Teddy's Bear Nursery

Hey there! I'm (finally) back with a little reveal of Teddy's Nursery! He's only almost two years old now... so I figured it was about time? :) We had most of the nursery done when he was born, but for the crib. Teddy got a crib upgrade (from the pack n' play) when he was about seven months old (four months in our room in the rock n' play and three months in the nursery in the pack n' play before that!). Poor little dude (HashtagSecondChildProblems. HashtagCheapParents.). We originally thought Emerson would be out of her crib by the time Teddy transitioned to the nursery (she was almost 2.5 years old) but she wasn't really showing any interest in climbing out and slept great in there, so we didn't push her to move to her twin bed (even though it's already in her "big girl" room). 

Gummy Bear Nursery Ideas

Hey guys! I'm back with a little nursery update. All of a sudden I've got the nesting bug, big time! With about 10 weeks to go (say what?!?!!) until the Gummy Bear gets here, I've got it bad. All I want to do is get the nursery ready for him to be here! But, first comes busy season (which ends in a few weeks, thank goodness) and then comes rearranging most of our house to make room for the new kiddo. The guest room will be moving to our converted garage/storage room, Em's big girl room is moving to the former guest room and the Gummy Bear's nursery will be in Em's current nursery. Lots of rearranging...

Since Gummy Bear will be moving into Emerson's old nursery, we are keeping the wall color the same (Martha Stewart Sea Glass, which is now discontinued...). I love that color so much and think it will go well with some navy, gray and wood accents instead of coral and yellow. 

Running with our Gummy Bear nickname, I want to do a Bear/Be Brave/Adventurer type theme for Gummy Bear's nursery. I don't think it will be super theme-y, but I'll start there and see how it goes! 

Here's some of the details of the little mood board I put together.

1. Navy and White Striped Curtains - I'm planning on making some of my own with some IKEA curtains I found last week. Hopefully much cheaper and not too hard to do!

2. Swivel Glider -  For Emerson's nursery we got my Mom's old wooden rocker from when she first had me (and we still have it). But, it wasn't super comfy, so I splurged for an upholstered glider. We actually put it together today and it's pretty comfortable!

3. Paint Color - Martha Stewart Sea Glass (now discontinued, unfortunately!)

4. Be Brave Wood Plank Art - I love this and maybe will attempt to make something myself? Or have Zach make it for me... :) 

5. Bears Art Print - Love this one so much!

6. Bear Cub Little Darling Print - I've always been a fan of the The Animal Print Shop and can't wait to incorporate this one into the nursery!

7. Herringbone Rug - I found this beauty from Target. Since the room so small, we got the 4x5 size and it is so soft and plush.

8. Let's Sleep Under The Stars Print - I think we all know how much I love Katie Daisy, so would love to have another one of her prints in the new nursery.

9. Bear Head - I love this Bear head taxidermy style wall decor. I'm also crushing on this one too.

10. Navy Patterned Pouf - I actually have had a similar navy pouf for a while now and think it will look great in the nursery.

11. Jenny Lind DaVinci Crib - This is Emerson's crib and hopefully if we time it right, we can transition Em to her big girl bed and use her old crib for the Gummy Bear! Fingers crossed!

12. Threshold Ikat Table Lamp - I picked up this beauty at Tar-Jay. 

13. IKEA Hemnes Navy Dresser - We picked up this guy recently. I would have loved to re-do another dresser like I did with Emerson's room, but I'm not up for the task this time around! Definitely taking the easy way out! But I'm glad that I found this one that came in blue. It will still add a little character to the room. 

That's it! Who knows when we will actually have time to get all this done (we'll have about six weeks post-busy season and pre-baby). All I know is I can't wait to put it all together! And mostly, I'm so excited for this little Gummy Bear to come join us!!! :)

Scrapbook Paper Letters for the Nursery

I'm back with yet another nursery project! I couldn't share this one with the rest of the nursery reveal since we didn't reveal Emerson's name until she was born. But, I definitely had this project done ahead of time! I'm pretty sure I accidentally left the letters out when my mom stopped by one day so she found out the name ahead of time... oh well. :) 

The Nursery Reveal!

The day is finally here! I know you've all been waiting and I'm so excited to share with you the big nursery reveal! I had so much fun putting the room together (check out my original inspiration) - so many DIY projects and colorful accents. I LOVE it so much! The only thing it's missing is our Little BK (hopefully she'll be here in TWO days! EEEEEK!)!!!

DIY: Ruffled Crib Skirt

Well, this is the second time I am writing this post... stupid computer! Another DIY nursery project for you today. When my mom was over a couple weeks ago, she helped me with this ruffled crib skirt. We used this tutorial and it was pretty helpful.  At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a straight crib skirt or a ruffled one (I'm not a ruffles person), but decided to go for the ruffles to make the room a little more feminine and add some texture. 

This project only cost $10 too - it was the IKEA Vivan curtains to the rescue again! It's such a cheap way to get some plain white fabric. The fabric is thin, but worked for the crib skirts since we were doing the ruffles anyways.

Two Nursery IKEA Hacks - Pom Pom Curtains and Rocking Chair Cushion

My mom came over last weekend to help me out with my last nursery sewing projects. We ended up sewing almost all day long! It was a lot of work, but I am so in love with the end results!

DIY: Anthopologie Inspired Book Covers

We've all seen and loved the colorfully patterned Anthropologie Penguin Classic books like Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, Alice in Wonderland, etc. The style has changed recently to more bright and colorful patterned book covers and I always thought they would look great in a nursery. Instead of dropping $18 a pop on the whole collection, I figured I could recreate a similar look by wrapping some of my vintage books with some fun scrapbook paper. 

DIY: Coral Dresser Drawer Liner

Remember the coral dresser I redid for the nursery? Here's a little sneak peak of it set up in the nursery... or at least how it was the other day. :)

DIY: Chevron Pouf Ottoman

I'm back with another nursery DIY project! I feel like I haven't jumped too far onto the chevron bandwagon yet, until I realized the two main areas I've used it in the nursery - the rug and this chevron pouf! It's so bright and playful for a nursery, how could I not? 

DIY Nursery Art - Hot Air Balloons

I whipped up this super easy hot air balloon art for the nursery. I already had the frame on hand courtesy of the clearance section of Target and used my favorite nursery as inspiration (from Craftiness is Not Optional). 

Supplies:

- Scrapbook paper in coordinating patterns

- Frame

- Double sided tape

- Craft glue (I used gorilla glue)

- Pen

Step 1: Cut out your balloons and baskets. I thought I had a circle punch, but couldn't find it so just traced a spool of thread and cut each little circle out by hand. I cut two circles of each pattern I wanted. I just free handed the basket and then used one as a template to cut out the rest in the brown paper.

Step 2: Figure out where you want the ballons to be (spacing, etc.) on your background paper (I just used a white piece of cardstock for the background). Then use the double sided tape to stick one of the balloons of each pattern on the background paper. Stick the baskets a little below the balloons.

Step 3: Grab your pen and draw on your balloon strings. I freehanded, but you could use a ruler too, to be extra straight.

Step 4: Glue on the top balloon piece. I first took the top circle for each balloon and bent it a little bit so it curved up. Just enough to give it a little dimension. Then I applied a thin strip of gorilla glue to the middle of the bottom circle and applied the slightly bent circle to give it the 3D effect. 

Step 5: Frame it up! After letting it dry for a good 24 hours, I put it back in the frame and hung that baby up.

Total time: about 15 min (plus drying time)

Total cost: scrapbook paper was probably a couple bucks

This was such an easy and fun project! I love how it turned out and think it will look great in the nursery, especially with the complementary hot air balloon mobile.  

I'm thinking of spray painting the frame white before I hang it in the nursery, but for now I'll leave as is. One more nursery project down!

Coral Dresser for the Nursery

She's DONE!!!

Excuse the tarp and the deck... This is most likely where she will stay until we move in a month or so (still working on where we are moving to...) with the tarp over top (and covered by our awning) in case of rain. 

Isn't she pretty?!?! I'm kind of in love. Well, not kind of. Seriously. Seriously in love.

Here's a quick before and after before we get in to the nitty gritty.

Here's my original post about the dresser progress. I might recap a little bit here too... We started out with my $100 Craigslist find. The brass knobs were a worn dark brown and there were quite a few scratches and nicks. 

After sanding...

And after priming...

It was time for paint! I chose the color Youthful Coral from Behr and got a pint in the Interior Semi-Gloss Enamel (and No-VOC for the nursery). I mostly used the 1.5 and 3 inch brushes. I splurged a bit and bought the Purdy brushes, since I'd heard they were such good quality and helped show less brush strokes. There were still a few visible brush strokes, but only if you got close after 3+ coats.

First coat...

Second coat...

Third coat...

Touch ups on the top (fourth coat)... I used a small foam roller for the top on the third coat, but it didn't cover as nicely as I liked, so I used the large brush to do one good final coat and it turned out great.

Next up was attacking those knobs. I had heard about Brasso from this blog (and one of my inspiration dressers) and it worked like a charm! I enlisted Zach to help me polish up the handles since I heard it was really smelly and didn't want to be around it in my "condition." :) It probably took about an hour to get all six of the long drawer handles (and various pieces) polished. Not easy work and a lot of scrubbing, but for $2 and a little elbow grease it was well worth it! Check out the difference it made.

I could not handle the ring knobs on the middle drawers though. They kept reminding me of the nose rings that you would see on a bull. Even when they were spruced up. No thanks. So for the middle drawer knobs, I bought two sets of three each while I was in Arizona at Hobby Lobby (similar to these ones and these ones from Anthro). The knobs at Hobby Lobby are so much more reasonably priced and they have a lot of the same styles as Anthropologie. They cost around $3.99 each, but were 50% off when I bought them! I decided on the white flower shaped knobs because they looked awesome and the aqua polka dots were a little too much with the coral dresser. Plus, the white flower shaped knobs matched the flower design on the original knobs.

I did end up leaving the base part from the original ring shaped pulls. I liked the flower shape and it made it so I didn't have to do any hard core sanding and/or refilling of the grooves that they left on the drawer fronts.

I also decided to paint over the brass decals that were along the bottom. I originally had the two squares on either side taped off, but didn't like the hard contrast once the rest of the dresser was painted. I like them painted the same color much better - still keeps the detail, but doesn't distract from the rest of the dresser's fun details.

You may notice that she has a middle leg, which I kind of forgot to paint (see it in the picture below? Still brown. Oops!). I don't know if I could have reached it even if I did remember it, but I think I'm going to be lazy and just leave it for now. Unless I can convince my lovely husband to get down there and give it a quick coat or two. Obviously it's not super noticeable or else I would have done it in the first place! Haha.

I was also thinking about doing a top coat of polyurethane to really seal and protect the piece, but the enamel semi-gloss is pretty sturdy and I think it should hold up well. At least for now. Honestly, I'm so glad I'm done with this piece now and that I started when I did because I am getting so uncomfortable. To have to bend over and paint any more would not be fun. I was getting really out of breath towards the end! Especially since I was fully clothed, gloved and had my surgeon-grade face mask on (safety first!).

The only thing I still want to do is get some fun paper to line the drawers. Maybe a fun pattern or even some pretty florals? I'll be sure to post an update when I get around to it!

I'm so pleased with how it turned out! I think it will look amazing in the nursery (which I can't wait to get all set up!). Here's another before and after just for funsies. I love seeing the dramatic change. So much fun.

What are you working on these days? Any fun DIY projects? I feel like I'm in full on nesting mode right now and want to make a ton of stuff! Next up for me is a DIY pouf ottoman! 

DIY Nursery Art - Little But Fierce

I've been searching for some fun art for the nursery and found a few quotes I like (see some more from my nursery inspiration). This one is from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream and I love it. I know already that it will be just like our little BK. She's already a spicy little one, kicking me all the time!

Hot Air Balloon Mobile

One of the projects I lined up for the nursery was the Hot Air Balloon Mobile I found over on Jess's blog. She has a great tutorial, so I thought I'd give it a shot! It was so easy to make and I love how it turned out!

I used the same felt that Jess recommended from The Felt Pod (found here) in Salmon, Buttercream and Aquatic Blue. The quality of the felt was amazing (way better than the rectangle sheets that you can buy at Michaels or JoAnn's. But, I did use the rectangle sheets for the white, off-white, and brown pieces. 

Nursery Ideas for Little Miss BK

I had so much putting this together (especially since I finally figured out a non-photoshop way to make a mood board)! I've been so excited to put the nursery together every since busy season ended so I started a secret board on Pinterest with all my nursery finds. I've finally narrowed them down to what I can envision for Little Miss BK! My main inspiration is this nursery from Jess at Craftiness is Not Optional. I love the colors - aqua, coral and yellow - and I loved the subtle hot air balloon theme. I'm not really into "themed" nurseries, but I do like having the hot air balloons in there a little bit. I'm more of a geometric/stripes/polka dots kind of girl. :) Mostly, I just want it to be a bright, colorful fun space for Little BK (and mainly me, I guess) to enjoy! I also have some big plans for some fun projects too! I'll explain more...