Cool Cribs

I've been working on a nursery for a friend and thus have been scouting cribs. I must say that there are some pretty amazing little baby beds out there! Annoyingly, my favs are crazy expensive but there are definitely plenty of wonderful well-priced options too. The premium collections do seem to have more stylish (and probably higher quality) changing tables. Most have a removable changing tray which means that the dresser/chest can be used for many years instead of just a few. On that same note (especially if you're buying an expensive crib), it's smart to get one that converts to a toddler and/or twin bed so that it can be used for a longer period of time.

Nurseryworks has absolutely fabulous cribs (but def $$$)...the darling Dorothy Draper-esque Uptown and the crystal clear acrylic Hollis are the best in my opinion...

Designed by Tamara Honey of House of Honey

Ducduc also makes really neat baby furniture including this sophisticated Morgan crib and changer...

I also love the cribs and changers from the New Traditionalists. I'm especially fond of the looks of the Regency and Savannah styles...

Final photo via So Haute

I know that most parents-to-be aren't in the market for super expensive cribs and I promise that I'm not showing these to torture everyone. If you do love one of the above, keep in mind that you can modify a cheaper crib and make it look like one of the luxe styles. For instance, the fun colored accents of the New Traditionalist's Savannah crib could be recreated by adding some painted wood panels and trim or the Dorothy Draper look of Nurseryworks' Uptown crib could be mimicked with some vintage brass hardware and some thoughtfully-placed glossy black trim pieces. Unfortunately, I don't think Nurseryworks' Hollis can be replicated in any way ;)

Are any of you planning a nursery right now? If so, have you picked a crib? Any special features or functions that you're searching for?

Exterior Paint Experimentation

Our house is in need of an exterior paint job which is both annoying because of the sizable cost, but also kind of exciting because it presents the opportunity to change the paint color! Our house is beige, which one of my least favorite colors (right up there with maroon/burgundy.  For the change, I'm thinking of going with a chalky white, with the hopes that the structure will look a little fresher. I need to pull some samples - Ben Moore's American White 2112-70  is one that's on my radar. For the windows I'll probably use a medium-toned warm gray, potentially BM's Englewood Cliffs 1607, and will keep the shutters black.

I like to digitally preview the color before calling the painters (which you can do too through Benjamin Moore's Personal Color Viewer preview tool), and here are the results:

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After...with a peacock blue door :)

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You might notice that the windows are white in the photos above. Unfortunately, whoever remodeled the house many moons ago opted to use nice wood windows in the front and cheap vinyl windows in the back. I just got a quote from Lowe's on replacing them so that they can be gray like the doors and other windows, however, the estimate for nine Pella windows was about $10k! That was WAY over what I thought it would cost, so I might have to let go of the dream of replacing them.

What do you think of the white paint color? I wish that our roof was darker so that there would be more contrast. Too bad you can't stain a roof....or can you? Anyhow, I was worried about how the white would look with the flagstone by the pool, but I think it's ok. Thoughts?