Let the decorating begin!

Now that we have our crib and dresser, we can turn our attention to the really fun part of getting a nursery ready: the decorating!

We already bought one of the main pieces that we plan to hang up -- either above the crib or above the dresser. It's a really cute and colorful alphabet collage:


Can anyone tell me what "N" is? It's got me a little perplexed.

Anyway. My Aunt Cindy is also planning to paint some block letters for us to spell out Ryan's name, in colors similar to those in the collage, so that will go on the other large wall. There's one more small wall where we could potentially hang stuff, so I'm pondering whether shelves might be cute there (and useful!).

I also want to get a valance for the window, but I can't decide on a color. We've got a navy blue rug that will probably go in front of the crib. Should I do navy again on the valance? Or pick another color out of the collage, like light blue or red?

We also need to decide what to do about lighting. We know we're getting rid of the floor lamp that is in there now (that thing is beyond beat up and has lived well past its life expectancy). The room doesn't have a ceiling light, which irritates me. So we would probably have to get another floor lamp, because the light switch works with the outlet on the far wall (therefore, even if we put a lamp on the dresser, it wouldn't be connected to the light switch).

So our options are: 1. Get a new floor lamp and be done with it; 2. Get a new floor lamp and a lamp for the dresser that serves more as decoration than actual purpose; or 3. Call an electrician and see how much of a hassle it would be to try to rig up a ceiling light in that room.

What I would really like to do is option #3. I've always wished that room had a ceiling light, and I think it would be safer than a floor lamp that he could possibly yank over once he becomes mobile. That room also gets really stuffy for some reason, so a ceiling light/fan combo would be GREAT, and it would mean that we also wouldn't have to put another fan in that room in the summer (floor fans also = not particularly safe). But I'm afraid that it would take a lot of tearing up of that room to accomplish that (and how would they make the switch control the ceiling fixture when it already controls the other outlet?). Naturally, I'm also afraid it would cost a ton. But it might be worth looking into. Has anyone done this or know anything about it?

Oh, and I think we're going to get a toy chest, too (you know me -- anything that is cute AND serves as storage gets an A+ in my book). I found some cute wooden ones that are the same color as the crib and dresser, and I found a really cool cherry red one, too, which intrigued me.

I also found a Phillies toy chest... but don't tell Mike cuz it was way expensive. Hey, maybe I could get the red one and put Phillies stickers on it!