For each of us the word home conjures up many different memories and as mothers, we all desire to create a home for our babies.  We want them to have a space that is theirs, that is safe to play and rest, to dream and think, a place where they collect memories… memories that fill their hearts as they grow older and create their own homes.

One of the most exciting parts of pregnancy is designing the nursery that our little ones will spend the first years of their lives in.  When we saw the images that Faith captured of Henry’s nursery, we had to know more.  Please read on for our interview with Melissa to find out where she found all of the adorable details as well as how she and her husband crafted sweet Henry’s nursery.

What were your hopes and dreams for Henry’s nursery…

“My husband and I share a passion for traveling and animals.  We’ve been around the world and the country together and the thought of taking these incredible trips one day with our children made us want to decorate Henry’s nursery in a way that would encourage him to want to explore.  We both love experiencing different cultures and learning about new ways of life, so it is our hope that our children will share this same passion.  We saw the animal portraits and had to have them.  An African safari has always been on our bucket list, so we chose the safari theme to coincide with the exploring theme for Henry’s nursery with the plan to one day take one as a family.  We love walking up the stairs and seeing their precious faces when we open the double doors into his nursery.”

What kind of atmosphere were you trying to create for Henry?

“We wanted to create a comfortable sleeping environment for him which is why we chose to stick with neutral colors.  The taupes, light blues, and creams make his nursery feel calming, which is exactly want we want him to feel every night before bed.  The space we chose to use for the nursery was built to be an office with the double doors leading into the room, however, we chose to use the room as the nursery and to include a queen sized bed for the nights Henry isn’t feeling well and we want to be nearby or for the afternoon snuggles with mommy.  We also wanted to keep the nursery mostly gender neutral so we accented the taupes and creams with light blues which could easily be accented with blush pinks should we have a girl in the future :)”

What was the inspiration for including the wall size map?  

“I love that you immediately noticed the map!  It was actually our very first purchase when we found out we were expecting and we decorated the entire nursery around this map.  We wanted our son to grow up wanting to explore the world.  My husband and I both feel that the time we’ve spent traveling, studying abroad in college and experiencing different cultures has helped us to be the people we are today and we only hope our children will want to learn about life outside of their normal day to day.  I’d been looking for the perfect world map for months, and when I found this canvas tapestry map from Restoration Hardware, I fell in love!  We specifically put it above his crib so when he was old enough to stand up, he could look at all of the places we hope to take him!”

Where did you find the incredible pieces and details that you used?

“Henry’s bumper, embroidered pillows, the canvas map, crib and changing table all came from Restoration Hardware. The animal portraits above the changing table are from Tiny Toes Design.  She donates 10% of all proceeds to wildlife conservation and animal welfare – she is incredible to work with and we love her heart! They are framed with frames from Michaels.  The white elephant hamper is from Home Depot and the glider and ottoman are from Babies R Us.

Any thoughts or suggestions for other new moms?

“Putting a nursery together when you’re 26 weeks pregnant can be stressful! I recommend starting early with coming up with your theme and inspirations.  Utilize Pinterest to create a board filled with ideas and slowly delete items until you get down to what you want.  While gender specific nurseries are amazing — we are really happy we decided to keep ours neutral because we ended up spending so much money on certain pieces.  Lastly, enjoy the process.  It all goes by way too quickly.  I can’t believe a few months ago we were clearing out office decor and setting up his nursery and now we actually get to put him down to sleep in his crib.”  Melissa, Mother

FAITH TEASLEY PHOTOGRAPHY | Contax 645, 80mm f/2 lens. Portra 400 & 800 film. Nikon D700, 35mm 1.4 lens