Now that the nursery is finished and I’m becoming increasingly uncomfortable at 36-weeks pregnant, I’m excited and more than ready to meet our sweet, little Alexia Grace. Celebrating the birth of four friends’ babies in the past few weeks may also be contributing to my eager anticipation.
Before we could even start on the nursery we had to downsize our office and move it upstairs to the master bedroom (read more in my post, “A Modern-Traditional Bedroom Office”); install new, semi-built-in bookshelves, which are still awaiting doors on backorder until April at IKEA, in the dining room; find a new home for or donate the random items stored in what was the office and now is the nursery; and reorganize the mud room and guest house storage spaces to make room for the aforementioned items. We are incredibly thankful for friends who pitched in to watch Levi while we had a marathon sorting and reorganizing session. We also are equally grateful for assistance from friends in styling the bookshelves and painting the nursery as well as lending tools to help complete these projects.
Working on the nursery started off with an almost paint spill on our two-year-old carpet while I was painting the shelves inside the closet—thank God for drop cloths! Then a couple weeks later an actual paint spill on the carpet while we were painting the walls. Oops! Thanks to a free introductory offer from Clean as a Whistle you’d never even notice, and we were back on track within a few days.
For the decor, we designed everything around Carousel Designs’ Lilac and Gray Suzani Drape Panels, which were a splurge, but totally worth it—don’t you think?! We kept costs down by:
- Taking advantage of sales both online and in stores (Tip: You can usually earn 10-20% off your next purchase when signing up for a store’s email list.)
- Using leftover store credit at Babies ‘R’ Us leftover from returning duplicate gifts for Levi over a year ago
- Asking for baby registry items from family for Christmas (We didn’t have a baby shower for Lexi, but created registries on Carousel Designs and Amazon for our own use.)
- Using the 15% off completion discount on our Amazon Baby Registry (We had an additional 5% discount from Amazon’s standard 10% because I’m an Amazon Mom member, which is free to join for Amazon Prime members.)
- Repurposing furniture where possible
Levi’s crib moved to the nursery (read more about that transition in my post, “Levi’s Toddler Room”) as did the nightstand from the master bedroom. The nightstand matches the other dark wood furniture and suits her room well, since there is ample shelf space in the closet. Adding cute, sturdy storage bins and a second rod for hanging clothes with size dividers allow for maximized, organized closet storage. You’ll notice in the photo that we are already starting quite the clothing collection for Lexi, thanks to hand-me-downs from a friend. Between those pass-downs, hand-me-downs coming from my cousin and a few new clothes most of which we received as gifts, Lexi is going to be one well-dressed little lady! Speaking of the closet, my handy husband painted and installed new sliding closet doors that actually open and close—quite the feat in a parallelogram door opening in a century-old house that isn’t entirely level. He also designed and installed Texas-inspired decorative touches on the storage space doors above the closet. After renovating two homes I shouldn’t be surprised, but I’m thoroughly impressed with his handiwork! Thank you, hon’!
The name banner above the crib was crafted by the same super talented friend who made Levi’s. I created the floral painting hanging above her changing table at a Pinot’s Palette excursion with that same friend a few years ago.
Not pictured is the adorable, coordinating quilt my mom is currently sewing as well as a crib rail cover that matches the curtains—a last-minute addition with store credit for returning a cute lavender diaper stacker that, unfortunately, wouldn’t hang well on the changing table we purchased.
If you’re interested in where we found Lexi’s nursery decor, here’s what we purchased or received as gifts:
- Paint: Southwestern Paint Co.’s Benjamin Moore Eco Spec WB Interior Latex Paint in Eggshell Color-Matched to Sherwin-Williams Essential Grey (SW6002) and Various Brands of White Oil-Based Interior Paint for Trim and Closet Doors
- Curtains: Carousel Designs Lilac and Gray Suzani Drape Panels
- Crib Linens: Carousel Designs Lilac Suzani Crib Rail Cover (not pictured), Lilac Chelsea Crib Sheet, Solid Lilac Crib Skirt Box-Pleat
- Crib Mattress: Babies ‘R’ Us Sealy Precious Rest Crib/Toddler Mattress
- Changing Table: Amazon Delta Children Bentley Changing Table in Chocolate
- Changing Table Linens: Carousel Designs Solid Lilac Changing Pad Cover
- Changing Table Pad: Amazon Summer Infant Contoured Changing Pad
- Changing Table Bins: Pottery Barn Kids Lavender Canvas Storage – Medium Canvas Bucket
- Diaper Organizer: Amazon Munchkin Sarabear Portable Diaper Caddy in White Waffle
- Diaper Pail: Amazon Diaper Genie Essentials Diaper Disposal Pail (note this model does not have the foot pedal, which is the version we have in Levi’s room)
- Closet Doors: Home Depot
- Closet Storage Bins: Land of Nod I Think I Canvas Wide Drawer in Grey
- Storage Space Trim and Stars: Home Depot
- Baby Monitor Camera: Amazon Foscam FI8910W Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with Two-Way Audio and Night Vision in White (Since several friends have asked about it, we highly recommend this baby monitor system, which is much less expensive than standard models and requires a little tech savvy to connect to your home network. We have one camera installed in each kid’s room and use the SunshineApps’ Baby Monitor HD app to view both rooms simultaneously on our i-devices. We have settings in place to mute sound until it reaches a certain volume, which is helpful while we’re sleeping. We can also easily talk to Levi through the camera. For security purposes, we disabled access to the cameras outside of our home.)
- Toy Bin: Pottery Barn Kids Lavender Canvas Storage – Printed Large Canvas Storage
- Big Brother Shirt: Old Navy (no longer available, purchased months ago during a big sale)
- Little Sister Onesie: Babies ‘R’ Us Carter’s Girls Pink “Best Little Sister” Embroidered Short-Sleeved Slogan Bodysuit
A perk to working on the nursery together as a family was watching my husband and son bond over power tools. Too cute! I also enjoyed letting Levi “help” me assemble the changing table. Give him his own allen wrench and let him get in the middle of the assembly, and he’s happy! Also, a BIG THANK YOU to my husband who lovingly spent the majority of his Saturdays over the past two months diligently painting, constructing and installing items in the nursery all before our self-imposed end-of-February deadline. He’s awesome!
