bookshelf on their site.

posted by HPez on 2008-09-30 12:52:14
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I love how much personality there is in this nursery. The colors are interesting and soothing and they've done such a nice job incorporating new and vintage charm! Well done and thanks for sharing.

posted by racheloncegentry on 2008-09-30 13:41:14
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It's the Jack & Jill wide bookcase http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6115301

posted by LaneC on 2008-09-30 15:06:27
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I love it! Thanks for sharing with the AT community!

posted by Marbs on 2008-09-30 15:55:27
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bekka - we did a similar color in our boys' nursery, it's Seven Lakes by Glidden. In case Andrea doesn't get back to you with the paint color. You can see pictures here:
http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/nursery-tours/nursery-tour-linus-miles-and-olivers-make-room-for-three-room-050723

posted by pyjammy on 2008-09-30 17:03:45
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Love the Oeuf Sparrow Crib and the Area bedding! What a cool nursery.
Alina @ http://www.oliveandbeanboutique.com

posted by Alina@OliveandBean on 2008-10-02 15:07:03
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I'm pretty sure this is my favorite room ever. Does anyone know where to find those letter blocks? They are so cute! I'd also love to know more about the alphabet poster above the dresser and the glider. Great job!!

posted by ChristinaTE on 2008-10-03 17:37:18
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Lovely room. Where did you find the sweet little clock next to the owl lamp?

posted by lmmp on 2008-10-17 17:04:51
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I was also wondering about the letter blocks? Where can you buy them? Love the room! I have started a Little Golden Book collection for my son and think I am going to get the Walmart Jack & Jill bookshelf a previous poster brought to my attention. Thanks!

posted by lucy17dog on 2008-10-22 15:40:43
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