Personalized Nursery Decor That Trumps Tradition

We never shared the names of our daughters before they were born. For me, it was partly about not wanting to hear everyone’s two cents- being openly unenthused by a chosen moniker is easier for family and friends to do when it isn’t technically attached to a newborn baby. The other reason was tradition- I don’t know where the tradition came from, but it has always been engrained in my head that revealing the name before birth was taboo. And the only thing more taboo than revealing the name was buying items personalized with the name…

But, sometimes a girl just can’t help herself.

 Eight weeks before Goldie was born, I discovered Little Woolf personalized sheets on Etsy and had to order one- I mean, how could I not, right?! To this day, it is the most often inquired about item in my home- everyone who sees it has to have it.

 Then, I came across monogrammed pillows, and, well, with a name like Goldie, these clearly had to be ready and waiting in her nursery upon her homecoming.

And finally, I had a vision of covering one wall in graffiti with her name on it- and it wasn’t like I could have someone spraying aerosol cans in the nursery while a newborn slept. That would surely be a #MOMFAIL more severe than sidestepping a little superstition, so, a month before my due date, I commissioned the piece pictured at the top of this post from a very talented local artist, Jermaine West.(This was also selfishly motivated- my husband wasn’t sure if he was 100% sold on the name Goldie, but, once this happened, he didn’t have much choice.)

Note: All photos in this post were taken by Ana Schechter- check out her work here.