Overall, I'd say I was pleased with how it turned out. It was the second smallest room in the house, which posed a challenge, and of course there's the whole "staying on budget thing" which forces you to make sacrifices OR, figure out how to DIY.
At the bottom of this, I included where we got all these items from, as well as the many DIY projects we (and by "we," I mean my sister and I - NOT ADAM) accomplished to put the finishing touches.
View of the nursery from the hallway:
Crib:
To the Right of the Crib: Vanity and Shelves
Window Area:
Changing Table Area:
Closet Area: (And yes, we have a TON of diapers. When my mother and mother-in-law threw me a beautiful baby shower (see post here), they had everyone bring a package of diapers, starting at Size 1 (since very few babies are in Newborn diapers very long and, depending on birth weight, may never be in newborn diapers). We now have almost 500 Size 1 diapers and, in the words of my coworkers, "that'll probably last you a week!" )
Crib – Solutions by Kids R’ Us Classic Crib (made by Delta) from Toys R’ Us – It wasn’t my favorite crib, but it was highly rated by Consumer Reports (a key for safety!) and very inexpensive. Originally, we planned to have a convertible crib, but once we realized we would move out of our current house before having another child, we didn’t want to buy a big expensive convertible set that we may not use in the next house.
Changer – South Shore Cotton Candy. My mom found this online and it was perfect: built-in changer on top with room for other items, plus plenty of storage. Biggest problem was the TERRIBLE assembly directions and, once assembled, we realized the top piece was chipped. We could have asked the company for a new piece, but to be honest, after hours (literally, half a day) of putting it together, we were too lazy to care. Tip: if you buy furniture online, make sure you inspect it BEFORE you assemble it! I’ll also note here that we originally intended on IKEA Hemnes dresser set, but decided against it for two reasons: 1) We would have had to build our own changer topper as I was NOT comfortable putting the changer pad directly on top without a railing (if you want to tackle that yourself, there a great tutorial here) and 2) Hemnes is actually an “antique” white, which is hard to tell in the store, but very noticeable against other white-on-white furniture.
Glider & Ottoman – Best Chairs Inc, Jacob Glider sold exclusively at JCPenney. I tried so many gliders, including the ever-popular wood-frame gliders that most people have. When I went from the wood-frame glider to the plush chair, I realized the chair was SO MUCH MORE comfortable, and I actually preferred the low-back over the high-back gliders (totally an individual preference). Then it was the search to find a good chair at an affordable price (since Pottery Barn chairs weren’t in our budget – sigh!). Best Chairs Inc manufactures very high-quality gliders sold for around $1,000 at most specialty baby stores. I found one of Best Chairs’ lines sold exclusively online at JCP.com for $550, bought it online without ever having sat in it, and was VERY pleased.
Side Table – Target Cottage Side Table
White Marble-Top Vanity – Pottery Barn Bathroom collection – it’s almost a decade old now and been sitting in my basement for years from my first apartment
Vanity Green Polka Dot Cloth Bins – DIY tutorial here . Since I’m not as experienced of a crafter as she was, some of my fabric wrinkled and I had to mod podge a lot of the sides because I couldn’t get the fabric perfect, but overall it was a fun evening project.
Bedding / Rug / Diaper Stacker / Lamp / Window treatment / Hamper – Soft & Fuzzy Pooh collection (now discontinued, but you can still find some pieces on Amazon)
Closet Dividers – A DIY Project from Pinterest. The tutorial is here . However, instead of painting ours, I mod-podged paper and then wrote in acrylic paint. The result was not as clean as painting, but still so adorably cute!
Closet Cubicles – Target ClosetMaid collection
Closet blanket basket – leftover from bridal shower
White caddy with gingham liner – Pottery Barn Kids
Clear [empty] plastic bins - WalMart Sterilite containers. This may seem odd, but all the blogs recommended having empty bins ready to stow away out-grown baby clothes. So I made cute little pre-made labels (which are inside the bin, and I didn't take a picture of), and will be taped on the bin as clothes go inside.
Shadow Frames around the window – This was an inspiration from an acquaintance's nursery, and she purchased hers off etsy store Zeppiprints (see here), but I could not find anyone willing to do Winnie the Pooh silhouettes (copyright and all…). So I bought polka-dot paper from Michaels, frames, and construction paper, and (with a lot of coaching from my artistic sister) made them myself. Love!
Pooh Quotes above Changer – Saturday Designs on Etsy. Warning: Kinkos will not print due to the Pooh copyright, but WalMart will. You could print at home, but we only have black-and-white laser.
Pooh Stronger/Braver/Smarter/Loved quote – Also an etsy pin-inspiration. I bought canvas and my artistic sister stenciled on the words. I painted the background in green, then painted the letters white, then repeated both steps (multiple times). This was definitely a time consuming project but I found it extremely relaxing to do on weekends in the beginning of my third trimester.
Shelves – Target 2-pc white shelf set
Blocks – Customized blocks from Olliebeez on Etsy. By far one of my favorite parts of the nursery.
Baby Picture – 3x5 frame from Michaels and baby picture of Adam’s father (Baby Cole's "Pop Pop")
Retro Clock - Sharp SPC800 Quartz Analog Twin Bell Alarm Clock (Silver) by Sharp - from Amazon
Mini-piggy bank - Lil Saver Favor Ceramic Mini-Piggy by Kate Aspen - from Amazon. Originally I was going to paint this with green polka dots. Then, I got to my 9th month and I was lazy/exhausted/DONE. And so it sits.
Changer Drawer Dividers – IKEA SKUBB collection
Changer Drawer Baskets – from Michaels
Changing Pad Cover – Boppy Mod Circles pad cover & liner
Boppy cover – Boppy 2-sided slipcover, polka stripe green
Ugly Metal Lamp – From the previous house owners and we didn’t hate it enough to buy a new one (lazzzzzy!)
And finally a special shout-out to my very artistic sister Melissa who helped me with the décor aspect when there was no way I'd figure it out myself. :)
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