What’s Black and White and Red All Over?

Yesterday I shared the early plans for Calvin’s nursery, but today I thought I’d share what could have been.

Months back, I was looking through my wallpaper samples while thinking about what I was going to do in the nursery. The Scalamandré zebras have been a favorite for a long time, and Eleanor had even requested ages ago that we use them somewhere in this house. So I thought, hey! Maybe for the nursery! But then, perhaps you remember what happened with a certain little boy and his wallpapered room? I was not eager for a repeat.

Soon after scrapping that idea, I’d spotted a really cute zebra rug. Maybe the room could be inspired by the wallpaper instead! I already had those pillows elsewhere in the house, so I gathered them together and brought them up to the nursery. I found a red that was similar to the background of the wallpaper, and I went out to pick up the rug.

It wasn’t coming together though. The room would have needed a lot of art on the walls to break up all of the red, since I wasn’t going to have the pattern of wallpaper anymore. I could have switched to a different wall color of course, but the bigger problem with the plan was that I wasn’t a big fan of the rug in the room. The wood floor isn’t in the greatest condition (some discoloration from water damage, wear and tear from when the room functioned as a kitchen), and the rug only called attention to it. Back to the store it went, and back to the beginning for the room. I had Calvin not long after, and now that we’re past the newborn phase, I’m finally feeling ready and able to take on the design of his room again.

I still think the zebras could have led to a great nursery, but it wasn’t right for our house.