Tweet

I’ve added a few things to the nursery since the Final Reveal, so at this point it is virtually complete ( unless I decide to add pom-poms). Alexis is still sleeping in our bedroom and I see that continuing for a while, so the nursery is currently just a very pretty room to walk into.

The hardest thing to find to my surprise were the bookshelves. I wanted front facing bookshelves, because they enable kids to pick out their own books easier as well as be more drawn to books than if they were displayed in a traditional bookshelf. After searching high and low, I decided that the only way to get what I want is to make it. I pinned a tutorial on how to make front-facing bookshelf out of GUTTERS, but ended up scratching that idea, since hubby doesn’t like (or have time) to “make” things.

I also replaced our canvas with one of Alexis and it’s cute how she matches the Anne Geddes baby below. The canvas is from Easy Canvas Print.

We also received our adorably framed announcement  as a gift from our old neighbors which was a very thoughtful and creative present. So it now sits on the dresser along with the nightlight.

If you’d like to see what the nursery looks like and you missed the last post, check out Nursery Final Reveal

Nursery progress: Nursery Part I and  Part II

 

Tweet

Welcome to Alexis’ Nursery Final Reveal

To view the progress, follow the links below:

Nursery Part I
Nursery Part II- bits and pieces

All the items in the room and where you can find them will be listed at the bottom of the post.

Overall, I am happy with how it turned out. The room we had for her is the smallest in the house and I was concerned that we wouldn’t be able to decorate it the way I wanted. I am not great with styling or design, I am not crafty and we didn’t have a huge budget. But I feel that we were able to do exactly what I had envisioned with minor concessions. There will be some changes to the room in the future and it’s not 100% complete, but it is as complete as it will be until Alexis starts sleeping in it ( which she currently isn’t and probably won’t be for a long time). I am planning on adding pom-poms in the ceiling corner and a bookshelf, but this is as final as it’s going to get for a while.

So let’s start:

The chair is the only thing that doesn’t completely match, but in order to get a white chair I would have had to either sacrifice my comfort or price. So this was a good middle of the road rocker/recliner that is insanely comfortable. The rug is temporary, as well. I haven’t been able to find a rug that fit the room perfectly, so this cheap Target rug will do for now until I find something more appropriate.

The blinds will get cord winders soon (if you know of good ones, please share)
The crib skirt and bows were made by my sister who lives in Russia. She did an amazing job, considering she’s not a seamstress and went off of our measurements. We opted for no bumpers (even though I had a very cute one in mind) and an organic muslin crib sheet and a Naturepedic mattress.

I debated buying children’s canvas art for the room or framing my own photography. I am glad I went with frames, because that means I can switch out photos once in a while when we get bored of them.

The dresser was a old craigslist dresser that we had refinished. And yes, I am aware the handles are upside down. No, it wasn’t on purpose :). Since the dresser is old, the only crafty thing I managed to accomplish was lining the drawers with pretty purple and white fabric that I ordered online.

We have two mobiles over the crib. Wispy soft and cute one for looks and for when Alexis is a bit older to be interested in such delicate things (see how to win one), and another developmental crib mobile made out of black, white and red plastic shapes that encourage baby’s visual development. Needless to say, Alexis loves it as much as she does her black and white board.

It took nearly to my due date to find a chandelier that we both liked. I didn’t want it to look cheap with plastic crystals and anything with real crystals was either too big or over the top. This one came in black and was exactly what we needed after some spray paint action.

The butterflies offer some entertainment for Lexi while she gets her diaper change ( that is when we use that area to change her diapers). The beautiful owl and birdie mobile is courtesy of Denise from my favorite Magical Whimsy Etsy shop

The closet dividers are courtesy of Erica from Fifi’s closet on Etsy and can be made in a variety of color schemes

Nursery Details:

Paint: Zero VOC Olympic Paint in Iris Isle

Mirror: Rooms To Go Disney Princess Mirror

Lamp: Shade from Layla Grace, base from Ebay painted white.

Owl: Red Envelope

Cloth Doll: Haba Organic Doll

Flower vase: vase and flowers from Michael’s, cut and arranged by me.

Frame: a gift from ex-neighbors. They framed Alexis’ announcement which I thought was so creative.

Dresser: an old craigslist dresser and night stand refinished. (bought for $150, refinished for $500)

Drawer Liners: Made using foam board from Michael’s, cut to size. Fabric ordered online.

Chandalier: Overstock.com

Butterly mobile over the changing table: Amazon

Owl & Bird Mobile: Magical Whimsy Etsy shop (WIN IT! see below)

Black and White Mobile: Manhattan Toy

Black and White Board: on Amazon from Manhattan Toy

Canvas: Easy Canvas Print

Crown: HomeDecorators.com

Sparkle statue: Zulily

Framed Photos: Frames from Michael’s, photos taken by me printed at Bay Photo Lab

Recliner/Rocker: Matter Brothers

Crib Skirt and Bows: handmade by my sister in Russia

Rug: Target

Shades: JCPenney (super cheap solution, but not cordless)

Shelves: HomeDecorators.com (painted white)

Organic Changing Pad: Naturepedic

Organic mattress: Naturepedic

Ugly Dolls: Amazon

ABC Nightlight: Pottery Barn Kids

Closet Door Handles: Pottery Barn Kids

Closet Organisers: Fifi’s closet

Closet cubes: Homedecorators.com Martha Stewart Collection

Closet canvas totes: Homedecorators.com Martha Stewart Collection

Flag Banner: Etsy

And that’s pretty much it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments.

Denise from Magical Whimsy Etsy shop would like to offer my readers a chance to win $100 to her Etsy shop.
So if you have a little one on the way or just need a nursery revamp, feel free to enter.

Magical Whimsy $100 Credit

BELOW ARE THE GIVEAWAYS RULES
and Mandatory Entries: {read carefully}

There are two mandatory entries for each giveaway, after which you will have additional entries available,
and daily entries for which you can come back to enter daily. This giveaway is open internationally.
The winning entry will be verified and the winner disqualified if the action is not found or if the mandatory items are not fullfilled.
Make sure to notate how you’re following the blog in the extra info field (entry #1). The entry won’t count if that information is missing.
Each giveaway is open has specific rules, so read them on the widget (including which countries are eligible). See the rafflecopter widget for additional terms and conditions.

UPDATE: You can now log into the Rafflecopter through Facebook or just by using your name/email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tweet

Today instead of Photo Share Tuesday, you finally get some updates on the nursery.

To say that it’s been difficult is to say nothing. Aside from the fact that we only have weekends to work on it, I have been strictly forbidden to even enter the room while the work is in progress. In addition to that, my husband is the kind of guy who would rather buy pretty things than make pretty things. I am not a crafty person either, but I am a creative person, so I have all these ideas and visions and I want them to come to life at minimal cost (lol).

So here we have one prospective parent who can’t work on the nursery (yes, we do buy low-VOC paint, and no, we still don’t feel it’s ok for me as a preggo to paint or be in the room that is painted) and another parent who really would rather postpone it till 2 weeks before Alexis arrives. So while I gotta give him props for calmly going and doing all these things I ask, my husband does tend to stop working an hour or two later, citing one of two things: “It’s a good start” or “I need a tool I don’t have to get it done right“.

For the past month, he forgot to pick up the paint from the store after he ordered it ( twice), didn’t get enough paint to finish the project (twice), realized he was missing a tool or something after starting a project that he simply can’t do without (once), threw a fit over having to refinish a dresser rather than buy a brand new one (once). So let’s just say it has not been easy for me and I’ve been doing NOTHING :)

In the end, he always did get it done and worked really hard, but not without a lot of complaining and excuses . Let’s just say my husband is great at a lot of things, but he is not one who enjoys working with his hands rather than his brain (and to be completely honest I’m exactly the same way).

So here’s what the room looked like once we cleaned the junk out of it ( took us two weekends, since it was our “don’t know what to do with it, let’s put all our boxes and useless crap in” room)

Our biggest challenge so far is that the room is tiny. It’s not closet tiny, like I’ve seen some rooms be, but it’s the smallest room out of the 5 bedrooms and it was “meant” to be a nursery. All our other bedrooms have a pretty permanent use: master bedroom, movie theater, home office and a downstairs guest room. They are too specialized to easily convert to a baby room, and guest bedroom is downstairs which is too far from master bedroom.

The only reason I am ok with Alexis having a smaller room is that we have a living room area downstairs that is currently a “mismatched furniture placeholder”, which I will convert to a playroom (photo on the left). It’s a large area and it’s going to look fabulous as an arts, crafts and play room for Alexis. So her bedroom will only be a place to sleep, not play. Once she grows up enough not to need a playroom or want more privacy, we’ll transfer her to the secluded guest room, which as a teenager she will love.