Nursery Reveal

I am so excited about this post...The nursery is finally done! YAY! I have been thinking about this nursery and planning it for months, researching each piece to make sure we got the best deal and what would work best for us, and sewing up a storm...I have never planned, created, and decorated a room in its entirety before--this was our first time buying furniture, too (apart from our nightstands we bought from Walmart when we got married). I've also only made clothes in the past--this was my first time sewing homey items...Much easier than clothes, but still a learning experience.

So, the nursery was based all around this piece:

This little elephant was Kyncade's as a boy. This was in his room for as long as he can remember...When we got married we held on to it, intending to refinish and paint it one day when we had children of our own. So, it has been sitting in our storage in our various houses for years and we have lugged it along with us each time we moved...And finally we got to use it! The picture to the left is the "before" shot...

And here is the after shot! Kyncade did a great job sanding down and painting our little elephant. We think that eventually the elephant will become a place to store toys and stuffed animals, but for now I decided to make some throw pillow covers for a few old pillows we had on hand to fill the elephant with. 

I didn't want the room to have an elephant "theme"...I just wanted there to be elephant accents. The very first baby item we bought was an elephant lamp that I first saw on this blog and fell in love with. I knew it was a long shot that I would find the exact one since the blogger bought hers at a Canadian discount store and the lamp was not for sale anywhere online. But I got super lucky and found the lamp at the American version of the discount store after going in and searching several times! I threw on a super cheap lampshade that matched our decor and it was perfect. 

Also in this photo you can see some other fun details of the room. The "J" is a wooden letter I wrapped in yarn--inspired by this tutorial. And the print is a super adorable ABC piece made by Etsy seller LoxlyHollow. You can see the print up close here if you would like.

Alright, now for some pictures that show more of the room as a whole....Here is the left side of the room. Kyncade made those lovely bookshelves (we got the idea from and mostly used the tutorial found here). When we put the books on a regular bookshelf with spines facing out, it looked like we barely had any books. Now, with them displayed this way, it looks like we have books galore. 

I made the crib skirt by combining several tutorials I found online (mostly this one, this one, and this one) and I am really excited that it is adjustable...So as I lower the crib mattress, I will be able to simply adjust the skirt accordingly and it won't require any additional hemming. 

I also sewed up the crib guard/teething rail (thanks to this tutorial), blanket (tutorial found here), and crib sheets (made with this tutorial). The image on the wall on the right (in the picture above) is "Perfect Love" by Del Parson--a print I saw in the BYU Bookstore several years ago, loved, took a picture of it with my phone and told myself I would love to one day have it hanging in my baby's room. This summer, I was able to head back to the bookstore and buy that print and fulfill my little dream. The picture on the left of the "Perfect Love" print is of the Provo LDS temple.

So, I am really excited about this chair. It is so dang comfortable, it swivels, glides/rocks, reclines...it is just amazing. I researched rockers for months trying to find an affordable option that would be comfortable and versatile...And it was pretty discouraging. I finally found out about a furniture store that was going out of business and selling all of their inventory for ridiculously cheap. We drove up, saw this beautiful, used recliner, and were able to talk the guy down even more from the super low price he had been selling it for. It seriously pays off to go furniture shopping when you are very pregnant--he kept saying, "Well, for the baby, I will give you this price." :) So we got this dream chair for a fraction of the price of just about every other comparable recliner I saw...I was a very happy lass.

Ok, continuing in the clockwise view of the room, here is the right side of the nursery. This dresser and the matching nightstand were bought from a wholesale furniture store about an hour away--they were damaged in transit to the store, so when we saw them they were in this dinky back room without their knobs and legs, all scratched up and dirty. We got seriously great prices for the set, took them home, cleaned them up, and they look fabulous. 

On the wall is a ribbon board which currently has maternity photos on it, but I plan on putting our baby's announcement and photos of his cute little face all over it eventually. The two frames have yet to be filled...The top frame will have a typography birth print in it--something like this one. My parents had something similar made for each of my siblings and me, so I have always imagined having something like it hanging in my baby's room someday. The smaller frame will have a wee handprint and footprint in it as soon as I can get some prints from our little guy.

I sewed several changing table covers by following this tutorial. Some things I sewed but that are not seen in any pictures are play pen sheets (thanks to this tutorial) and some "wee wee wigwams" (tutorial can be seen here).

In that last photo there is a glimpse of the closet...Here it is in all its glory. Can you believe how many clothes we have?! I can't! Almost all of them are hand-me-downs from three very kind people. Most recently one family gave us three huge trash bags full of clothes...And man, a trash bag can hold a lot of baby clothes. We are so grateful to these generous people for thinking to give us their hand-me-downs! Thank you friends!

When we were looking for a place to move to and first walked through this townhouse, I fell in love with this room and this closet...Isn't it just the perfect little nursery closet? I love the double rods and shelf in the middle! So perfect.

In the picture before this closet shot you can see a mobile hanging above the changing table...Here is a closer look. I just barely finished it. I didn't think I would have time to make it, but since baby is now 6 days (and counting) late, I ended up having time to throw this together. This is the last elephant-ish addition to the room. I love that I was able to use all things I already had to make this, the only thing I had to buy was the embroidery hoop, which was $1.50. I consulted this tutorial when trying to figure out how to make it, but mostly just looked at a ton of mobiles on Etsy and took elements from several that I liked to combine them into one that I liked best. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Well, that is the nursery! Hopefully I didn't bore you to pieces with all the details and explanations. 

It looks like we will be having this baby the day after tomorrow...We are scheduled to be induced Wednesday the 19th if our little guy doesn't decide to make an appearance sooner. It doesn't seem real--at all--that we are going to actually have our own little baby to put in this room this week!

I hope you all have had a lovely Monday!