building the nursery, one step at a time

This week we took the first steps toward building our new nursery. We picked out her bedding at Target, the Olivia Collection by Dwell Studio (Psst... if anyone has a shopping bug, it is on sale this week, some items with free shipping!) and were ready to start preparing to turn our guest room into a nursery.
We cleared the room of most of its furniture and started thinking about wall color. We've been reading a lot about ways to make a safer nursery and we definitely wanted to use a paint that didn't contain all of the toxic fumes that standard paints release long after the paint is dry. We weren't sure exactly who would carry this type of paint locally, but we found some at the local Sherwin Williams Store called Harmony (it contains less solvents and zero-VOC's (volatile organic compounds)); it's available in most colors and priced very competitively with standard paints (plus it was on sale and we had a coupon for $10 off). We bought a few different color samples to put on the wall, but what we landed on was a color very similar to the green we have now, just a little softer and warmer (actually about the same color as the background of our blog).
We've got a little plaster repair to do in the room and after that we can paint and start putting in the furniture. We've decided to make a changing table out of the dresser that both Sarah and her Mother used when they were little girls. We bought the crib last week, but I'm waiting to put it together until we are ready to put it in the room. We've found a bookshelf that we like and the perfect glider rocker, but it is out of stock at Babies R Us right now... Hopefully we'll be able to get it by the end of April. Then we'll just have some finishing touches and we'll be all ready for our little bundle. Well, at least her room will be ready...
Yesterday we spent most of the day reorganizing our storage spaces and getting rid of a lot of stuff. We seem to do this at least once a year, and every time we find more things that we just don't need. But I think we have some extra incentive this year with all of the new things that will soon be filling our home.
As soon as we start making some progress, I'll be sure to post some pictures. Until then, cross your fingers that everything goes smoothly.