Hazel May’s Cactus Nursery

Hazel’s Cactus Nursery

It was a long drawn out process, but we finally have Hazel’s nursery DONE! We are absolutely in love! Before I even knew I was pregnant, right before Thanksgiving, I made a trip to Bargain Hunt and came across one of my favorite Target floor lamps. It’s the marble base with the gold stand and white metal shade that kind of angles back and forth so you can get it at just the right angle. It was at Bargain Hunt for $35, and when I saw it, I immediately envisioned Hazel’s cactus nursery. Not even knowing for sure that I was pregnant, I trusted that gut feeling that the Holy Spirit is continually putting in my heart and bought it. I got home and told Dustin I bought it for our future baby girl’s nursery. He kind of giggled at me, but it was then that I knew I was pregnant with little Hazel. I didn’t know her name would be Hazel or any other specifics, but I knew her cactus nursery would have a gold and white target floor lamp in it that I’ve loved since I saw it at Target years ago.

A couple weeks later, I was black Friday shopping with my mom at At Home and saw a light pink and green wreath. I immediately envisioned it in Hazel’s cactus nursery. At this point, I did know I was 3.5 weeks pregnant from a home pregnancy test, but I had not been to the doctor yet and, of course, had no idea it was a girl. I bought the wreath anyways because it was half off, and I just had this gut feeling it was going to be a baby girl. I showed Dustin when I got home, and again, he kind of giggled at me and just let me do my thing.

Then, on February 14th, we found out it was a girl! Now, nursery planning could really commence, and no one would look at me weird for buying girl things before we officially knew the gender. I convinced Dustin to help me paint her entire room white. Our whole house is painted a really light gray/blue, but I knew I wanted her nursery light pink and green, which does not go with blueish walls. So, we got to work. I knew I wanted the theme to be succulents, but I didn’t know yet how that would play out. I knew that I had to paint a mural on her wall because I did mountains on Grayson’s wall, and I wanted her to have a mommy-painted mural, too. However, I was NOT confident in my succulent painting skills. I started scouring Pinterest for ideas and was about to conclude that I needed to buy wallpaper because there was just no way I could paint succulents or cacti and make them look good. Then, my sister-in-law, a.k.a, Aunt Dev, came through in a big way. She found an Instagram account of a model named Cheyenna_Coerper. Cheyenne was pregnant with a baby boy and was painting a cactus mural on her little boy’s nursery wall. She had a highlight on her Insta account showing a step by step of how she painted them! I was in love, and then, all of a sudden had the confidence I needed to paint it myself instead of spending literally 100s of dollars on wallpaper. So, in March, I went to Lowes, picked out my green color palettes, and started painting the cactus mural. I knew if I didn’t get it done in March, it wouldn’t happen because starting in April, my schedule picked up and literally did not slow down until…well…it still hasn’t really slowed down. It took me 3 full days to finish it, but when I saw the finished product, I LOVED it. So, big big big shout out to Devin and Cheyenne because I needed to see some step by steps in order to know how to do this myself. I even used her sign company that made the wooden name sign that hangs above her little man’s bed because I just loved it so much. In case you’re interested, it’s Wild Fern Wood Designs! Something that I loved most about using her was that she let me send her my own font to use for Hazel’s name on the sign!

Once the wall was finished, I knew I wanted to use the white dresser from my childhood, which we also used in Grayson’s nursery, as Hazel’s changing table/dresser. So, for Grayson’s birthday (March 1st), my mom (Granna) bought him bunk beds with a matching dresser more suitable for a “big boy” room. We assembled it quickly, and then, moved the white dresser into Hazel’s room. Next, we also knew we wanted to use the gray glider from Grayson’s room in Hazel’s nursery. We didn’t really use the glider for anything except reading before sleep time. So, we assembled the bottom bunk of his bunk bed and started reading there so the glider could move over to Hazel’s cactus nursery. The next purchase was the rug. The infamous rug. I’ve linked to where we got it off Wayfair, and it is literally the softest rug ever. We love love love it!

The smaller things followed. A few fake succulent plants, an AWESOME cactus pillow my mom made, a wooden shelf from Target, a cactus sunset photo from the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby, a white bookshelf from At Home, a gold cactus bow hanger, the most adorable little succulent basket from a dear friend of mine, and the “prickle pots” blanket, sheet, and changing pad cover from Target.

On my birthday, Dustin and I finally got all of it hung, set up, and put up so I could take pictures of it. This has been something I have wanted to do for several days now so to be able to do it on my birthday was the best birthday gift! Now, I’m sharing it with you, and I’m SO pumped!

If you have any questions about any of it, just leave a comment below! I would be happy to answer anything! Also, there are some fun photos of Gray at the end because why not have a photoshoot with a kid that is that stinkin’ cute??!!

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I’m a Knoxville Wedding Photographer that loves to travel…I shoot anywhere! Click here to contact me with any questions you have about pricing or booking! If you liked what you saw above, go ahead and follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see my daily updates of the latest sessions!

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