A peek into Lucy's room

I was tidying up Lucy's toy-strewn floor this afternoon, and I realized I haven't shared any photos of her room here. That's because it's not finished, and I tend to want to wait until everything is just so before sharing it. But I love seeing photos of other people's homes, so thought I should show a bit of it (it will never be "finished," anyway).

This is the main storage in her room. We use her closets for other purposes (they're tiny, and better suited to--for example--cold storage of apples, than clothes. Doesn't everyone store apples in their baby's room?) so we wanted a lot of storage in her room. Ultimately, this room will be shared by two children, so eventually these shelves will be chock full of stuff, but for now, we can keep them sparsely populated.

Like everyone else on the planet, apparently, we envisioned the IKEA Expedit shelf in this space. But the big one wouldn't fit, and the small one was too small. I loved the shape of the Markor, but it was dark, dark brown. Five coats of paint later, we have this. (I swear I spent all last winter in that room, painting.)

My best friend, organizer extraordinaire, arranged things on the shelves for us originally. I recently re-arranged a bit, to make the bottom two rows of shelves just right for our now-mobile baby. (And there's the fact that we just can't fold blankets in the perfectly neat way she could...)

What's on the shelves?

There's some practical stuff--lots of blankets, washcloths, hats, and shoes.

There's some sentimental stuff--our childhood teddy bears, a yo-yo clown from my childhood, her baby book, and a lullaby book made by that same friend.

There are many stuffed animals and other toys that were gifts from friends and family, as well as hand-me-downs from a friend.

And there are some books--but don't be fooled--most of our bookshelves look nothing like this. I used a few decoratively here, and put some of her favorites down at the bottom, but this is about 1,000th of the children's books in our home.



Beside the shelf is this little vignette of special objects--a framed card from my aunt (of "The Owl and the Pussycat," a poem we recite for Lucy all the time), a bird I made while waiting for her birth, and a decoupaged light switch (from a Gyo Fujikawa book).

I feel very self-conscious sharing parts of my home--it never feels as "finished" as other people's. But here it is. Maybe I'll go scrape some paint off the windows now, and share another corner soon.