Home Tour: The Princessory

Oh there is just so much to share on our home tour and lots and lots of renovation stories to tell, but all in due time!  For our first stop on the home tour I’m so excited to take you through one of the happiest rooms in our Jones Sweet Home, the Princessory, a.k.a. Lila’s room!  This room is bursting at the seams with love, and almost every single thing I look at in here has some special meaning that makes me smile.

This is the view into the Princessory from the hall.  Looking at this picture, I immediately laugh when I see the rocker.  It is the fourth one that we’ve purchased for her.

The first glider I bought was a cheapie from Wayfair.com  It looked cute online, was a great price and, despite reading reviews that indicated it had the comfort level of a bag of potatoes, I bought it anyway.  I thought “how uncomfortable could it really be?”  Well once I put my big pregnant butt in it, the answer was that I would have chosen the bag of potatoes over this chair.  Lane was not home when it arrived, but of course I couldn’t wait to see it, so at 34 weeks pregnant I wrestled it out of the box and assembled it by myself.  I was devastated when I realized just how uncomfortable it really was, but when Lane got home I pretended that I loved it since he had already questioned my decision to cheap out on this purchase.  It didn’t take long, however, for the truth and a flood of hormonal tears to come out.  Lane assured me it was fine and that we could just ship it back and get a different one.  So he disassembled it, boxed it back up, and paid the $60 (1/4 the cost of the entire chair) to ship it back.  Bless his heart.

That week we went to Babies-R-Us and bought another chair that we thought they had in stock.  We were wrong, but we didn’t know it until we’d already paid.  So we wouldn’t get the new chair for two weeks.  It was more than I wanted to spend, but I was happy to have it done and the new chair on the way.  Well lo and behold if I didn’t find another glider that I liked better than the one we’d just ordered when I went to Target the very next day.  And it was $200 less.  I sent Lane a pic and he so very kindly said he’d call to cancel the other one.  This turned in to an epic battle with Babies-R-Us, who apparently considered our purchase a “special order” even though they were supposed to have it in stock at the store.  Thank goodness AmEx came through and stopped the charges with no prob.  So, we picked chair #3 up the next day.

Once the chair was in Lila’s room the color wasn’t exactly what I was hoping, but I dared not speak the words.  Lane and I were both exhausted with the chair drama and I was annoying myself with my own indecisiveness, which is so not my style.  Again I blame the hormones.  But the chair was comfortable enough and it was there, so up until just a few weeks ago, that was what we were rockin.  And then last month we went in to Costco for toilet paper…  so naturally we came out with this snazzy tufted rocker that is identical to the first one that I wanted BEFORE I cheaped out and the whole rocker debacle began.  Lesson learned.

The toy box that is peeping out from behind that rocker is one that my grandfather built for me that Lane and I repaired and repainted for Lila.  It had wheels and was white, yellow, red and blue before.  We changed the wheels out for legs and sanded and painted it white, purple, orange and a pretty seafoam color.  I love that toybox.

The lamp and lampshade I painted to match the birdie theme of her room and the letters above her closet I also made out of a ton of little flowers punched out of different colored paper.

The antique dresser is a gorgeous piece that was also in my room when I was a kid.  My mom bought it for $20 at a yard sale when she was pregnant with me.  What a score.  We use the dresser as a changing table and it has worked so well.  Hanging above it is a paper crane mobile that Lane and I made together.  I saw one just like it in the natural baby store where I took prenatal yoga, but it was $50, and while it was gorgeous…  fifty dollars?  Uhhh, no.  I made this one for about $5 and I adore it.  So does Lila.  She points to it and chirps now.  Be still my heart.

The banner on this sweet little wall is one that I made for Lila’s first birthday party and the canvas and framed prints were a Christmas gift from Lane, purchased for the birds, of course.  That birdcage in the center is actually a gorgeous nightlight that my brother made.  It is one of my favorite things in this room.  It emits the perfect amount of light and casts the most beautiful shadows on her walls.  I love looking at it when I’m rocking her to sleep.

The “L” and the birdie on the left side were also gifts from Lila’s aunt and uncle for her first birthday.  The birdhouse on the right side of the bookshelf was built by my grandfather and it is trimmed in lace that was made by my great-grandmother in the 1930’s.   I only know that because my grandmother’s handwriting on the bottom tells me so.  This piece was given to me by my aunt at my baby shower and is incredibly special to me.

The cute bins are from Target and store a bunch of foam pieces and crayons.  The precious rocking chair was a gift from our neighbors in the house were we lived when Lila was born, and the bunny sitting in it is one of her favorite toys.

The crib was a shower gift from my bestie and I love it.  Wasn’t too thrilled when the dog chewed that front left leg the week that we brought Lila home though…  The paper lanterns were originally purchased for our wedding and I just love them bundled above her crib.  We used to have one of those light projectors that did underwater scenes or a cow jumping over the moon or whatever and it looked so beautiful pointed onto these lanterns.  And the canvas of course is for the birdies.

This bookshelf holds so many things dear to my heart too.  The frame hanging above it is a cane syrup label from syrup that was made on Lane’s family’s farm.  The top shelf holds a “50 rules for daddys of daughters” print that I made for Lane for Christmas the year I was pregnant, as well as the noise maker/light projector (a must have for a little one as far as I’m concerned), the paper flower bouquet that I made and carried at our wedding, and a little dachshund statue as a tribute to my first four legged baby.

The second shelf from the top holds a print that was especially made for Lila Clare, as well as the Dreamsicle collection that my grandmother started for me when I was a kid.

The third shelf holds my baby shower invitation, the felt crown that I made for Lila’s first birthday, and a little piggy bank.  I had all but forgotten about this piggy bank and when I went to dust the shelf a few months ago I was shocked to find it full.  Turns out that Daddy fills it with his pocket change when I’m not looking.  I sure love that guy.

The bottom two shelves holds Lila’s books, a box that has all of my sonogram pictures in it, and a sweet sign that says “Always remember where you came from, but never lost sight of where you’re going.”  And the flamingo is from a kind family member who gave it to me when I was pregnant…  because she thought it was a stork.  Our dog is terrified of it and pokes it with her nose and barks at it randomly.  Never a dull moment around here.

And that’s it friends!  That’s my girl’s room.  I hope you loved seeing all of the meaningful things that make it so special to us.  The pieces with history and a story are truly what makes a house a home and I can’t wait to share more with you on the rest of the home tour.  Check back soon for the next stop, there’s lots more to see!