Joseph's Nursery

This is an interesting post for me. Because it is the 400th. Wow. That is a lot of random thoughts typed out for display. I keep thinking I should come up with something clever with the number 400....but no, nothing clever. Or at least the number 4....if only this were my 4th child...it is my 4th pregnancy, but that is just sad and depressing. I don't want you to come to my blog and be depressed. This is the nursery for my third child and we are so excited about his arrival.

I have been busy nesting, getting ready for him and readying our home for my neglect of it. After I finish this post I have cooking and freezing to do to limit the cooking needs after the little boy is born. I'd better focus now on the nursery...since that is what this post is for....four...no, still can't think of a clever way to use the number 4. Oh well.

I will now take you on a tour of the nursery. This is a view from the hall:


This room used to be the guest room. The queen-sized bed that rested (hee-hee...the bed rested) in the guest room now resides in the sewing room/guest room. We thought for my sake (in case I'm exhausted and can't make it across the hall to our room) we should keep a twin bed in there; it also will come in handy when we have company and can keep the baby in our room and give that room to guests and fit an air mattress in there. Also, when Joseph is older he can have that bed.

Anyway...blah, blah, blah (this post is boring so far...) I had to make a bed skirt and duvet for the bed. So I did. I also bought some quilted fabric and quickly sewed this sham together. The circle print pillow was at the fabric store, already made...nice.

Here is the crib finally finished. It started out having a green bumper and a green + other colors striped crib skirt. After I painted and looked and looked again...it just wasn't right. My mom (bless her!) picked me up this brown bumper and I used the leftover duvet fabric to make a crib skirt. It made the room so much better.

Notice the brown trim on the crib skirt? I just have to show you what inspired it (aside from pure awesomeness):

That is right. You would have missed it anyway if I had taken a picture of the full bed since the trim on the duvet seems to blend right in with the bed skirt...but I just had to let you know that I mimicked something from the twin bed for the crib. Clever.

Back to the crib. Cute. Just like the babe who will slumber there...

Above the crib I have his name...my mom was getting rid of these pleather frames and I accepted them (I am a sucker for free stuff) and as soon as I came home I found this scrap booking paper I already have (I don't scrapbook, by the way...I just hoard scrap booking supplies), cut out letters and presto (!) I had his name all done. I think it took me maybe twenty minutes.

After the walls were painted I used some leftover trim that was in the garage and super glued the frames to the back and hammered on a picture frame holder-thingy to the back...nailed it to the wall and was done. (Almost) instant gratification.

Oh and see that chair rail up on the wall? My Geoff mitered those and nailed them to the wall for me. And you know how much that project costs? For this room it was a grand total of $16. I know. Easy (especially when you have somebody else cutting it and nailing it up for you) and inexpensive.

Another inexpensive idea in the room was this clothesline. I needed something on that wall. I have clothespins. I have lots of cute baby clothes that even correspond to the room (because my mom intentionally bought clothing that matched his room for him...it is how she rolls). I went to the fabric store and purchased four yards of white rope trim at 97 cents per yard. I nailed it to the wall--into the studs and hung up the cloths. So the whole thing was 4 bucks. (Hey! I found something that is 4 for my 400th post...I am such a nerd.)

Don't mind the baby camera. Pretend it isn't there. I wanted to nail it to the white portion of the wall...but it wasn't the best view. Oh well. At least it functions for me to spy on my baby, at least until he discovers it and decides to pull it off the wall...

On the other wall is the closet. I took the doors off and painted the inside. And I got so lucky that the changing table and dresser both fit side-by-side in there. My mom was here and we were having a hard time figuring out the layout of the room. The problem was solved when I tried putting them both in there.

I put one of those inexpensive long mirrors up along the changing table, horizontally, so he can check himself out...or at least talk to another baby during his changes (until he discovers it is himself). I also mounted a press-on light on the inside of the closet, next to the changing table, so I can have light in there when I'm changing his diapers. It takes one AA battery and came in a pack of four (4!) so I have back-ups when I need them.

Oh and what do you see to the side of the closet...a ribbon board? Yes. I had a little left from the duvet cover and crib skirt and made this ribbon board with brown grosgrain ribbon and white thumb tacks to finish the job. So easy. And I got to use my staple gun. I love using my staple gun. Maybe someday I will move on to a nail gun...a girl can dream, right?

Thanks for humoring me and touring the nursery. A special thanks to Geoff and my mom, Carol, for helping me undertake this room.