Mercy's Mermaid Wonderland

mermaidwall.jpg

I am very excited about this post! I've been dying to get some good photos of Mercy's nursery, I have had SO. MUCH. FUN planning it and decorating it! So I'm very excited to share it here!

Before I get to that, I'll give you an update on our Mercy girl. We had a doctor's appointment today and were able to talk about apnea, weight gain, nursing, vaccinations, etc... It was a good visit. Yesterday Mercy had another episode of apnea, she wasn't breathing and her alarm went off. This time she was sleeping on Chris and he was right there to startle her into breathing again and all was well. Get ready for a post about how grateful I am for that heart monitor! So we decided to go up on her caffeine, from .55ml to .6ml. Yes, .05ml is enough to make a difference! Hard to believe, like how 5 calories per feeding is enough to make a difference in her weight gain... so funny. BUT that extra 5 calories sure is making a difference! Mercy is three pounds and one ounce heavier than her birth weight, weighing in today at 5lb 6oz! She's also 4 inches longer, today she was 19 inches! It's hard for me to even remember her being that tiny, she is growing so fast! God is good. Period.

Pinterest is my friend and where my original inspiration for this room came from. A close friend found this wall on Pinterest and said it looks like a mermaid fin:

http://pinterest.com/pin/279504720595177079/

...it does, and I wanted a mermaid themed room, so that is where we began... with Mercy's mermaid wonderwall:

Amazing mermaid wonderwall credit goes to Angie Lofton, Sara Clark and my mom. I was super pregnant and super sick, and I think I did an awesome job supervising! (here's the tutorial post on the scalloped wall if you're interested!)

 ...and of course, the other three walls had to be super pink, otherwise this wouldn't be Anna Kathryn Ellzey's daughter's nursery... right?

Next we (and by 'we' I mean my mom, while I, again, supervised awesomely) refinished this old chest of drawers which was once Mercy's Granddaddy's!

Love it! Oh, and the lamp, that was Mercy's first room decoration, a gift from our dear friends the Ballays! Isn't it fantastic??

Here are some shots of the finished product:

 I made the bedding, I might redo the skirt one day for something a little louder... it'll do for now! The frames came from thrift shops and were spray painted white and the graphics I did on Illustrator. 

We love her. 

 I made the drapes from the same fabric inside the bumper pads. So. Simple. Just hemmed them and used rings with clips to hang them! I actually didn't even hem the bottom, I decided I liked them pooled on the carpet like that.

The quilt was made by a good friend who volunteers where I worked before Mercy came into the world (facebook.com/samcenfoodbank). It matches the drapes and bedding as well! ...and I made the pillows with leftover fabric. I did most of the artwork and sewing in the room, I was determined to create an awesome space on a very small budget, and I'm crafty anyways so it was fun!

Gotta keep the pink Clemson hat and socks displayed!

 The beginning of Mercy's cross wall! That cross in the middle was a wood cross from Hobby Lobby that I modpodged with tissue paper from the weekly gifts we received in the mail from one of Chris's neighbors! 

Our snuggle spot. I'm in love with this chair, so comfy! 

 Some of our favorite photos from our time in the NICU, and that's our first valentine from Mercy, one of her sweet nurses made it!

I just love that lamp. 

...and he is my favorite part of the room, Mr. Whale Hamper! Look how he watches over everything!

Here's a collage of the room that the amazing Melissa Breedlove (http://www.melissabreedlove.com/#) put together from our homecoming photoshoot:

Pretty awesome, right??

So that's it, Mercy's Mermaid Wonderland, best room in the house! Hope you enjoyed touring it as much as I enjoyed creating it! Now... if I could make our other rooms look as awesome as this one...