A Nursery that is Designer Looking and Frugal, Yes Please!

When first thinking about bringing a baby into our new home I was very anti nursery. I figured the baby won’t know the difference, so why spend money and time on putting together a room. As I spent time with some great moms (and special friends) many of them would get this big smile on their face as they told me about the hours and hours, late nights, and early mornings spent as a family in the nursery. Nursing baby, playing on the floor with baby, watching baby sleep. They told me that after just 6 short months, baby starting pointing at everything on the walls. So maybe I was wrong – as much as I hate to admit it – maybe a nursery is a really special place for family bonding. So my quest began… to create a room that is: Gender Neutral Practical in layout and contents Frugal, Sustainable, Up-cycled Designer, Tasteful, Calming I found this storage bin on etsy that became my inspiration for the entire room! (I didn’t purchase it, just used it as inspiration!) Here is the finished room… and the details of how each item was made, thrift-ed, or purchased!   THE DETAILS Changing Table: I couldn’t believe the cost of a true “changing table” and it didn’t seem to be so special. Instead I took this wood piece I had, I removed the doors, sanded and painted it. I also sprayed the top with a protective gloss so that it can be wiped off easily. Lastly, I added some fun new knobs! Cost: About $35 for the supplies, 10-20 hours of work (paint: Menards, Knobs: Hobby Lobby)   Chair and Pillow: Rocking chairs and gliders were quite expensive. Also I’m very short (5 foot 1 inch on a good day!) so I found that if I sat in a rocker / glider I could barely keep the chair steady. I plan to nurse in this chair so I opted to re-finish a comfy old chair we had sitting in the basement.  I bought fabric paint (yes, spray paint for fabric, so cool!). I purchased Simply Spray Fabric Paint in charcoal. I needed 2.5 cans, but made sure to use a coupon on each one so it didn’t get too pricey. I taped the wood portion of the chair, sprayed the fabric following the cans instructions. Then taped the fabric portion and carefully painted the wood. Cost: About $15 for the supplies, 5-10 hours of work (paint: Hobby Lobby) The pillow is just scrap fabric covering an old pillow, so that cost me nothing!   Sweet Dreams sign: We don’t know if our little one is a boy or girl, and I didn’t want to make something with babies name  (I think it’s overdone… ) so I made a little sign that says ‘sweet dreams’ to hang above the bed. It was made with all scrap fabric. I cut out the letters using a stencil and then top stitched them onto triangular fabric. I attached it […]