Nursery Reveal and $$ Breakdown

Doing up the girl's nursery DIY style has been not only gratifying, but also saved us some big bucks! Here are some final pictures... and at the bottom of this post, I've given a breakdown of the cost of each item and it's source.

The truth is, we started with the mustard walls... and had NO idea where we would go from there. I'm not one of those people that dreams up a full mood-board in my head in advance. I'm a design-as-I-go kinda girl. It works for me. But you were skeptical in the beginning... weren't you!?! Don't lie!

But I did know I wanted a Jenny Lind crib, and I waited a good long time to find one for CHEAP! I was originally going to paint it a bright cheery color, or white... but when I fell in love with the white paisley eyelet fabric for my DIY pumper pad and crib skirt, I knew the crib needed to be black!

When I found the curtain fabric, it was a no-brainer! I loved the turquoise with the mustard, such an unconventional combination!

But things were becoming a little too gender neutral for my taste. So why not throw in some pink! The room really started to come together when I made the obnoxiously large tissue paper mobile.

The changing table project was a special treat. If you missed that post, I encourage you to catch up here. I wanted to pull the damask pattern from the curtains into the changing table somehow, and I loved the idea of doing it asymmetrically. 

I think I've covered all the major items in the room, and you can always go to the individual posts for each item/project by clicking the links I provided.

Source list:

Wall Paint - $23 - Better Homes and Gardens Paint: 'Tan Almond'
Jenny Lind Crib and mattress - $40 - craigslist
     ~ paint for crib - $11 - Krylon glossy black
     ~ fabric for bumper pad and crib skirt - $60 - Joann Fabric (on sale)
     ~ foam bumper pads - $26 - walmart.com
Fabric for curtains - $42 - Amazon.com or HERE
     ~ Curtain rods and hardware - $43 - Walmart
Reclining Lazy Boy Rocking Chair - $25 - craigslist
Tissue Paper Mobile supplies - $10 (see post for full tutorial)
Changing Table - FREE (out of my grandma's barn)
     ~ wood to rebuild/reinforce rotting changing table - $40 - Menards
     ~ paint - already had
Long Shelf:
     ~wrought iron shelf brackets - $18 - Hobby Lobby (on sale!)
     ~ shelf wood - $7 - Menards, particle board
Wall Decor:
     ~ homemade quilt - FREE - Grandma
     ~ paint chip bunting - FREE supplies!
     ~ doily garland - $2 - garage sale doilys and twine
     ~ floating shelves/book rack - $10 - designed and built by husband!
Patchwork Stuffed Animals -homemade by mom - can be purchased HERE
Chandelier - $15 - craigslist
     ~ paint - $4 - Krylon: ballet slipper
Closet:
     ~ white wall paint - already had
     ~ rope lighting - $11 - Walmart
     ~ plastic crates - $6 - Dollar Tree

Grand total for furnishing, decorating and accessorizing:  $393

The best part of this nursery is that we poured ourselves into it and created memories in the process, making it such a sentimental labor of love for our girls that we worked so hard to conceive. We fashioned it to be not-too-cutesy so it can grow with them. Not to mention, the color scheme can easily be converted to accommodate a possible future baby boy by simply losing the pink accessories and replacing with navy blue or charcoal gray. In fact, I look forward to that very much! (but not till the girls are potty trained!!)

This concludes our lengthy nursery saga, a journey that we've loved every minute of! In the weeks before the girls were born, I found myself wandering into the nursery just to look at it. I would stand over the crib and imagine my princesses sleeping soundly. And now it's a reality. Our biggest accomplishment yet.

And because everyone loves a good before and after:

Tweet

Nursery: The Final Chapter

Oh my, here comes another long post for all you patient types. For the impatient types, you'll get the point just by scrolling through the pictures like I know that you do anyway.

We had a huge blank wall behind the changing table that laid barren for far too long. I picked up some wrought iron shelf brackets at Hobby Lobby for 50% off (which, Nick will tell you... were super fun to install). I didn't really know where we would go from there, but at least it was a start.

Next, we secured a long white board on top... easy enough!! Nothing to write home about. But at least there's progress, right?

I knew I wanted to put photos and sentimental items on the shelf, but I was having "designers block, and it sat empty for quite some time! During which, I did some other little crafty projects, one being my 'paint swatch pendant that I dreamed up one day whilst following Nick around in Menards. I started out with a handful of various paint swatches in shades of pink!

And cut them into triangles.

How cute is that? "It's a Girl"

I also cut triangles from some leftover fabric from the crib skirt! After punching two holes in the tops of each, I began stringing them onto some old ribbon I had lying around.

I did a similar project with all those garage sale doilies I had been wanting to use!

Do you love?

So next, I knew I needed to get back to that blank shelf... which involved gathering picture frames, and photos to put in them. Before I show you the final photo, I'm going to go through each item and explain it's significance!

I wanted some original art of some kind, but couldn't find anything cute, meaningful and "twin-related" on Etsy. So I did what you would expect me to do: ask my mom to whip up something crafty for her grand-daughters. We were given some clothes from a friend, and one of the onesies said "Hand Picked" with a little flower on it. I thought a lot about that, and how our little girls we literally hand picked, and simply perfect. So I asked my mom to include those words "hand picked" in on her canvas... and left the rest up to her.

And... LOOK what she did. IT'S PERFECT! I kinda get a little teary-eyed. Thanks Momma.

These flowers below I made in about 5 minutes using a tutorial I found on good ol' Pioneer Woman (find it here). They're placed in an old piece of pottery my mom made back in her college days.

This is my favorite baby shower card that I posted about here the other day. Along with my baby shower invitation!

Here we have both my and Nick's baby books, and two little bibs that were mine when I was a baby. Awwww. And a photo of us back when we were dating.

These are profile pics of the girls at 14 weeks, and a photo of us that we took about 15 minutes after finding out we were pregnant! Many of these pictures will be replaced by pics of the girls after they're born. We love the versatility of this shelf, and how we can swap out pictures and items as the girls grow.

And here's the whole wall:

I even made a smaller doily swag to hang behind the crib. I think it helps things flow more cohesively.

Soon I'll be doing a post breaking everything down, giving sources, and prices. Do you still hate the mustard walls? What's your guess on how much the nursery cost us TOTAL??

Tweet

Nursery: Closet

*UPDATE!* ...see the nursery in all it's finished glory HERE!!!

The nursery closet was NOT a priority when it came to planning a nursery design/color scheme. But there came a time when I realized that this just wouldn't do.

First and foremost, that deep periwinkle cave-like color just had to go. Does it bring back nightmares of the original room color?  Oh how far we've come! The second issue at hand is the lack of structure and storage solutions. One massive shelf, and all that wasted space! But knowing that closet shelving and organization systems are very spendy, I set out to make it functional on a budget! So we cut the top shelf lengthwise and installed the other half down low... maximizing space, and adding a clothing bar for hangers.

THEN, I got this picture in my mind of a super genius space-saving solution. Remember these little plastic crates from your middle school years that you kept all your scrunchies in? (Check out my freakish looking hand in this picture!) HA!

Well come to find out, they're kinda hard to come by these days. Nobody wants a chunky plastic mini-crate with no handle. After checking Walmart, Menards, and Bed Bath and Beyond, I found them at the Dollar Tree! For a dolla each! I may not have chosen black, but it's what they had. And exactly what I needed. So the next step was to install some hooks under the top shelf... can you see where I'm going with this??

After strategically placing the hooks, I just hung the crates on them! And as I envisioned, they dangled slightly yet securely at the perfect angle to hold tiny headbands, bibs, booties, burp clothes... whatever!

And now, after washing all our tiny baby clothes, blankets and burp clothes... the closet was ready to load up! Strangely, I looked forward to this very much. I get an abnormal amount of satisfaction out of organizing.

So I'm feeling very productive and organizational, right? And I occasionally make a stop in the nursery to admire all that we've done. But on one such evening, I walked through the nursery to admire the closet... and it looked like this:

Surprise! There's no light in this closet! Can you imagine holding a naked baby who just had a blow-out at 3am (while the other baby is screaming in the crib) and trying to fumble through this dark mass? I'd rather not find out. So I batted my eyes and said to my hubby, "Hubby? How much work would it be for you to wire a light into the closet and put a switch on the outside?" He groaned and said he would think about it, and add it to the already lengthy list of things I had given him to do. SO, to give the poor boy a break and avoid dry-wall dust in my precious nursery, I marched to Walmart and bought a rope light with a remote light switch and hung it up and around the trim on the inside of the closet.

And what do you know? It lights up the whole closet with a soft, even glow! Which is even better that one bright light coming from a single source, being enough to wake you up permanently.

I love the final outcome... super organized with a soft glow, and filled with tiny baby clothes! AND accomplished with only spending $6 on crates, and $11 on rope light!!

*UPDATE!* ...see the nursery in all it's finished glory HERE!!! 

Tweet

Nursery: Shelving

So I pull up to the "Nick's Handyman Drive-thru" and roll down my window.

"Thank you for choosing Nick's, what can I build for you today?"

"Yes hi! Ummmm... I'd like to order two floating shelves 2'x4.5"x2", and a rack to hold books in the same length, and ahhhh, I'll finish that off with a little coat rack with hooks that I'll supply."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, for today. You know I'll be back tomorrow!"

"Please pull forward to the first window."

All jokes aside, that is almost exactly how things happen around here. And I'm lucky enough to have a guy that gets great joy out of building things and trouble shooting. He whipped out my order in NO time. First came the floating shelves:

Then came the little book rack. 

And finally, the hooks... One of the nursery items we bought on craigslist, we got these little Urban Outfitters hooks for FREE because the owner didn't think she was gonna use them! Score!! This will be perfect for little jackets, hairbows, etc!

And here's a little before/after of the wall!

It's going to be a little reading nook where the girls and I can sit together and read books and whatnot. The nursery itself is rather small, so I wanted to leave this corner relatively empty just to free up the room.

Each item on the shelves has sentimental value... although obviously something needs to go in that empty picture frame.

I love my little custom wall that I special-ordered.

 For the record... Nick does does have flaws. I'll do a bullet point post on that topic one of these days.

JK babe, JK

Tweet