Nursery Reveal

Hi Blogland.  It's been a while...again.  I'm sorry to say that I think for a while this is the way it's going to be. With keeping the shop stocked, being pregnant, and still being a mom to my (now) three year old little monkey, blogging has taken a back seat.  I'll still be around, just probably really sporadically as I have been since finding out we were expecting.

That being said, I'm super excited to share my first full room reveal with you!  Of course, in keeping with my "new baby" theme I've had going on the last six months, this reveal is of the room he'll be calling his own- the nursery.  I worked on this room feverishly for the last month so I could enter it into the Joann Fabrics Simply for Baby video contest.  I work well with deadlines, so this was a really good thing for me.  It feels good to have the room done, and waiting for our little man's arrival. Please be sure to visit the contest page and like/repin your favorite submissions!  You can find my submission here, please take the time to like/repin my entry if you do actually like it!  

Of course during my video my camcorder wouldn't work, so I had to use the video option on my camera.  Not the greatest. My computer wouldn't let me edit (grrr), and it wouldn't pull off the "good" video I had.  That's what I was left with, and I'm sorry I had to speed talk through it!  There was a four minute time limit for the videos and between my camera just stopping recording halfway through, and me talking too much (me? talk to much?  NO!), I kept going over, so this one I breezed through it as quickly as I could.  I wanted to blog about it too though so you could see some more quality shots of the room.

I'll spare you with all the before's, because instead I want to highlight the actual projects I took on in this room...because there were quite a few.  When I put together the nursery for my first child, I was 36 weeks pregnant, had just moved in, and just needed to get something done.  This time around, I wanted to create something that I truly loved, and that my baby wouldn't outgrow as soon as he was no longer a "baby."  Because of that, my focus in this room was bright, bold colors, geometric patterns, and then I threw in some birds because they're bright and fun, and easy to replace when he is bigger.  I painted the room in a Valspar color called Quill from Lowes (hmm...grey...and yellow...and blue...and green...I think I have a problem with these colors!).  I love grey, and how soothing it is, but I wanted to make sure it was a distinctive grey- not too close to what I did in our own bedroom- so it's a much lighter color.

This is the view from the doorway, so we'll start there.  I know I'm late on the bandwagon for the thick striped curtains, but I still love them, so I chose to sew a pair for this room.  I used a linen colored canvas as the main panel, and I measured and sewed the navy stripes to that.  I lined the curtains with a lightweight cotton to be a little more light filtering, and to give them a nice finished look.  I love them.  They're thick, and heavy, and when I have the blackout shade pulled, they do a perfect job of blocking out that little bit of light that creeps out of the edges.

Moving on around the room- the armoire is just to your left as you walk in.  With the angled ceilings, it's difficult to do a ton of decorating up there, but it needed something.  The metal K was purchased at Hobby Lobby, but I put the rest together.  I already had the little fabric basket from our last nursery, but it no longer matched this theme.  I took the fabric off, made a template out of the wire frame, and sewed the new covering out of fabric I had left over from what I purchased for the crib.  The print on the left is a quote by A. A. Milne.  I designed it in Publisher and had it printed, and framed it in a thrift shop frame I found and painted white.

On the wall next to that is the fish tank I've been toting around with me since college.  Seriously, this tank has hung on the walls in four different houses.  I love it.  We have it wired to where it plugs in on the unfinished room on the back side of the wall, so no wires for junior to tug on- yay!

Herbert here is junior's resident beta.  I love these little fish.  Easy to care for, pretty, and so much personality.

This little nook is right around the corner.  I didn't utilize it very well with the first nursery.  I angled the crib, and had oversized furniture that really ate up the room.  I was so happy to be able to fit the glider in the room this time, but it was UGLY.  Don't get me wrong.  It's a nice, smooth rocking and swiveling Dutailier glider.  I fell asleep in it many a night with baby #1, but it needed a make over.  I recovered it in this bright, bold chevron print, pockets on the arms and all.  I chose to use an outdoor fabric for this, and I didn't prewash it since the whole point in using the outdoor fabric was to maintain it's water/stain repelling capabilities.  It didn't look quite complete after the basic recover, so I also tufted it with two large buttons, and I now love the finished look it has.  The vintage mirror I painted, lamp and shade were Goodwill finds, and the end table was from The Salvation Army.  I painted it a nice dark gray.  It's the perfect size for the space.

Here you can see the wall letters a little closer.  I painted the letters, framed them in thrift shop frames I painted, and put them on a fabric background.  I overbought the chevron fabric by quite a bit, so that's what I used.  Ideally another print would go there better, but that's what I had, so it's what I used.  It's a chevron corner.  Whatcha gonna do?  I also sewed the little minky baby blanket, and the birds hanging on the branch.

I saw a little stuffy that looked just like this on etsy and loved it.  I didn't love that it would cost me $40 though, and since I already had everything on hand I would need to make it, I free handed a pattern and sewed it up.

This little picture has a hard time showing up in the video, so I wanted to do a close up of it.  It's another thrifted frame I painted.  I had the mat cut to fit our ultrasound picture, and used my new Silhouette machine to cut the mustache and letters for our "little man" shot.

Next to the night stand is the crib.

I sewed the bumpers, crib sheet, and crib skirt.  I love the bright, fun bird and suzani style flowers on the outside of the bumper, and how it's more of a gender neutral print.  The inside is a bold lemon yellow and white tiled pattern- fun for baby to look at.  I made a solid navy crib sheet, and used the same navy as an accent on the crib skirt.  The skirt itself has single box pleats on each side, and a nice striped pattern with little dots along both sides of the white stripe.  Geometrics and bold colors, friends.  That's what I wanted.  

Above the crib is the pinwheel mobile that I made.  I used solid cardstock, and scrapbook paper that I glued together to make double sided for the prints, and hand cut each piece.  Let me tell you- that took forever, and left welts on my fingers...but I did it on a long drive up north, so it worked out okay.  I made the mobile frame out of dowels, and tied all the pinwheels on with clear pony beads through the eyelets on their backs.  They're so whimsical and pretty from every angle, and in the slightest breeze they swirl and spin.  I think junior will enjoy looking at them.  I hope so, anyway!

Moving next to the crib- under the window is another little table I painted.  I think it's supposed to be a table anyway.  It's so short though that I made a chevron cushion to put on top and use as a window seat.  I bought the box underneath at Target to store toys.  The stuffed animals are hanging out in a vintage magazine rack I picked up at the Salvation Army for a whopping $1 and painted blue.  Above that is a fabric book holder I sewed out of the fabric I had left over from the crib skirt.  Perfect storage alternative for books in a small room where a book shelf just won't fit.

The people that had this house before us used this room as a nursery, and they left these shelves.  I used them in the same spot on the first go around of the nursery, and they still work in the space, so I'm using them again.  The frames here are again thrifted frames I painted.  The print on the right is a quote from The Help that I designed in Publisher.  The one on the left is one I found online and thought was perfect for the space.

This is my FAVORITE wall space in the room.  I found this mid century modern dresser at Goodwill for $25.  $25!  I love that it is leggy (since we have baseboard heating that needs air flow to circulate) but still masculine, and lower so that with the changing pad on top it's the perfect height for me to change baby comfortably.  I painted it this bright, sunny yellow.  I also sewed the changing pad cover with the same fabrics I used in the minky baby blanket.  The light is a 3 pendant light kit from Lowes that I paired with three small drum shades, and the rug is also from Lowes, and is sold as a seasonal outdoor rug.

Above the dresser is my 3D art with fabric birds.  I sewed all of these out of fabrics I had left over from other projects I've done.  I hung them off magnolia branches harvested from the tree in my backyard, and framed the whole thing with another thrift shop find frame I painted white.  I love how the frame makes it look like a piece of art instead of just a few branches hanging on the wall.  I think it really sets the space off.

So, that's my nursery!  I'm so happy with the way it turned out.  And be sure to check back on the Joann contest.  Winners will be announced July 30!

Until next time,




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