For my little boy, blue.

Benjamin Moore Prussian Blue if we’re being technical.

This room, like each and every in our house, has a story.

Until a couple months ago it was essentially my “dressing room”.

Until a couple of weeks ago it was painted in Benjamin Moore Lemon Ice.

I had deliberately chosen that color, deeming it gender neutral and soothing for a future nursery. We moved in at the end of January. I got pregnant at the beginning of February. He was born in October and despite all of my hard work and care, his room just wasn’t coming together for me.

And, as I have so many other times in my life, I turned to my friend Ben Moore for comfort. Prussian Blue was love at first sight. Gone were the days of staying up at night agonizing between White Diamond and White Dove. I saw it, I got a chip and I called our fabulous painters. And in a day it was done. And the room was transformed. But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. First I should show you the real before. As in, before this house was ours. This was the room when inhabited by the previous owners.

Before:

And here is our After:

No pun intended, truly, but this room, more than any other, has been a labor of love. In each corner is a something that somebody took the time to make for my little boy. The generosity and creativity has been nothing short of exquisite. The photo below features several examples of such love and care in and of itself.  The beautiful framed stars with his name, birthdate and stats from a friend and former parent of a student; the handmade blocks from my oldest and dearest; the gray blanket knit by my mom. 

Two important pieces in the photo above are the locker and the glider. The locker was found at a Co-op in Lambertville, NJ on a trip while I was pregnant. Once we found out that we were having a boy, we were pretty certain of his name, and felt that this piece would not only be practical and pleasing to the eye, but special to feature his initial. We also had the comfort of knowing that our daughter happens to share the same first initial, so that if it didn’t work in his room (or if his name changed) we could put it to good use. The Glider and Pillow are from West Elm. If you haven’t figured it out already, the color scheme that I was going for was Gray, Navy and Yellow. I have an aesthetic aversion to a jumble of colors all at once. I like to pick a theme and stick with it. I also am drawn to cool colors as opposed to warm, and so this velvety rocker with some green and gray undertones was just the perfect fit for me. 

Since Fox is a part of my name, and I have a certain fondness for woodland creatures, I decided to adorn his room with some Foxes (as you may have noticed hanging above the glider. That amazing photo of a baby fox was from the most amazing site, The Animal Print Shop in a simple frame from Home Goods (obv). The pillow that sits on the elephant rocking chair was handmade by our incredibly talented and incredibly dear family friend. Now look down. 

She also made that. Yes, that crochet Elephant was hand made. I mentioned to her that I liked elephants and gray (a fact she knew since she was also responsible for decorating our daughter’s old nursery) and voila, the most incredible creation. 

Continuing with the themes of love and elephants, my mom is responsible for these crib decorations. The pillow is Jonathan Adler (and in my color scheme) and the blanket is made by Bubbie herself. The crib sheets are Pottery Barn Kids, as are the gray textured rug and industrial silver and navy light fixture. 

My daughter just yesterday painted this for “her baby”. It is perfect. 

As is she. 

The furniture in the room is made by Young America, which is the same company we used for my daughter’s nursery and now big girl room. Their cribs convert to full size beds and we have been very happy with their products, both in design and quality. To ensure masculinity, we chose a very modern design and color scheme for his furniture, with graphite knobs and legs.

The assortment of frames behind his changing table run the gamut and are all incredibly meaningful in different ways. From left to right: A framed print of the cover of “The Sun Also Rises”, one of my favorite books of all time (and fortunately in my color scheme as well); a photo of my daughter kissing my very pregnant belly a week before delivery; a handmade frame from dear family friends that is a piece of art in itself; a photo of my son and I sleeping together in the hospital, in a yellow frame that reads “You are my sunshine” given to me by my former co-teacher and beloved friend; A welcome letter from President Barack Obama, hooked up by my former-white-house-intern of a sister; the hand written lyrics to the song “Wild Child” by one of our favorite artists, Brett Dennen.

These two wall hangings are both made by exceptional artists: Above, a print of Alexander the Great by Andy Warhol and below a painting inspired by Hans Hofmann by my daughter. 

This corner of the room is representative of two of the most important men in my life, my husband and my dad.  On the left is a series of race car photographs that my husband had printed and framed. They had been hanging in his office, but he brought them home to add to his son’s room. Something about a dad and his boy and cars. As far as my dad’s contribution to the corner, he gave us The LeRoy Neiman painting, which hung in his own childhood bedroom (his parents were serious art collectors) and my decision to include a globe was influenced by my dad as well. And by the fact that it was yellow.

The lamp is Happy Chic by Jonathan Adler for JC Penney and the Buddha is from Home Goods. From here on out, if I don’t refer to the store of origin, you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s an HG find. That same sentiment can be applied if you text me and wonder where I am. Or if I tell my daughter we are going to do an errand. It all goes back “Home”. In the words of my girl Carrie Bradshaw, “I have an addiction, sir.”On the windowsill we have displayed model cars that belonged to my husband as a child. He must have had great intuition in choosing cars that were the exact color that I would approve of for our future son’s nursery. A wise man, I say. Just as my daughter loves hers, my son already loves his Anywhere Chair from Pottery Barn Kids and our dear friends who are more like family. Framed above it is a photo that I took on our trip to Maui, the month before we conceived our daughter. It shows a beautiful rainbow. I have a thing for rainbows. In fact, I walked down the aisle to a saxophone playing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

There is that saying about it taking a village to raise a child; And I feel as though I have an incredible tribe, all of whom have come together to lend support in a myriad of ways. Most of the ways are intangible and I’m unable to even put them into words, but in the photos of this room you can see that this little boy, this new member of a tribe of crazy, creative, loud, loving, beautiful, bonded people, is already so so very loved.