sweet P's nursery

I'm so excited about this post! I've been dying to have the nursery area for baby #3 complete for months and its finally done! So much sewing and painting and trying to make good use of the limited space we have...but I think it turned out really darling :)

As already mentioned, the babe will be living in our bedroom for the first little while. We moved our bed to the other side of the room to clear space for an area that could be all hers. At the foot of our bed is another little area with a rocker.

I really wanted the space to
1. go with our bedroom decor and not scream "baby".
2. be simple, elegant, and bright.
3. be relaxing and feel comfortable.

Charlotte was born in February, and I think that having her birthday so close to Valentine's Day somehow got me into the pinks and reds. I LOVED embracing the pink, especially because she was my first daughter. This time around, I'm tuning down the "super-girly" and going for more gender neutral colors: yellow, mint/turquoise, grey, and cream. Not only does it blend into our bedroom perfectly but I just love how sweetly the colors come together.

So, the changing table. It's really an old desk turned into a changing table. I got this tan and gold trimmed beauty at a yard sale nearly two years ago. It got neglected and gathered dust because I never got around to painting it. Eventually it came out of the garage and became our junk desk. It was an eyesore but I couldn't let go of the charming aura it gave :) When we found out we were having a baby, I was finally motivated to give it a makeover!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 I had never painted a piece of furniture before, and this project got me HOOKED. I wanted to paint every thing in our house afterwards, haha...

We decided on a pretty mint color, changed the knobs, and spray-painted the handles and legs an off-white. I also made a changing pad cover- I love how it turned out since it was my first time sewing one. 3/4 of it is minky and the head portion is the same fabric I used for the crib.

I also added some cute floral patterned baskets for storage- wipes, diapers, lotions/oils, and a hamper for dirty clothes underneath.

You may notice the wipe warmer on top. I always read that wipe warmers are un-necessary or whatever, but for the $2 I paid for it at DI it is TOTALLY worth it- especially when you're babe gets middle of the night diaper changes and you want them to STAY asleep :) I've kept that handy warmer for all of my kids and I pretty much love it.

The mirror above the table has a lot of sentimental value to me. It was my grandmother's that she gave to me once when I was visiting. She got this antique gold mirror at some auction and over the years thought it was ugly. I told her I would paint it over and it would be beautiful- she said "Go for it!" So I painted it yellow (the happiest of colors!) and hung it in our living room for a long time. After my grandma passed away I moved it to the baby's wall and this seemed much more significant. A small piece of Grandma to watch over our little one...

The drawers are filled with clothes for our little miss. Oh, to have these girly baby clothes again...brings back so many memories of dressing up Charlotte! I know C is excited to help me get the baby dressed each day, too.

I love how the binky clips turned out. We are a binky family- our kids love them. As a side note, however, Charlotte is now BINKY-FREE! It just sort of happened. She was biting through all her binkies and getting a rash on her chin from the drool that would pool at the bottom...I know, gross. I decided we were done, and luckily she handled it like a champ! (all things considered...)

The crib is the same crib we had before- with a new coat of paint! I sewed the crib sheet and ruffly skirt. They were big projects but they saved me SO much money and fit my "vision" perfectly :)

Multiple people have told me that yellow is the most stress-inducing color for babies to process...whether this is true or not, I tried to keep the yellow to a minimum and have mostly turquoise and grey in the bed. I REALLY like how the fabrics came together :) And I love the geometric prints- who knew hexagons could be so adorable?

I wanted to put something simple and sweet over the crib. So I opted for a first initial with a cute chiffon bow and paper circle garland. Yes, her name begins with P!

With my extra fabric I sewed some pillow covers. The basket-weave pillow is my favorite!

The quilt on the crib was actually the last thing I did for this room. I just had a TON of leftover fabric from this room and Charlotte's, plus a few more from previous projects. I thought I'd cut it all up into tiny squares and see how much I got...well, I got nearly 500 squares. This quilt was much more time-consuming than I intended...but I LOVE it. It adds the perfect touch to her bed, and all the random squares and prints are so fun! I like that even though I didn't buy these fabrics together, they go together perfectly.

I was determined to keep our old rocker that I used for rocking our other two babies. When I bought it years ago it was gently used, so you can imagine the wear and tear it has accumulated (stains, torn seams, broken zipper, and just generally ugly)... but, it's SO comfy and I knew I could save it somehow! With the help of a tutorial sent by a friend, I was able to make a cover for it- and oh, how much prettier it is now!

Let me just note how much I HATED this project. The entire time I felt as if I was doing it wrong, and I did make a ton of mistakes...but luckily, I was able to cover them up and pretend like I know what I'm doing. The side panels were a bit on the short side so I added the ruffles to give some length. This mistake I was actually grateful for because I think the ruffles add a little somethin somethin. The fabric was also a steal (thank you coupons and in-store sales) and though I didn't think I'd have enough I ended up with extra- enough to make a pillow for the crib! Love it when that happens.

At one point during the making of this cover, I had a breakdown and told Jonathan it was stupid and I was stupid and the world was stupid. haha. (pregnancy hormones, maybe?) He made me take deep breaths and took over with measuring and figuring out a pattern. He is amazing. I love it when he helps me with my projects- it's good to have someone with a sensible, fresh perspective.

After it all came together, I took a deep breath and realized that I can do hard things. haha. Now whenever I walk into the room, seeing the chair makes me happy. I can't wait to sit there and rock our new little miss to sleep in it.

We have hard bamboo floors in our bedroom and I wanted to soften up the floor space a bit. This light grey rug was purchased from rugsusa.com at 70% off just like the other two :) I LOVE it. It's soft and squishy and perfect for some baby-rolling action.

We painted our two night stands the same mint color as the desk and put one beside the rocker to hold nursing supplies, spit up rags, etc. And of course my must-have essential item for pretty much everything- coconut oil! Great for nursing and rubbing all over baby :)

And that's it! I'm grateful that even in our tiny house we managed to make a special space for baby. It took a ton of time to prepare.. but it's always worth it to me to take the extra effort in making/sewing things myself. Our room feels much more meaningful now- we just need to add a baby to it! ;)

We have ONE week left until my "due date". It's going to be one insanely busy week but also lots of fun- how could it not be? Halloween is the best! :)