Family Fridays – Books as Nursery Decor

Warning: this is mostly a vanity post and has not much to do with literature.

I will freely admit that I’m not much of a decorator. My husband jokes (“states” might be a better term) that my decorating style is all right angles and nothing on the walls. I just don’t like my spaces to feel cluttered; it makes it difficult for me to think. And I never knew what to put up on the walls anyways. We finally agreed on antique maps (posters of antique maps, at least! We’re on a budget!) he’s a history guy, I like the order in them, and we both love to travel, so that’s pretty much our decorating “style”. When it came time to decorate the nursery, I knew I didn’t want to do a usual baby type theme and thought something travel related would be fun. To narrow it down a little, I decided on a London/British Isles theme as I already had several items that would fit in. I had spent a few years of my childhood there, and my husband and I had visited together on our honeymoon. Plus, my Mom had given me this adorable Paddington Bear board book and plush toy when I was newly pregnant so it seemed like a winner. It’s not a strict theme, the nursery is full of stuff I just happened to love, too.

Anyways, you’re probably wondering what the point of all this rambling is. Most of my decorating items are books. The wonderful thing about baby’s and children’s books is that they are practical and useful, but they are also beautiful. So, books plus these four dollar Ikea spice racks give us a really happy nursery full of beautiful and practical things. Please forgive the bad quality iPad photos. And if you haven’t checked out the This Is series, it is really, really wonderful. Also, I’m already super excited about changing out the books for Christmas books when we get closer!

I had planned to make my bookshelf contain more outward facing books for more of the “pretty” factor, but somehow they keep accumulating and so I can’t fit them! The thing on the wall is a history of our last name that I got my then-boyfriend-now-husband in college when my family went to Ireland, the “Little Toot on the Thames” was my mother’s when she was a little girl, and the double picture frame has a shot me and my two brothers around ages 9,7, and 5 in front of a red phone booth, and my husband in front of a different one (aged 20-ish?). I love my nursery because it is full of things I love, and that I hope to introduce my son to for him to love also. My favorite nurseries and children’s rooms are those that are full of things with meaning to the child and family, not necessarily those that are color coordinated and matched down to a t.

How do you decorate your children’s rooms? How was yours decorated as a child? Did you ever have books featured prominently?

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P.S. I also have this map on his wall, because I fell in love with it while pregnant and HAD to have it. Also, what is any room in the house without a map on the wall?