Baby M’s Nursery Tour

Finally! Time for the nursery tour! I am just about done with baby M’s nursery, so I thought in honor of being 37 weeks today (eekkk!) I would finally share it. I think it came out well for the amount of money we spent on it, read on and I will explain the meaning and “how to” behind some of the pieces and how we were able to create this space on a budget. At the bottom of the post, I will list where I purchased different items in case anyone is interested!

Ok let’s start with the basics. I love, love, love, pink, but didn’t want a bubble gum explosion of pink in the nursery. When I found a lot of cute photos of aqua and pink together I knew it was what I wanted. Not to mention, if we have a boy next, the walls are already blue!

I picked up a gallon of paint at Sherwin Williams and my sweet dad painted the room for me.

He also painted the dresser for me to be a changing table. I knew I didn’t want to buy an actual changing table because… well, what do you do with it when your child is potty trained? By the way, potty training girls is much more difficult than training boys, in my opinion. At least a dresser could continue to be used. I decided one that was in my guest bedroom (that was actually part of my childhood bedroom set) would be perfect.

You can’t really tell from the photo, but this poor dresser was beat up! Nicks, scratches, stains, etc. were all over it, so keeping it white was out of the question without repainting it anyway. I saw some ideas on Pinterest and thought a nice pop of pink would look great against the blue walls anyway. I read through SO MANY tutorials on painting furniture that it gave me a headache. Some claimed you HAD to sand, some claimed you HAD to put a coat of sealant, and so on. I don’t really know the differences in stains and paints and latex and satin and all of that, so I went to Lowes and the guy was super helpful. We ended up using a coat of primer (thanks mom!) and then a coat of the pink paint and it came out great!

Dad painted the pink for me, too.

One coat gave it kind of an antique like finish, I am sure if you wanted a more solid one another coat would do it. I also knew I wanted cute hardware for the dresser because the old stuff was just well…ugly and brass. I bought two fake crystal knobs from Lowes, and tried my hardest to find handles that lined up with the existing holes, but they don’t make this odd size from probably 22 years ago.

I ended up buying a can of spray paint, and painted the existing handles to look silver/nickel and I think it tuned out ok!

Next, we put up the curtain. I splurged on this one because I wanted a well made blackout curtain and had been looking all over for just the right pattern. I ended up getting the bedding to match as well which had been a huge headache for me at first.

The curtain and the cute pink toppers both came from Pottery Barn. I had a 15% off coupon plus free shipping so it wasn’t too bad.

The glider and ottoman you may have already seen from my sad attempt at a DIY project. The round table was a hand me down from my parents. I would like to paint it white, but honestly right now I just don’t have the energy to deal with it. Any volunteers?

The pink lamp shade came from Wal-Mart. The lamp itself is another hand me down from my parents, but the shade was pretty ugly so I found this cheap but cute one the other day. The adorable stuffed animal bin that looks like a baby carriage was a shower gift.

Next was the crib. It was a shower gift along with the mattress, and had been sitting in our garage since we moved in, and I was ready for it to be up so I could place everything in the room where I wanted it. After a particularly hard/bad day, Bobby surprised me and started putting it together, hooray!

As I mentioned before, I ended up getting my bedding from Pottery Barn as well. There were SO MANY adorable sets on Etsy, but in reality they were all way to expensive. (It’s a sad day when Pottery Barn is cheaper!) Since I knew it would match the curtains and the fabric would hold up well, I went ahead and bought it. The Cinderella castle picture about the crib is the Thomas Kincade print that used to hang in my foyer, but I thought it would be cute in here. The frame above the changing table I bought at Michael’s, it was already that color. I took one of the shower decorations that Karen made and framed it on a mat of chevron paper. I think it came out cute!

I think Bella approves (that or she really wanted baby M’s giant Mickey). Also, before anyone flips out, the bumpers will be coming out at first.

The last part to come together was the bookshelf. I knew I wanted something relatively short but with enough space to put books and toys in…and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. I found this one in natural wood at Wal-Mart for $17.99, we threw a couple coasts of spray paint on it, and although it doesn’t look perfect, it’s functional (and cheap!) The adorable prints above the bookshelf were made by Karen. She saw that I had pinned something similar that you can purchase, and told me she could probably make them for me, so she did! I bought the three frames on sale at Michael’s, as well as the two bins at the bottom for toys and things. I know the top looks bare…I had to remember to take down some lettering of baby M’s name I had sitting up there. It’s super cute and I will show you after she is born!

I know the room looks so nice and neat and bare…but trust me, the mess is just hidden in the closet!

I used an old shoe rack I had to store some things on the floor, and had an old t-shirt organizer I was able to hang next to it. I sorted clothing by size (except for things that needed to be hung up) and put it in the pink dresser and it the hanging organizer.

I think it came out well, and I can’t wait to show baby M! As you can see, we did NOT spend a lot of money on this room. Everything was either gifted, hand me down, DIY, or found on sale and pieced together. It is possible! There are still a couple of things I would like to do….possibly a rug, and a shelf for one of the walls to put photos and such, but this is it for now unless something catches my eye between now and D-day! Thanks for reading about the nursery tour!

Wall paint: Sherwin Williams Mariner Blue (one gallon was more than enough)

Dresser paint: Pink Burst at Lowes (small can was more than enough for one coat).

Crib: From Target, brand is Delta

Curtain and rod/ends: Pottery Barn Baby, Harper collection

Bedding, bumpers and crib skirt: Pottery Barn Baby, Harper collection

Bookshelf: Mainstays is the brand, from Wal-Mart ($17.99)

All frames: Michael’s Craft store on sale ranging from $7-$18)

Dresser knobs: Lowe’s (approximately $4.00 each)

Pink and blue bins in bookshelf: Michael’s craft store (on sale $6.50 each)

Fabric for glider and ottoman: Michael’s craft store, 2 yard for the chair, one for the ottoman

Lamp shade: Wal-Mart ($8.00)

Changing pad and cover: Target (shower gift)