In the spirit of my due date (which is today, though our little man didn't get the memo), I will share a super exciting project that we've been working on...our nursery! Let's see if I remember how to do this.
Remember our junk room turned guest room? In our short time here, this room has seen many changes. The blue and red molding that once trimmed the dingy walls, soon became bright white on pale country yellow walls. We did this knowing that one day, in not-too-far-off future, this room would become a nursery. First, some not so nice pictures.
And then who can forget the crafting closet that Ian built for me?
Well, now the room has undergone another transformation. Now, it is our son's nursery. It started off like this...a holding place for my old furniture, tools and fixtures for our mini bathroom, and gifts from my story-book shower (more on that later). I should make a hidden picture game out of this photo. Can you spot the hydrangea, CD player, dalmatian, 2 vacuums, the Hungry Hungry Caterpillar, and the toilet?
I hated to lose my craft closet, but my dad made us an offer we couldn't refuse! If you've taken our house tour, you know that we rely solely on a single bathroom that is in our bedroom upstairs...awkward for guests, to say the least. I am hoping to cloth diaper thanks to the inspiration of my favorite DIYers at Young House Love, so it only made sense to put in a bathroom downstairs. This was not an easy task in our quaint little abode, so we decided to turn our craft closet into the tiniest bathroom you've ever seen.
We starting off thinking we wanted to go with a woodland theme...perfect for our setting here at Quaint Oaks. But then I fell in love with bedding from Land of Nod...Glad About Plaid. I had to go with primary colors. I absolutely love the plaid! This was my crib when I was a baby. My little sister used it, too. Now, thanks to my father-in-law, it has a fresh coat of paint. He even painted the spindles for me. In love. We installed a cheapo shelf from Hobby Lobby to hold our baby monitors. Yes, monitors. One is your average monitor that we can use in and around the house. The other is the Bambino Wireless Internet Monitor. This will allow daddy and grandma to tune in and see our little bambino whenever they feel like it through their laptops and iPhones. Awesome baby gift from my team at school.
The photo wall underwent minor changes, with more to come over time. I made the four primary color paper prints. I love simple paper crafts. The larger piece, shamefully blemished by my camera flash (still learning) is a collage of boy-terms inspired by an Etsy find. The banner was made by one of my best friends who used it as a backdrop for the candy buffet at my baby shower. It's cut short but you can probably guess...it says Once Upon A Time. The little blocks spell the name of our little man, but I sneakily flipped them over for the pictures. Can't take any chances!
I love this piece of wall art. I'm surprised Ian let me get it because it's from Target, but I really fell for it. Each state has the capital and illustrations that relate to each one. The colors are perfect. Did you realize that mobiles are oober expensive??? Why?!? I could not bring myself to spend $50+ on a mobile so I made one. I broke out my paper punches, again, and went nuts. Some clear cord and 3 needlepoint looms later, I ended up with this crazy contraption.
Since I am using my old furniture, which was also used by my little sister after me, and our mother when she was a little girl, I do not have a proper changing table. Also, since we turned our only closet into a bathroom, we sacrificed our only storage. I have to get creative so I decided to buy 4 pails which I hung on the wall with simple wall hooks. These hold diapering supplies and other things that I need to reach quickly. The table just provides a place to put stuff while I'm changing all of those delightful diapers. It's difficult to see in this picture, but I turned the small bachelor chest into a changing table. It wasn't easy to find a mini changing pad, but I finally did! I secured it to the dresser with Velcro. The cover was another challenge, but I got one from Land of Nod to match the bedding. I threw it in the wash and shrunk it down a bit, so it's close enough.
The lamp was another challenge. I got the idea to find a fill-able lamp that I could fill with marbles, jacks, or Legos. This turned out to be much more difficult than I thought. After a number of stores and internet searches, I found this at HomeGoods. It's awful, and it was a bit of a gamble because I wasn't sure if it would open nicely.
So, with a simple turn of the wrench, the bottom popped right off with a hole big enough to fill the lamp with anything I like! The shade got swapped out, and...
And finally, the bathroom. It's so tiny that it's hard to get a good picture. My dad did the electric, his friend did all of the plumbing, and Ian did all of the drywall, painting, and bead board. Though it's small, it has been sooo nice to have a bathroom on the first floor.
So here it is. The hutch was a part of my furniture from when I was little. My favorite part is the built in nightlight. The shelves are from Ikea and offer some great storage. I found that great oversized basket at HomeGoods for toys.
Daddy and Booper are testing out our glider and ottoman...great thrift shop find for $12! The rug is from Ikea. Our little man is going to love it.
Here's one more glimpse of the crib and changing table. It took us a while but we finally got it all done. It is so cozy in here.
So I got through this entire blog and still no sign of our little man trying to make it on his due date. Oh well. I need to stop being so impatient and relish in these last days of quiet and independence! ...but I really can't wait to just hold him in my arms.
It looks wonderful! I love the spindles on that crib, completely adorable! Hoping you have a very smooth delivery and bring him home to that fun nursersy soon!
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