Nursery Diaries #7 - Colors, fabric & crib bedding

I spent a lot of time looking for various fabrics I wanted to incorporate into the nursery via crib bedding, glider, changing pad cover, pouf, window treatments... Coral and gray were the main colors that I wanted for the space and intended that they would come in through the bedding, walls and other small details.  But I still wanted to have pops of something else here and there to spice it up.  I decided a nice seafoamy teal would be a good contrast for the window treatments and changing pad cover.  (Unfortunately, hindsight has changed my opinion on this a bit, which is one of the main reasons Alexa's nursery is still so incomplete. That and the fact that I never got around to putting up any real wall decor, but I'm getting ahead of myself.)

So here's the background story: I had originally planned to have bedding made through a vendor on etsy.  I struggled to find fabrics and a method to create the bumpers that would give the look that I liked (Arden's crib from Copy Cat Chic and Sloane's crib from Urban Grace first shown here.  I'd basically given up and decided to buy a premade Rikshaw Design set on sale at Layla Grayce (along with our rug) that would change the plan for colors, but it was so pretty and soft I felt like it was a good decision to stop agonizing over.

Isn't it sweet??  But no.  Sadly, this was not the end.  That was in July (remember, baby was due October 8th) and three weeks later, I received an email saying that the bedding was on backorder until the end of September.  (Ahhh!)  I knew the baby wouldn't need it for awhile, but I couldn't wait until then to see how it fit into the nursery, if at all.  No way!  So I canceled my order... :(  

Ok. Back to square one.*  I found the OrganicQuiltCompany on etsy, and they saved me.  I worked with Becky to design my own set, provided her with the measurements and she crafted exactly what I wanted. 

{*Would you believe I ordered the full/queen duvet cover for our own bed during another sale at LG and yet again, it's on backorder?!  Fool me once...fool me twice...man oh man. Thankfully, I'm in no rush on that although I am dying to snuggle with it!}

So here are the fabrics I ended up with {top three are crib bedding that I found through the fabulous Becky and purchased through BratPacksFabrics, fourth was for the cornices, fifth and six are for the changing pad cover & seventh for the pouf- all remaining purchased on sale at JoAnn Fabrics}: 

Now I'm no sewing expert so I did NOT attempt this at home, but here is the beautiful end product from Becky.  I realize that the coral fabric comes across much more orange in this picture below, but in person, it's softer like the picture of it above.  The third picture down seems to be more acurate. Similar situation with the gray - looks paler below, but it's truer to the above pic.

And coincidentally, a friend of mine made this gorgeous blanket for Alexa prior to my receiving the bedding that fits perfectly in her room.  Can you believe how closely that matches?!



And here was the bow she had on my birthday gift from some extra yarn.  So cute, I had to find a spot for it.  I want to tie it into the wall decor, but for now, it sits here. (Well, right now, it really sits squished in between the changing pad and this bin so I can get to the wipes, but when I tidy up the space, this is where it goes.)



And special note - those bumper inserts were very difficult to find, but Reichel was kind enough to tell me on twitter where she got hers - http://www.thefoamfactory.com/ in case you're trying to find it.  I ended up buying the pre-cut Nu-foam baby bumpers since they were already supposed to be crib sized... I wrapped two of them together in batting and stuffed them into the bumper covers.  I hadn't really thought through the fact that by making them thicker, they would need to be shorter since they would take up more depth in the crib.  Once I tried to squish them into the crib, they wouldn't fit.  Sigh...I cut them down with giant scissors and that's why the long bumpers "kiss" the fronts of the short bumpers rather than meeting them in the corner.  Whatevs.  At least I did all this prior to sending the measurements for the bedding to be made.  I also would've wrapped an extra layer or two of batting to make them more overstuffed looking, but once I got it all in there, I was exhausted and so tired of thinking about it.  :)

I love the end product and highly recommend the OrganicQuiltCompany. 

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Nursery Diaries #6 - DIY Projects 1

When I pictured the little toot's nursery, I envisioned a pretty dresser with a changing pad on one side and a basket of diaper-changing essentials on the other - like this gray one from my inspiration post:

Or even this mid-century style:

{By the way, one of my best friends gave me those same owl bookends a year or two ago, and while I think they look cute on my own desk, they'd be really sweet in Alexa's room! And I LOVE the look of the shelf above the changing area with a delicate mobile hanging below. Alexa loves to look up at the pictures that are on the wall and wiggle and kick, and I suspect that a mobile would be much more fun so I'm on the look-out.}

Anywhosey - I set out in search of a beautiful dresser but was ultimately disappointed. Didn't find much on Craigslist in my area. Such a bummer! I found LOTS on Etsy like this and this (both so pretty!), but sadly they were too expensive for our budget...same with ebay. I looked at overstock.com and lots of other places and then decided I was sick of the whole process altogether... Lucky for me, J's old dresser wasn't in use so he suggested I refinish it. He figured that even if I didn't end up liking it for the nursery, it was bound to be an improvement from what we had. (Apparently, I didn't take a good "before" pic, but you can see the drawers in the background and get the idea.)

I've never refinished furniture before so I wasn't really sure where to start. Fortunately, Jenny from Little Green Notebook had just posted a super-detailed how-to about refinishing an upholstered chair (definitely bookmarked it for another day). I figured the painting portion of it would work for the dresser as well.  I dedicated a weekend to it and recruited Hubs to help when I got tired. This pic looks like I started him really early on, but really he just wanted to fix the cracks before I started painting.

And ta-da...

Turned out pretty great!  The only negatives are that I'd prefer it to be longer like those examples above and since it's an old dresser, the drawers are tricky to slide in and out.  Down the road, we may switch to one with drawer glides, but for now, this works.  My favorite part is the hardware.  I'll admit that J and his dad did the pulls for me. I started to do it, but it was driving me nuts. Of course, I didn't just buy pretty replacement knobs. I wanted these pulls I mentioned here that look like crowns. :) So I had to fill or cover the knob holes and then measure out the new holes and then drill them exactly where I measured them while keeping my belly out of the way...I didn't last long. They took pity on me and figured out a faster way to do it.  I might have put the pulls on the bottom three drawers in a little on either side, but the effort of getting the correct placement on that wasn't worth it in my opinion.  :)


And here's a close-up. I love them! Fit for a little princess.

To catch up on the prior posts, check out 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.

  

{Photo credit: laybabylay via Pinterest / It's Great To Be Home / the rest are my own}

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Well, well, well...

Looks like it's been awhile...5 months actually. Bottom-line is I don't know how all these blogging mamas do it! I stopped posting before having our baby because I was so anxious about her arrival that I couldn't focus on much more than pleading with her to come out and join us. Going 10 days past my due date drove me near insanity, particularly when my doctor speculated that she thought I'd be early...(I mean thanks for getting that little bug in my ear, right?) So the little lady finally decided to grace us with her presence on the morning of October 17th. I suspect she heard me crying that they were going to induce me that night and decided to leave on her own terms (well almost - except for that unexpected c-section). Either way, I've been in a state of bliss ever since.

 

Presenting to you!

 

**Alexa Finley (aka "HoneyBear," aka "Peanut Chillyfingers," aka "Scratch & Spits," etc.)**

Although now, she really looks more like this:

 

And really, "state of bliss" might include a little "state of exhaustion." Need. More. Sleep.

 

I have lots to catch up on here like how her nursery turned out and what else we've accomplished. Full-disclosure, pretty much all works-in-process. It's easier now that we have more of a schedule going, but I'm back at work too so that fills up all of my time. We'll see how all of this goes!

 

Back later with all of that!

 

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