8.02.2010

It's all in the Details: The Nursery Part 2

Last Thursday, I blogged about my son Alex's nursery (click here if you missed that) - formerly Elizabeth's nursery, and our home office before that.  I love that we spent almost nothing for the furniture in this room - just $50 for the dresser and that's it.  When it was Elizabeth's nursery, we used a hand-me-down dresser from Jim's family (more on that dresser here).  My mom bought the fabric and made the window valance, quilt, and adorable crib skirt. I'm so happy that we were able to get use out of the set for both kids. 


My mom and I found the fabric at a Waverly fabric outlet in northwestern Massachusetts.  We spent about 5 hours there on a cold Saturday during one of my visits to upstate New York before Elizabeth was born.  My mom then worked days and nights to finish the crib skirt, valence, and quilt before the baby came. 

Here's a close-up of the crib skirt.


The crib skirt is probably my favorite part of the set.  I love crib skirts for two reasons - (1) they add a little extra style to the crib which is otherwise an out-of-the-box piece of furniture; and (2) from a practical standpoint, it's a great storage area.  You can store lots of ugly stuff (diaper boxes, extra wipes, etc.) under cribs.  My dog, Angus, likes to hang out under there too.  Ours is long enough to hang to the floor even when the crib is on the top height setting.  When we put the crib down, I just fold over the top and pin it at the top to the base fabric with large safety pins. 

The window valance coordinates perfectly with the crib skirt.  I always get loads of compliments on this.  Before the renovation, this room had 2 windows but we replaced the back window with the glass door in the course of the renovation.



The valance is actually stapled to a strip of wood which is the width of the window and about 2"x2".  My mom stapled the side "panels" to the top piece of wood first and then placed the center piece over the side panels and stapled it at the top.  We also found the adorable coordinating fringe trim at the same fabric outlet. 

The chair was my own personal project.  This rocking swivel chair came to me via a used furniture store before I went to college.  I think my mom paid about $40 it.  The original fabric has definitely seen better days - a now sickly pale yellow velor - but with a slipcover, it really doesn't look that bad and it's still really comfortable.  I love that I have had this chair for over 15 years and it is still putting in its time.  I had originally slip-covered the chair in a tropical floral sort of fabric about 7 years before (don't ask me why), but I taught myself the basics during that process and put those skills to use on this version.


The personalized pillow is from one of my favorite Etsy sellers.  This is also one of my go-to baby gifts for second (or 3rd, 4th, or 5th) children.  I wish I had the time to learn how to make these!  Maybe some day...

I also did a quick project to cover some open shelving at the bottom of the bookcase behind the chair.  

This is just a simple rod-pocket curtain which took me about 30 minutes to make - and I am not a good seamstress.  Fortunately keeping the machine straight (my biggest sewing problem) was not difficult because of the fabric pattern!  I hung it with a $5 tension rod from Target.  This area was especially handy when we did not have much closet space because I needed more storage for extra trash bags, blankets, burp cloths, and other baby junk.  I do still keep some stuff under there but it's not nearly as packed as it used to be!

The final feature that I love is the changing table under the window.  Remember, this used to be our home office so the changing area was built to be a desk.  It actually still has pens and notebooks in the drawers underneath - we just never got to clean it out before Elizabeth was born or before the renovation.


Finally, I am sure there are a million safety reasons not to have a changing table in front of a window, but it works for us.  This is just a standard changing pad with a Pottery Barn Kids cover but it just fit perfectly and I was even able to wedge a basket in next to it to hold all sorts of baby necessities - diaper cream, nail clippers, comb, nasal aspirator, etc.  The diapers are on the shelf to the right in a little decorative wagon received as a baby gift.  I stored Elizabeth's diapers in a white wicker basket which is now the kids' toy basket in our master bedroom (yup, you heard that right - the toys are officially everywhere in our house).

I hope you enjoyed this tour of Alex's room!  Although I am excited about the prospect of working on a new room for him in another year or two (more on that here), I will definitely be sad to let this beautiful nursery slip back into a boring home office and guest room.

If you liked this post, click here to vote for us on Picket Fence Blogs! Thanks!


Linking to: All Things Bright and Beautiful