I wanted to get married so I could plan a wedding. I wanted to have a baby so I could design a nursery.
Just kidding!….kind of.
But seriously, one might say I’ve been excited to have a nursery in my house for a looooong time. Ever since I fell in love with the 3D plush wall decals of Michelle Tanners nursery way back in 1989. A dusty pink and blue baby heaven.
My nursery tastes have changed a bit since then….ha! But I still love me a good nursery. Pinterest is a smorgasbord of nursery styles. So many that I actually found it a little overwhelming. And like much of the home decor on Pinterest, the really good rooms, are filled with REALLY expensive (or European…can’t get it in the US…stuff). So I kind of chose not to look on Pinterest much.
The color scheme came from my desire to NOT have a color scheme. I’m not a pink and purple kind of gal, not that I dislike pink (purple can be added to my list of Colors I Could Do Without right next to red, black, and anything in the “rust” family) I just really didn’t want to have to limit myself when picking furniture and accessories. I also prefer to keep it a little bit gender neutral. Nothing sucks more than having to find a certain color rug, or blanket or lamp, its like when you need a black cardigan for an event, and suddenly NO ONE IS SELLING BLACK CARDIGANS! Also because I had hoped to buy a lot of stuff used, I REALLY didn’t want to limit myself.
In the end I would describe the rooms colors as Pastel Cool Jewel Tones and Pops of Magenta <—-sounds wacky…and it is. Did you see that giant glitter strawberry? I stole that from a wedding I did that had a “glitter fruit theme” I kid you not.
The walls were the other thing I chose NOT to paint. I painted this room 2 years ago when we first moved in (including the white stripes) and I had genuinely thought I would re paint it. In the end though the thought of actually painting deterred me enough to live with the current color. The room is still a little ways away from being done. I have a mobile that I made which I may hang up. I also may make valances for both windows instead of drapes. And we need to get a garbage can for dirty diapers and a few other little things. But were getting close! I have my last baby shower this coming weekend in Colorado, and after that I’d like the room to be completely ready by the first of October.
First off a view of the whole room.
This gold bow was plastic red when I bought it for $2 at an estate sale. I spray painted it gold and hung it on her door, it may be my very favorite thing in here!
Hula thinks we are decorating this room for her. Not only does she have her own bed in here (not pictured) but she also sleeps in the crib, on the changing pad, on the sheepskin chair, and her all time favorite place is that she can climb up under the crib and lay in the drawers (they are filled with baby blankets) we call it her “bottom bunk”. Having a baby is the best thing that’s ever happened to this cat.
I made these curtain from a $1 sheet at Goodwill. I may take them down though and make valances out of them for each window. That way there isn’t a bunch of bunching fabric, etc. Mr. Gaunt installed the black out roller blinds (purchased at Home Depot), I love them!
The room is quite tiny. Maybe 8’x10′? It will work well for a baby, but this whole house makes me nervous for a toddler! Ugh where will all her stuff go?
Now onto some details about what we purchased New vs Used and how much we spent.
The crib is the DwellStudio for Target Soho Crib that was sold in 2009 for around $300. Apparently it was a hot seller, because duh, its gorgeous! Also those bottom drawers are great for extra blankets and bedding. I bought it from a woman off Craigslist for $120 (not including a mattress, I’m not keen on used mattresses) Only down side is her daughter chewed a little on the wood edge, but I hardly notice or care.
The bedding I got used online too. I belong to a local kids consignment Facebook group and a woman listed this set for $20 (sheet, bumper and skirt). She said it was never used, that it was their backup bedding. When she gave it to me it was in one of those vacuum sucked storage bags and smelled/looked brand new. I believe it is this bedding, which you can find online for around $120.
The mattress I “splurged” on and got this one from Amazon that had really good reviews.
This was my other big splurge. I had wanted a ottoman that would be comfy to put my feet up on, but also good for babies to hold themselves up on, and WASHABLE for drool and sticky hands. I found an old PayPal account with some money in it, and after scouring the web for the best Pouf, I picked this one from the (adorable yet overpriced) Land Of Nod. To be honest its better than I thought. It is soft yet sturdy, and super washable! I almost want to get another one! I highly recommend getting this one if you’re looking to buy a pouf.
The chair is actually our old office desk chair. Its been repurposed here until I decide if I actually NEED a rocker (a lot of people say you do). My biggest problem is that I HATE almost every glider/rocker in my price range…HATE! The one I have on my registry is absurdly expensive, and I also like this one and a few others from Target, but anything in THIS family….gag! So we will live with this one, which is from Cost Plus.
The bookshelf is an old family hand me down from Mr. Gaunt. He screwed on long strips of wood and the READ BOOKS signs to make it kid friendly, so the books can face out instead of side by side. I may paint this whole shelf like this if I find some extra time.
The lamp I got last night from Target for $17.
All of the art, knickknacks and books came from Goodwill, garage sales or were baby shower gifts.
Rugs are stupid expensive. I was excited when I found this one on Urban Outfitters for under $50. the colors were very true to the website. Its a thin rug, so I used carpet rug tape to hold it in place, but it’s worked great so far. Its low pile, but not too rough for little hands and knees.
The dresser was a very generous baby gift from my mom. It’s the Ikea Hemnes dresser, and it took Mr. Gaunt and I close to 2.5 hours to build it, but we love it! Because our house is so small, we needed to keep the TINY closet in this room for storage of our stuff. So all babies clothing, cloth diapers and other such baby items will go in here. I’m sad to say it’s already full. I need to sort her clothes by size and put the extras in storage somewhere.
The art above the dresser is from an adorable little shop in town called SPRUCE. They do custom stationary and sell fun party supplies and wrapping paper. I bought these printed sheets for very cheap, and they make such a big pop when placed in a white (Goodwill spray painted) frame. The hot pink mirror came from a garage sale, and the adorable bunting was made by my BFF for my baby shower.
A few other things to note:
-I purchased this changing table pad and this cover.
-The Magenta fruit bins (that hold baby hair accessories) are from here.
-The Oeuf baby bouncer I got at a thrift store for $4! Regularly over $100!
-All throw pillows and baskets were all purchased used. I don’t know why people buy this stuff new.
So that’s it! Ill probably updated in October after we finalize some things.
The Family Chapters 