The Little Lair

If you know me, then you can imagine that I have had visions of the nursery dancing in my head long before I knew the genders of these children. Decorating is just about my favorite thing to do. Now, mind you, I decorate on a budget. In fact, three pieces of furniture in my nursery are from the thrift store in town, not to mention the changing table I bought a few years ago at a yard sale for $10. Decorating any room should be about vision and patience. If you are able to completely furnish a room in your house in a weekend, then you have missed out on the joy of adding personal touches, playing with fabrics and colors, and making the space your own.

When we found out we were expecting a boy and a girl, the inspiration for their bedroom was already in place. A decorating magazine called Domino, which has since folded, featured a child's bedroom entitled Urbane Cowboy. I had tried to convince my daughter Maddox last year that she really wanted a cowgirl themed room, but somehow she thought pink was a bit more her style! The Urbane Cowboy nursery couldn't have been more perfect for a gender neutral room, and I was thrilled to put it together for the twins.

I started with a few basic pieces that held great significance for our family. My husband's boots from 1980 (and a pencil drawing of the boots sketched by his grandmother), some linen cowboy/cowgirl hand towels from the 50's that were in the family, even a pair of little white leather holsters with silver pistols that someone had given my mom when she was pregnant with me (clearly they assumed I was a boy). To top it off, Graham's mom gifted us with her cowgirl boots that she wore as a toddler, then saved for all these years.

Next, I found the cowboy fabric I had been coveting in the Domino picture. It is from a North Carolina based company called Rosenberry Rooms. You can check out their website here. When that order came in, I headed to a good fabric store and matched up the final fabrics to create the room. With a lot of help from a dear friend and her very talented mother, the bedding and curtains were made. The little lair is finally complete!The nightstand here was $10 at the thrift store. We painted it and it looks like new! Camel stool is also a thrift store purchase. I had it recovered with a cool ikat fabric.
We wanted a modern element, so I researched animal print rugs and found this one at West Elm. The framed picture on the right is from a Ladies' Home Journal article 'The Make Believe Twins' published in 1951; it was given to me by my sister-in-law.
A pic of big sister Maddy in the room wearing Daddy's cowboy boots. I wanted it to be a bit abstract, so I chose a picture with her back to the camera.
Those linen towels I told you about got turned into pillows, denoting whose crib is whose. I knew I had to offset the bold pattern of the rug with a few smaller prints for the bedding. Stripes are always great to work with when decorating. I also thought the fabric for the bumpers looked like little campfires and would be perfect with the cowboy/cowgirl theme!