Nursery reveal!

We've been working on the nursery ever since July when I started the closet shuffle (parts 1 and 2) to make way for baby in the office-turned-nursery.  Now that no further progress will be made on the room before the baby arrives, I figured it's time to put it all together pictorially. So, without further ado....

(If you missed any of the process along the way, you can learn about nursery inspiration, DIY no-sew curtains, paint colors and furniture, the wall decal, a Modge-Podge IKEA bookcase mini-hack, DIY crib skirt, nursery art, storage strategies, and the ottoman reupholstering.)

Nursery progress: Quick ottoman update

For a while now we've been at a nursery progress stand still. There isn't really anything that needs to be done, but there are some little side projects I can accomplish as we wait on the baby's debut. The easiest of the remaining little projects involved reupholstering the $50 brown ottoman we bought at Target last month.

If you're on the Target website and you search for ottomans, you'll get over 1,000 results. This is no joke. Lots and lots to sort through. I found two light green microsuede ottomans that could have potentially worked in the nursery, but one cost $150 and the other was also over $100. Plus, I couldn't tell if either would be a perfect match to the color of the nursery recliner, so I figured after paying for shipping and then likely having to deal with the hassle of returning the furniture it wasn't worth the risk.

Instead while at the Target store Matt and I bought a circular brown fabric-covered storage ottoman that is the perfect height for the chair and the perfect general size for our relatively small nursery space. I wasn't in love with the ottoman's aesthetics, but I figured this was an opportunity to buy a staple gun and get to work.

I took leftover fabric from the nursery curtains and originally planned to reupholster the entire ottoman, but once I reupholstered the ottoman lid I thought the less-is-more statement worked quite well.

Because I've never upholstered anything before, I once again turned to Young House Love for advice and found this super easy tutorial for reupholstering a cushion, which is essentially what I was doing when I reupholstered the ottoman lid.

So, I went ahead and stapled the leftover curtain fabric at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions on the back of the ottoman lid. Then between each initial staple I performed a series of simple folds and added three more evenly spaced staples. The trickiest part of performing this task is keeping the fabric as taut as possible.

Eventually the entire lid was wrapped with too much leftover fabric, which I simply trimmed off before putting the lid back on the ottoman.

I'm satisfied with the less-is-more approach to the ottoman redesign. I think it gives it some style and makes it more integrated with the nursery decor without going overboard.

Although I could still add a mobile, some floating shelves, and a better solution for getting our additional light and humidifier to fit into our small space, for now I feel like the nursery is done...and that means tomorrow I'll share with you the big reveal!

Nursery progress: Storage solutions

Although our nursery space is rather small (9 feet by 10 feet) we're fortunate that it contains a really nice sized closet that came to us already containing adequate shelving. With the majority of the baby-gear purchasing over, it was time to figure out how to maximize the space. In addition to the closet, we also have storage in the bookcase and in the dresser/changing table Matt refinished.

So I decided, as I'm guessing most soon-to-be-parents do, that the dresser would house her diapering supplies and most of her clothing (with space for even more cute items to hang in the closet), and the closet would contain her bedding and similar supplies. During my trip to The Container Store a few weeks ago I used more of the gift card my students had given me last year to get several bins that would work in both the closet and the dresser.

Specifically, I found these inexpensive canvas bins in three different sizes and settled on one large bin ($11.99), two medium-sized bins ($9.99 each) and two small bins ($7.99 each). It took me a while to convince myself this was the route to go. I kept thinking I could/should go with a cuter option, or a set of wicker baskets, or something along those lines. But as I perused the store I kept coming back to the plain canvas bins. Then it finally struck me: I could decorate them. I don't know why it took me so long to figure that one out.

At first I was going to use the leftover material from the curtains, but the pattern proved too large for the size of the bins (plus I have other ideas for that material). Then when getting some more hem tape at Jo-Ann Fabrics I happened upon some iron-on decals that fit the nursery's look quite well (and one is even a bird, which fits my whole inadvertently-having-lots-of-birds-in-the-nursery motif). These also meet my requirement for decor that does not necessitate sewing. Sold. The time between arriving home with the decals and applying them to the bins was just under an hour. I also used one piece of orange scrapbook paper and my label maker to create some simple labels for the bins -- which thankfully come with built-in label space.

The big bin contains the handmade quilts and blankets Baby Awesomerod is inheriting from my own babyhood.

The two medium bins are for smaller blankets, bedding, changing pad covers and the like.

The two smaller bins, which look strikingly similar to the two medium-sized bins pictured above, contain burp cloths, bibs, and towels and washcloths.

We also have a sixth storage basket in our closet, one that came filled with books at my shower last month, and now it houses Swaddle Me wraps and Halo and Aden + Anais sleep sacks.

Inside the dresser/changing table I added a couple other inexpensive storage bins, as I discovered that not only are babies small, but so is their stuff, and it needs to be contained. I got this narrow eco-stripe drawer organizer ($7.99) for various toiletries and health items that would be useful to have on hand in the nursery (in the middle of the night? Most likely...)

 

and this small square eco-stripe drawer organizer ($4.99) is perfect for her adorable little collection of socks. So painfully cute.

On the cuteness scale, though, perhaps I spoke too soon. I used a small wooden bin that a Johnson and Johnson baby gift set came in to contain all her hats. If there's anything cuter in the world than baby socks it is undoubtedly baby hats. Bonus points for a winter baby who gets to wear adorable knit hats with bunny ears. Too much.

Finally, two shelves of the bookcase currently house two red baskets I picked up over the summer at Home Goods ($12.99 each). For now one is home to all her toys (she has an appropriate amount of toys for a newborn, which would be not that many...it seems sufficient). The other is home to miscellaneous items that needed to be corralled, including extra baby wipes, pacifiers I've picked up for free from various mom-to-be giveaways (still on the fence about pacifiers...we'll see how it goes) and items like our Bum Genius cloth diaper sprayer that we'll get around to installing in our guest bathroom upstairs when it's time to start cloth diapering (we don't plan to use the cloth diapers in the very beginning, mostly because everyone we know who has used them says they'll be too small for a newborn).

Of course, as with all things organizational, I imagine this nursery storage strategy will evolve over time as we figure out what works and what doesn't and what our specific baby needs the most.

What nursery storage hints have you discovered work for you?

Nursery progress: Art!

I realize I've been absent from the blog for over a week. We've had one intense week, mostly filled with activities that involve getting ready for the baby. It all started last Saturday with my fantastic baby shower thrown by two of my closest and dearest friends, and it's been followed by two different baby-preparation classes as well as lots of baby-gear assembling and baby shopping and baby list-making and baby organizing. More on all that soon. In case you can't tell by the timing of this post, now I'm back to experiencing some of my first and early second trimester trouble sleeping (despite being tired), so I'm going to stay away from complex posting for now. As I collect my thoughts, here's something quick I can share as we put the finishing touches on the nursery.

Long before I got pregnant, I had been starring in Google Reader (for the last two years, apparently) artwork I would like for a potential nursery inspired by different blogs I read. After lots of filtering, I narrowed down my choices to my top three options.

There's this great round-up for reading-related art at Ohdeedoh. I was contemplating a few of them.

Then there's these and these posters with strong messages for strong girls at Switcheroo.

I'm thinking when Baby Awesomerod is older that I'll probably get her a couple of these to inspire some of the qualities I hope she'll possess, like independence and confidence.

But I ultimately went with this print from Sycamore Street Press. I find the text beautiful, the colors ideal for the nursery (and at 11" by 14" the print is the right size for the space I've got), and to top it off I'm a sucker for letterpress, so I hope it's something our little girl will treasure until she's old and gray.

It makes me tear up just reading it, so I hope that in a few short weeks when I'm changing diapers at 3 a.m. I can look up at this print hanging above the changing table and be reminded of the big picture.

There are a couple other works of art we already owned (one from my childhood, one from Matt's family) getting ready for the nursery walls, and once everything is up I'll show you the finished product.

Nursery progress: Crib skirt done

After making my first set of DIY no-sew curtains for the nursery, I thought I would try my hand at making a no-sew crib skirt. Once again I followed the advice of the Young House Love folks and pretty much identically copied their crib skirt post. So, I don't have much to add to that dialogue, though I can say that:

1) It took me much longer to find the right fabric for the crib skirt. I already have two other patterns in the nursery between the curtains and the Modge Podged gift wrap coating the back of the bookcase, so I don't want to add too much else. But, I'm also comfortable with things not matching perfectly, so I finally pulled the trigger and got a black-and-white modern patterned fabric.

2) I bought twice as much fabric as I needed. For the four panels of the crib skirt I needed two yards, not four. Whoops. I'm a newbie at this whole fabric purchasing experience.

3) I couldn't (and still have not) figured out how to work around the edges of the crib's metal frame, the portion that holds up the mattress. So, that section is not perfect, but it will do, and I'm probably its worst critic. (Something tells me the baby won't notice.)

4) Spending about $40 total to make a crib skirt (supplies = fabric, hem tape, and Velcro) is a way better deal than buying an entire crib bedding set that can run you in the hundreds of dollars. I have started to see some stores and some bedding lines carry crib skirts separate from an entire bedding set, but so far the options I've seen are pretty limited. Now that crib bumpers are a supposed no-no, maybe more companies will start selling crib skirts and all other nursery bedding items a la carte.

Despite a couple tiny setbacks along the way, making the crib skirt was an easy afternoon project, and I think it makes the crib appear less naked, especially now that the crib is adjusted to the highest setting in anticipation of Baby Awesomerod's arrival. Before I attached the crib skirt there was a lot of empty space exposed underneath the mattress frame.

Right now we have a patterned crib sheet on the mattress. It's only there because we bought it for our sweet niece's visit several weeks ago. We tasked her with breaking in our crib, and she was up for the challenge, but we needed a sheet. So, while this sheet isn't my first choice (we registered for these bright green sheets at Buy Buy Baby) it will do.

Now with the crib skirt, the crib's a little more jazzed up.

Matt also took a few minutes over the weekend to attach the IKEA Billy bookcase to the wall, and I took a few minutes to see what it looks like with a few items added in. You might recognize a few of the items as toys I preserved from my childhood (and rediscovered in our crawl-space clean out). I'm sure everything will get reshuffled as Baby Awesomerod accumulates her own loot, but for now we've added a little more life to our little nursery space.

Now that all the furniture is in place and the more significant DIY jobs are complete, all we have left to do in the nursery is:

1) Buy an ottoman for the chair.
2) Find and install floating shelves next to the window.
3) Decide on and purchase/make/arrange nursery art.
4) Figure out if we're going to have a mobile over the crib and/or changing table; if so, will I make it or buy it, and how will we hang it from our really high ceilings?
5) Organize items in closet and determine an organizational system for all baby supplies.

So, at this point I view the remaining items as gravy. Nothing is a necessity (well, I guess most of our nursery tasks have been non-necessities as babies don't truly require much in terms of physical possessions). There's no rush, but hopefully the final items can get settled before January, and hopefully she won't arrive early.

Nursery progress: Modge Podge in the house

I have heard so much about Modge Podge on the Internets in the last couple years that I finally decided the nursery gave me an opportunity to try it out. It also helped me achieve my goal of adding those desired bright pops of color to the nursery's overall neutral palette of gray and white.

I decided to line the back of an inexpensive IKEA bookcase (this white Billy bookcase we bought a few weeks ago, to be exact) after being inspired by this post from IHeart Organizing about revamping a bookcase for bathroom storage. Even though Jen stenciled and painted the back of her bookcase, I decided the paper and Modge Podge route would be easier for me to tackle.

Then, inspired by this post from Young House Love about lining the drawers of their nursery dresser with pretty gift wrap, I did virtually the same thing to the inside of our nursery dresser drawers.

For both the bookcase and the dresser drawers I decided to use the same paper to create a consistent look. I figure the curtains are the biggest statement piece in the nursery, and I don't want to go too crazy with too many conflicting patterns in our relatively small room. I found thick single-sheet wrapping paper at World Market with a modern orange pattern (5 sheets at $2.69 each). I got my first-ever bottle of Modge Podge at Jo-Ann Fabrics (16 oz. for $8) a couple weeks ago.

If you've never before worked with Modge Podge, I have to say that it is a shockingly forgiving substance. It's sort of like Elmer's Glue (the old school kind), except something about its water-based make up means it's even easier to work with and glides on smoothly. When it dries it's perfectly clear, so you don't have to be worried about applying perfectly even coats to still get the results you're hoping for.

Here are my Modge Podging supplies all laid out: my giant bottle of matte finish Modge Podge as well as a foam brush I picked up in a bulk set from Michael's years ago.

After cutting the five pieces of gift wrap to fit in the bookcase backing and dresser drawers, I spread a thin layer of Modge Podge onto each surface and then immediately placed the gift wrap inside, taking care to press down firmly on the middle of the paper first and then smoothing the rest of the paper from the middle out to the edges of the surface to prevent bubbles.

I gave a little bit of drying time between getting the paper to adhere to the surfaces and then putting a layer of Modge Podge over the paper to protect the paper's surface, but I have to say that the hour or so I allowed for drying was not enough. If you are striving for absolute perfection -- absolutely no air bubbles -- definitely take the advice of the Young House Love folks and give yourself four hours of drying time between gluing the paper in and then sealing it.

In all honesty, as I approach the final stretch of pregnancy my patience is waning and my sense of urgency in regard to completing all projects is only increasing, so I decided on the express route (i.e. not striving for perfection). The good news is that there are no visible air bubbles on the back of the bookcase, but there are some inside one of the three dresser drawers.

Now that the Modge Podging is complete, one question remains: What to do about those pesky holes on the sides of the Billy bookcase? Granted, a few sets of holes will be filled in when I install the remaining four shelves. But most of the holes are going to be visible if I don't do anything. Although we have a Billy bookcase in a wood tone and we have the holes exposed on that one and it doesn't bother me, the holes are so much more prominent on this white bookcase. So, I feel like I should do something to make them less visible. One option would be the putty them up, but that seems semi-permanent and thus defeats the purpose of adjustable shelves. An idea from my in-laws is to cover them with ribbon, and I have orange ribbon that rather perfectly matches the gift wrap color.

But maybe you all have other ideas. What would you do? Suggestions welcome!

Nursery progress: Paint, curtains, furniture

Today marked the start of the school year and therefore the official end of my summer. It also meant that yesterday was our self-imposed deadline for finishing off items on our summer bucket list. Most of the major items left on the list had to do with the nursery, seeing as we spent the majority of the summer doing everything else around the house in preparation for getting to the nursery last.

Painting
The nursery was a perfect blank slate in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint. A week ago Matt and his dad spent several hours painting the nursery Behr's Silver Screen color. As they were applying the paint I kept thinking (and eventually said out loud), "This looks blue." When it dried, I said, "This looks purple." Either way, it did not look gray. The color was not bad per se, but it would not have gone well with the red, orange and bright green accent colors we are trying to use to add color to the nursery. So, for the first time in my life, I decided we had to repaint a room a new color. Friday afternoon I painted two samples over the Silver Screen walls: Behr's Silver Drop and Dolphin Fin. Saturday morning we settled on Dolphin Fin. Even though this color appears to have more yellowish undertones, this wound up being the perfect color to match the curtains I'd already made (and to match the vision I had in my head).

Silver Drop (top) and Dolphin Fin (bottom) layered on top of Silver Screen.

Fortunately, after having painted five other rooms in our house, we are pretty fast at painting and we've learned from our mistakes (our biggest secret: wipe the sides of the edger tool with a wet paper towel between every application to avoid getting paint on the ceiling and the need for the oh-so-nasty touch ups). We also own lots of the paint supplies we would have needed to buy, saving us a little cash. Our paint budget broke down as follows:

Nail hole filler -- $2.48
Paint samples  -- $6.17
Paint -- $63.96 (for two gallons, thanks to me changing my mind about the color)
Edger tool -- $4.97
Edger refills -- $2.54
Total cost of painting supplies: $80.12



Dresser
In early July we found a solid wood dresser on Craigslist in need of refinishing. Though we'd never refinished a dresser before, we (Matt) thought we could take on this task thanks to the handy post about refinishing a dresser (though, granted, a veneer dresser) on Young House Love. I went to Home Depot to pick up the supplies one afternoon, which wound up being right when the mid-August earthquake struck the east coast. I was standing in the paint aisle grabbing the white paint we'd need when suddenly the roof started rumbling (and even visibly shaking) and then cans of paint fell around me. Fortunately none fell on me or anyone else, and minutes later I found myself in the sandpaper aisle, you know, picking up sandpaper, because that's what you do right after an earthquake -- carry on.

Matt picked up a $20 electric hand sander on Craigslist earlier this summer in preparation for this task. We have at least one other piece of wooden furniture that we plan to refinish soon, though we probably have even more projects awaiting us in the near future now that we sort of know what we're doing. The main discoveries we have regarding this project (because we can't say too much beyond what the folks at Young House Love already told you):

1) Painting a refinished piece of wooden furniture is a lot more fool proof than staining one. Paint is forgiving; stain is not.

2) Paint still requires about four coats, even when you use a wood primer, before it really looks uniform.

One more discovery, unrelated to the manual labor that went into this project: World Market has lots of cute knobs. I had been drooling over expensive hardware from Anthropologie, but I couldn't commit to spending $8-$10 per knob when I needed six. At World Market I found knobs identical to this one, this one, and this one, all at $3 to $5 per knob. Also, it worked in my favor that World Market sent me two $10 birthday coupons, so when I found the knobs I wanted, they were quite reasonable. I went with these painted ceramic knobs that match the color scheme in the curtains:

Our dresser budget broke down as follows:

Wooden dresser  --  $40 (Craigslist)
2 packs of sandpaper --  $8.54
4" paint roller --  $4.97
4" paint roll 2 pack -- $4.97
Primer for dresser -- $7.98
White paint for dresser --  $10.88
Knobs for dresser -- $16.44 (World Market)

The dresser is actually not totally complete. We need to put a sealer on it, but Home Depot does not sell any low or no-VOC sealers, so we will probably purchase that online soon. As of right now we've spent $93.78 on the dresser project, not counting the $20 we spent on the sander that we'll be using a lot in the future.

Curtains
It was so nice to get the curtains I made up on the walls, especially after I installed the decal. I never had a chance to show you the curtains in their finished state. Here's a view of the nursery from the door.

Our budget for the curtains broke down as follows:

6 yards curtain fabric -- $100.74 (Jo-Ann Fabric) -- a big splurge!
2 packs of hem tape for curtains -- $5.98 (Jo-Ann Fabric, but now I know it's way cheaper to buy on Amazon)
Curtain rob -- $13.99 (Target)
2 packs of 1.5" curtain clip rings -- $14.38 (Bed Bath and Beyond)
Total spent on curtains: $135.09

Furniture
In addition to the dresser, we also bought the crib and a chair for the nursery. We went with the Baby Mod Olivia crib that is stylish and modern and not-too-expensive...and from Walmart, of all places. Confession: Matt and I hate Walmart so much that we decided to have the crib shipped directly to our house and pay the extra $10 rather than drive down the street to pick it up for free after it got delivered to the store. So, the crib came in at $324.85 when we added shipping and taxes. If you're new to this whole baby thing as we are, you may be surprised to learn that when you buy a crib you do not get a mattress. We have our eye on a foam Sealy mattress that is in the $100-$120 range, so we'll get that sometime soon.

We also bought a chair at one of our favorite local furniture stores called Belfort, which is really an entire strip mall that has been converted into a furniture mecca. I'd been researching chairs for a while but couldn't find anything an appropriate size and cute style for under $800. Because we planned to spend somewhere around $1000 for the nursery, an $800 chair clearly would not make the cut. The chair needed to be upholstered and glide, but I didn't want a traditional-looking wooden glider. So, I was thrilled to find this green upholstered gliding and rotating chair for $225 (marked down on clearance from $500). The color was not my first choice initially, but once I compared it a fabric sample from our curtain I realized it fit the color scheme perfectly, and I will probably buy/make a pillow to bring some additional life to this chair.

The view from the chair...

Our nursery is a relatively small space, with little room remaining for any additional furniture. I would like to get a small bookcase, but it might need to be an exceptionally thin, vertical bookcase that could fit in one of two tiny remaining corners. We also need to decide if we're going to take down the closet doors and make another set of curtains, or if we're going to deal with this...

Not bad...

Bad...

This might give you a better sense of the space, from one wall to another.

We're still going to work on the furniture spacing issue and decide if we need to spend more time and money making more closet curtains. Ultimately, though, now that summer is over, at least the major components of the nursery are complete. I'm going to make a crib skirt, we'll add shelving and/or bookcase solutions, and we'll decorate with fun pops of color, but all that can happen over the next few months. So far with 85 percent of the nursery complete we've spent $900.93 (and not nearly as much time as I thought we would have by now) getting to this point. Summer bucket list victory!