Yay for Cohen's Nursery (and not having to sleep in a bathtub)

So, pretty much since the moment we found out we were having a boy, I began planning in my mind what I wanted for his nursery.  The colors were already decided, since I'm obsessed with grey and turquoise for a boy (it was going to be grey and fuschia for a girl), and I knew I wouldn't have trouble deciding on the furniture since I had been set on having a black/espresso finish.  But OMG, did I have my work cut out for me when it came to actually deciding on bedding and wall coverings and accesories. 
Let me be the first to say - while I realize I am having a sweet, beautiful baby, the last thing I wanted was sheep or a nursery ensemble with puffy blue clouds and trains.  I wanted sweet, but I didn't want a diabetic-coma-inducing design.  I wanted something that would have just the right balance between newborn baby sweet and toddler cool.  I knew I needed something to add just the right touch of 'sweet', so shortly after finding out we were having a "Cohen", Drew and I were in Pier 1 and I saw the softest, cutest stuffed owl and I knew that was my 'sweet' component!  That's when I decided that owls would play a part in the decor.  I didn't want the nursery to be owl crazy...just a few owls here and there.  So I found a wall decal on Etsy and decided to place an order.  I wanted a dark grey accent wall behind the crib, and the white tree decal would be the perfect color contrast - and the turquoise accents on the leaves, owl and birds wings would tie in the turquoise color!
Then came some creative wall hangings - I was at work one day, playing around with PowerPoint and came up with the "C is for Cohen" name print that I've mentioned in previous blogs.  So I printed it out, framed it and that became my first wall hanging.  The 2nd wall hanging I ordered off Etsy from a lady who does song lyric tranfers onto canvas boards.  I chose the lyrics to 'My Wish' by Rascal Flatts, which has also been mentioned in previous blogs and was just perfect, for completely obvious reasons.  My 3rd wall hanging (not pictured yet), came from my momma and stepdaddy when they were in Savannah.  It's Cohen's initials from various pictures taken in random places.  The best initial though, is the "L" for Lees.  It's a pitchers arm, angled in an "L" shape and holding a baseball.  Given Drew's love for all sports, he LOVED this touch and it's sure to hang in Cohen's room for a LOOOOOOOOOONG time. 
So, the majority of the room had been decided on - except, for the dreaded bedding.  I just couldn't decide on anything.  Every bedding set in the store made my head spin and while I would have loved some of it in other people's nurseries, I just couldn't see Mickey Mouse in my house.  So, I took to the internet to have something custom made.
Being a pattern fanatic, I knew I wanted stripes.  I'm more than mildy crazy-nutso-obsessed with anything striped (vertical, horizontal, chevron...stripes, stripes, STRIPES!)  There's something so timeless and fun and bold about stripes - and the versatility to be able to put any color with them makes them effortless.  So I had my color scheme, my furniture, and my pattern.  But putting it all together caused the most anxiety that I've experienced during this entire pregnancy. 
I would look at the bedding designs on www.babybedding.com (c/o Carousel Designs) where they had a virtual nursery that you could play around with fabrics and create whatever combination of patterns you could dream up.  While entertaining, this feature was a dangerous option for someone so OCD about the task at hand.  I'd get on the website pretty much every day and play around with putting it all together, then close the browser, still unable to pull the trigger and make a decision.  This went on for about a month.  There were nights where I'd get up to use the bathroom and literally lay there and think about bedding designs.  (Insert 'this girl is crazy and should not be allowed to pro-create' thought here).  So I did some mockups of what I think I wanted, then eliminated what I didn't like once it was printed out.  I shared it with momma, with Mandy, with Drew (who responded with the correct, albeit unhelpful response of 'whatever you want, babe')...and after about 2 weeks of hearing 'you better get that ordered before the baby's actually here and has to sleep in the bathtub', I pulled the trigger and decided on a pattern.  This momentous decision happened about 2 hours ago when I logged on, decided on my pattern, piled up the virtual shopping cart and entered in my debit card information. 
And with that, ladies and gents, I give you the finalized design board for Cohen's nursery!

I know Cohen probably wont appreciate the time and stress that went into making his room as 'perfect' as possible.  After all, he is a boy and if he's anything like his daddy, he'll care less about decorating and be more into sports (I actually pray that's is the way it goes, lol...) but even with the fact that completing this nursery design was harder than picking out my wedding dress, I enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait to see little man in his room! 

***81 DAYS TO GO & COUNTING!***