A Room for Little Sister

I'm resurrecting this blog to share some room transformations in our new house (well almost a year broken in now!).

My favorite room in our home is my latest project: a nursery for our soon to be arriving little miss.  We had this spare bedroom painted before we were even pregnant, and I chose a deep teal as I was really crushing on the teal/coral color combination at the time.  Thank goodness for a little girl filling the room, otherwise I would have had to be a bit more creative making the space suitable for a little man (for those that have a little man, red would be a great accent color!).

Because the color on the walls is so rich, I went with a softer pallet of white, coral and gold for everything else.  We decided on buying a new dresser and convertible crib instead of using Sienna's furniture and chose the Child Craft Soho collection in white; which is a sleek, modern design with honey colored legs.

I was inspired by the elegance of gold used in some Hobby Lobby prints I picked up so chose this as an accent color for frames and other details throughout the room.   One of the first things I changed when we got our furniture were the pull handles on the dresser.  I took all the chrome handles off and spray painted gold.  Perfection!

Hobby Lobby prints

Updated to have gold pulls

I just recently picked up sewing, easing into the hobby my making cute cotton baby bibs.  From there, I became ambitious, choosing to not spend hundreds of dollars on some bedding I had my eye on in an Etsy shop, and instead choosing to tackle making it myself.  I had picked up a fabric intended for bibs, but quickly realized how much I loved it for the nursery.  I scoured online shops to find more and was able to order a few yards from a site called Quilt Sandwich Fabrics.

There are literally tutorials for EVERYTHING online these days.  My initial plan was to create a crib sheet and changing pad cover, but I decided on a changing pad cover, crib skirt and pillow cover instead.  I already had two great sheets which would mix well with this patterned fabric.

I found a genius crib skirt tutorial, which recommended making adjustable panels instead of a single size skirt that would bunch on the ground as we lowered the mattress height.  I didn't use a crib skirt for Sienna's crib and don't generally like the look of one, but with this crib, it felt necessary.  I hung each panel with safety pins on the wire mattress frame.

Too bare looking without a skirt!

Adjustable crib skirt

Changing pad and pillow covers

I hung my prints over the dresser with two cardboard cut outs painted coral, making a small gallery wall.

Hobby Lobby prints

If your a longtime reader, you may recall my Ikea meltdown when doing Sienna's room.  I had really wanted their spice racks to use as bookshelves, but they were out of them each trip up there.  This time around, we quickly snagged a couple spice racks for the new nursery.  I picked up a stain at Lowe's that matched the honey colored wooden legs in our furniture and stained the shelves.  We had an old mirror laying around that I spray painted gold as what little one doesn't love looking at her/his self!

Stained bookshelves

Lastly, we pulled our white slip-covered JennyLund chair (also part of that Ikea meltdown) into the room with a small gray foot ottoman we already had for a comfy sitting area.  I hung some paper lights down the wall which will act as a nice night light, and found a gold accent table at Hobby Lobby (I swear they have everything!).

The room is 95% done now, with a few small details to be added over the coming weeks.  We'll add baby girls initials over her crib and probably a few newborn prints on the wall above the chair.  We also currently have a sheer white curtain on the window, but will likely add a double rod with a heavier fabric to make the room darker.  I haven't settled on a fabric yet for this.

Here's how it all ties together!  We can't wait to welcome our newest little one into her cozy abode - any day/week now!