Moira’s Friend Totoro

Moira’s Totoro horde

Setting up your first child’s nursery is a serious undertaking. Themes must be decided. Walls painted. Furniture found or purchased. Early on in my first pregnancy, I decided that our theme would be “My Neighbor Totoro” after the beloved Miyazaki classic. Truth be known, I never really cared for Japanese animation, and I had only seen the film once or twice when I made my decision. But ultimately it was the character and the forest scenery that I fell in love with. And with only one bedroom to share between our daughter and planned-for second child, it seemed like a safe bet in terms of unisexuality.

My Moira is five months old at the time of this posting and the nursery still isn’t quite finished. I’d really like to reapolster the rocking chair and paint a mural on the wall before I call it done. But here’s what we’ve got so far:

It’s not easy to find Totoro merchandise that won’t cost you an arm and a leg, so a lot of what you see here was hand-made.

Water color and acrylic

Crochet Totoro, from a free online pattern

Quilt made with fabric sourced from spoonflower.com

Even better, I was able to take things from my Totoro-themed baby shower in September and incorporate them into Moira’s room.

The dust sprite garlands that decorated the house during the shower became Moira’s mobile

Art projects from my baby shower: plush “nesting dolls”

and more traditional wooden ones, painted with love by M’s aunties and uncles.

It’s a work in progress, but a labor of love. M seems to enjoy her room, much as a little baby can:

Sweet dreams, dearheart.

 

And since I never got around to writing a post about the awesome shower that my friend’s gave me, here are some more pic