Thursday, January 8, 2009

Baby's Room Projects

Way back in the day I promised Jennie I'd post pics of the nursery... well, I'm finally getting around to it. And it finally is shaping into a nursery, minus the clutter of gifts, crafts, not-yet-assembled projects, and air mattress (this is where all of our helpers slept). Still waiting on a rocking chair and don't look too closely at the desk area because I haven't tackled "my" side of the room yet! You'll notice the furniture is mostly brown/cream and I tried to have items such as crib sheets and changing pad cover in a nice neutral green so we don't give any future sons a complex! :) All pictures taken during nap time, fyi... :)
Changing station and dresser... we refinished this dresser that we got on Craigslist for $20. I think it is so cute now! Especially with the contrasting green of the changing table pad! I still have to hang up the organizer, but for now it just sits on top of the diaper pail. (we're going to be using cloth diapers, that's why we got the pail. But we haven't started cuz Gwen is still a bit too small for them, so don't need to use it yet and it works great as a 'shelf' right now.)
Bookshelf/Toyshelf... you'll recall the fun project of refinishing the bookshelf? $3 garage sale purchase transformed into a lil gal's toyshelf. Green baskets bought on sale at Michael's. Hopefully I'll be able to keep things curtailed a bit so that lil plastic keys and chew rings don't end up EVERYWHERE in the house! But we'll see... :)
Crib... This $200 Craigslist purchase was definitely worth the money! I love the colors, the fact that it is solid wood, and the drop down sides. The "skirt" was actually originally going to be a bumper. I bought the material to sew the 'slip cover', was given an old bumper pad from a friend (Thanks Robyn!), had borrowed a friend's sewing machine (Thanks Jenni!) and was all set to sew... when Eric and I decided that the risk of SIDS, however small, wasn't worth the bumper. But I was crushed because I really wanted to sew this matching valance and bumper... now what would make her room cute? I improvised and turned the bumper into a 'skirt' that just goes around the outside of the crib. I think the valance and skirt project turned out pretty great considering I didn't have a pattern. Just measured and went for it! It definitely helped to have friends that are good seamstresses so I could ask how to do certain things like a ruffle. Thanks quilting/sewing group!
"GWEN" Frames... I got these unfinished wood frames at a garage sale for 25 cents each and used some leftover material from the valance/crib skirt project to cover them. Then I had this pattern book for soft baby blocks that I was borrowing from a friend (thanks Michelle!) from which I got the sewing pattern for the elephant and the bee. the other patterns in the book I didn't enjoy as much, so I made up my own for the dragonfly and the frog (which is why they aren't nearly as cute, I'll be the first to admit!). I sewed them on before modgepodging things down. A lil bit of cute string attached with thumb tacks to the back, some 99 cent block letters from Michaels, and "wuahlah"! You've got cute wall decorations!
Well, there you have it. Nursery. Baby. Both cute. :)

5 comments:

  1. Everything is very cute....ESPECIALLY the baby. Give her a squeeze from Grandma.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Holy cow, I'm totally jealous. My baby is 7 months old and still has a pretty messy room. (Half looks good and cute and half is ridiculously messy.) I blame it on the tiny living arrangements. Anyway, I love what you've done with your nursery, especially the Gwen frames. So cute! And your baby is so adorable! How are you enjoying being a mom? (It took me longer than I'd like to admit to really enjoy it but it's fun from the start.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Can I just say how incredibly impressed I am with your creativity, sense of style and color, sewing talent, thriftiness and ability to make such a cute baby! Love it all, especially the striped background of the bookshelf and the wall letters. Seriously, so adorable. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. WAY. TO. GO., Elisa! Looks FABULOUS!! Gwen is truly the cutest little baby girl ever!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Completely beautiful! You are so talented Elisa - Gwen is going to love these pictures of her nursery to look back at! One more proof of her Mommy's love for her!

    ReplyDelete