Baby Nursery Reveal

We bought an old house in need of updating over the summer and with a baby on the way the nursery was the first project that we wanted to take on.  

Before pictures: 

Note the scary closet built-in with the rusty nails sticking out... also it had a funny smell.  We weren't crazy about the existing paint condition, the yucky radiator, or the drapes:

 My husband demolished the closet first, and then we sent the radiator off to be professionally sandblasted (it likely had lead paint).  Paint prep took the longest.. we have some fun demolition pictures:

 It was fun to check out the layers of wallpaper over the years behind the closet.  The house was built in 1915 and the bottom layer of wall paper had cartoon men in top hats.

The project started on weekends in late July and carried on through September. 






Here is Chris my wonderful husband in action:

After pictures: 

We put in new moldings around the ceiling, windows, baseboards, and door frame.  A new paint job, new light fixtures, and some decorating completed the room.

Paint color: flat home decorators collection in Cotton Grey
Baseboards and moldings: Home Depot
Radiator: Metal Man
Light Fixtures: George Kovacs at Lampsplus.com
Drapes: idreamofdrapery.com custom drapes in white silk
Faux wood blinds: Home Depot

Crib: Pottery Barn
Glider: Giggle
Vinyl wall decals: Etsy (NurseryWallArt)
Dresser: Nancy Collins Bespoke Decor refinished vintage dresser - her stuff is fabulous and she is so much fun!
Rug: Pottery Barn porcelain blue
Chevron changing pad cover, crib skirt, Boppy cover: Etsy DesignsbyChristyS
Lamps: Home Goods
Picture frames & mats: Michaels
Cross stitch ABC's, quilt and pillow: made by my wonderful mother in law

 I threw in a couple of night shots as well because it looks really cozy in the light.

 

Like most projects we still have a few things to finish up - the new door needs to be hung in the door frame and at some point we will refinish the floors.  And I've been filling in the picture frames above the dresser with pictures of the baby, his first footprints, and some finishing touches in the room like the safari mobile. 

Back to Blogging! - Safari Baby Mobile

After a long break from blogging, I am back in the hunt! I needed to focus on some other things - such as incubating a beautiful new baby for nine months. Now with my maternity leave ahead of me  I thought it would be fun to post about all of the baby-related projects I've been working on.

Our nursery has a modern safari theme, and I wanted to add in a felt baby mobile with jungle animals.  I saw a ton of really great ones on Etsy when I was getting ready to decorate but I couldn't quite bring myself to pay ~$80 for one.  It didn't seem too difficult to tackle myself.

Supplies:

wool felt squares (ordered the nice stuff off of Etsy / 100% wool vs. the acrylic plasticy kind in 8x10 sheets that are ~2.75 ea.)
embroidery thread ($0 / existing supply)
thin quilt batting ($0 / existing supply)
little wood findings from Michael's and a wood star ($3)
fabric scraps ($0)
orange ribbon ($2)
mounting hardware (Amazon $15)


This project can be a little time consuming but it really gives you an instant feeling of accomplishment because you can work on one animal at a time.. .unlike the baby's Christmas stocking (that project has been dragging on since I was in my second trimester). Felt is the way to go on this, because it doesn't unravel.  Just sew it up with a little embroidery thread and with a little batting in the middle of each shape. I made an elephant, crocodile, lion, giraffe, and a bird.

I finished this when I was 39 weeks pregnant, and had the baby at 40+ 5.
Now for the pictures... I hope our baby will get lots of entertainment out of this!

I am thinking about blogging our pictures from some home improvement work we are doing, but I have to check with my hubby if he wants his work spread around the far corners of the internet first.

More to come! Would love to hear from anyone else out there that loves getting inspiration from Etsy baby projects.