Elliot's Blue and Green Nursery (so far)

Elliot is almost five weeks old (so hard to believe!) and her room isn't quite finished. But, we're getting there (it's not like she sleeps in there anyway). The room used to be the guest bedroom, and we didn't repaint the walls (they are Blue Shamrock by Olympic). We didn't know she was going to be a she, so the goal was to create a simple, serene space that would work for a boy or a girl for under $1,000. We accomplished this by using things we already owned, and not buying an expensive set of brand-new furniture.


I knew I wanted a big piece of art over the crib so I've attempted to start painting it myself. I have the painting skills of a second grader, so please don't judge :) I suppose looking childish is fine in a baby's room, right?


I bought the sconces at an antique shop when little Elliot was just a dream. They were meant to be hardwired, but Wes added the cords so we could plug them in. Only one of them works at the moment, but I'll tell you about that later. We replaced the plastic sleeves, and I still want to do Lauren's trick to make them look like more expensive wax sleeves.


I painted a new white Jenny Lind crib (bought at a local shop) Pumpkin Seed by Martha Stewart at Home Depot. I love the result but it was a major pain. I borrowed a paint sprayer that I think was a little too strong for this project and ended up doing a lot of touching up drips and painting in the nooks and crannies with a small sponge roller. Next time I will leave it to a professional!


The bumper is off-white linen with a small ruffle on top by Pom Pom at Home bought locally at Three Sheets. It's very soft, washable, and is neutral enough for future babies and nurseries (which was the point). The striped crib sheet is by Boppy.


I made the crib skirt out of linen fabric from King Cotton inspired by these two by John and Sherry and Erika. I wanted it to hit the floor now while the mattress is high and later when we lower it. The vintage kindergarten chair came from a local thrift store, and we speculate that it may have from the kindergarten that my mom attended! PS, this is a good photo of the crib and wall colors.


The chest was our first purchase for the room, back when I was just a few weeks pregnant. I knew I wanted to use one in place of a changing table, and we happened upon this one while browsing an antique store in my hometown when we went up to tell my dad he was going to be a grandfather. The turned wood lamp was a clearance purchase at Target a while ago. I swapped a dark shade for a white one and I like it so much better now. The white frames are also from Target and I used fabric leftover from the crib skirt to cover the mats. Elliot's newborn photos will go in them. (Wipe warmer and diaper pail are not attractive, but necessary!)


The chest was wood and the finish was scratched and uneven, so we painted it Pumpkin Seed, too. I knew the details would paint really nicely, and I distressed it just a touch before adding a matte wipe-on poly finish.


The chair was a thrift store purchase (it used to be pink!) that was in great shape. I had it recovered in the same linen I used on the crib skirt and frames. I originally wanted a waterfall skirt, but didn't purchase enough fabric. My upholsterer was extremely affordable but also extremely slow, so when I found this out a week after Elliot was born, I no longer cared and settled for a regular skirt.

The blue and green blanket was a gift from Wes' mom, the pillow came from HomeGoods and the vine floor lamp came from a local consignment shop. We already had the garden stool, and I believe it came from HG was well.

I think that's about it. I'll keep you updated on how things go as we finish up and will post more photos then.

For those curious about how much it cost to bring it all together, here's the breakdown of what we bought.

Jenny Lind crib: gift
Chest: $230
Paint (one gallon for both): $25
Bird hook and hamper: already owned
Crib bumper: $170
Sheet: gift.
Fabric (six yards for the chair and one for the skirt and frames): $27/yard, $189
Chair: $27
Upholstery: $125
Sconces: already owned
Supplies for sconces: approximately $14
Canvas above crib: $12
Kindergarten chair: $5
Rug: already owned
Curtains: $20
Curtain trim: approximately $15
Pillow in chair: $13
Blanket: gift
Vine lamp: $40
Garden stool: already owned
2 white lampshades: $23
3 white frames: $43
White shelf (not pictured): $35
Total: $986 (just under budget!)

Peek at the Nursery

I hoped to be able to post photos of the nursery this week, but the weather has not been good for photo-taking. We should get some sunshine in the morning (before it gets nasty again) so I've got a date with my camera planned ...

Happy Weekend!

It's A Girl!

Our perfect little Elliot Claire entered the world this morning at 6:43 weighing 8 pounds on the dot. Baby and mom are doing very well and we are doing what we can to get some kind of sleep in between feedings since we were up all night. Thank you for all your prayers and support. We are so excited about what the Lord has in store for us with our new angel. As a token of thanks I've posted some low quality pictures from my phone. Rest assured many photoshoots will take place in the next few weeks.

Busy, Busy Bees

To say that the past few weeks have flown by would be an understatement. It has been a non-stop parade of meals, parties, traveling adventures and house projects. Here is a sample of what we have been up to.


We celebrated one Thanksgiving at the lake, and then one on the farm. I definitely take up more space in the kayak 8 months pregnant!


Don't worry, had I fallen in, this girl would have pulled me to safety.


We took at little road trip to Western North Carolina. We saw the Biltmore all decked out for Christmas (I counted 32 trees!) and ate in as many restaurants in Asheville as we could.


Once home, we continued wrapping up little projects all over the house, like in our bedroom, which has finally come together.


And of course, there has been much to do as we count down to Baby Bonds' arrival (give or take five weeks!). We've painted furniture.


And hung light fixtures.


And sorted tiny and precious baby things (and perhaps done a little daydreaming about who will be wearing them soon). Today I'm determined to finish decorating for Christmas - more on that to come!

PS. We also watched Auburn beat Alabama and rout South Carolina to earn a trip to the BCS National Championship Game. WAR EAGLE!

The Plan for Baby's Room

When we found out Baby Bonds was on his or her way in May I thought that surely by November the nursery would be nearly complete. Ahahahahahahaha. We are, unfortunately, not even close with t-minus ten weeks to go, give or take (take being more likely as Wes and I were born 5 and 3 weeks early, respectively). I could offer a host of excuses, but why bother? The good news is that we're getting there (that halleluiah chorus you hear is our mothers).

Here's the plan (by the way, we won't know the baby's gender until D-Day):

The walls will stay the same color (see it here), Blue Shamrock by Olympic. A vintage chest and new Jenny Lind crib (which should arrive by this weekend!) will get a fresh coat of Pumpkin Seed by Martha Stewart for Home Depot. The chest's old hardware will get a good scrub. The white Ikea curtains will be trimmed with green ball fringe from JoAnn's and will be hung from the brass-look rod above (from Home Depot). The pink chair will be covered in flax linen from Lewis & Sheron. The crib bedding is simple, with white linen bumpers from Pom Pom at Home and a flax linen skirt (made my yours truly following this method). The green and white striped fabric is from my stash, and might become a pillow or perhaps a cover for the changing pad that will sit on the chest. The light fixture is similar to this one, and I bought it for $7 at a prop sale two years ago. I have some ideas for "art" that I need to price, and we still need a rug, at least a lamp or two, and a small side table to go with the chair (though the garden stool I already have will do just fine).

So, it's kind of a hodge-podge, but I like it, and let's be honest, the baby will not care! And don't worry, if she's a she, I'm sure I'll find a way to add some pink here or there.

Painting the Kitchen Floor

Making Room for Baby has turned into Starting a Million Projects. Well, really it's starting a couple of projects, which have led to other projects. Case in point: High on Wes's list of priorities has been moving our washer and dryer from the middle of the kitchen into a closet in the breakfast room.


But to accomodate them, the closet had to get bigger. So the entire wall had to come out. I am getting a pantry out of the deal (HOORAY!) but now we have to deal with the floors in both rooms. The peel-and-stick linoleum tiles have been doing more peeling than sticking lately so I was not sad to see them go. I was a little sad though, to see more linoleum and then lovely vinyl tile underneath.


Since we aren't yet ready for a full-on remodel, we've decided to paint the subfloor. Now, do I want a big checkerboard, stripes, or solid?

Photos: Cottage Living.

Summer Break is Over

I didn't intentionally take a summer break from the blog, but I may as well have! Now that I am back from a week on the beautiful Gulf Coast (not a drop of oil in sight!) I feel like it's back to school time, and thus, time for a better routine, which will again include blogging.


But my break wasn't all fun and games. One afternoon I walked outside to find a huge tree had fallen through our fence in the backyard. The tree was dead and it only took out one section of the fence, so after a day with the chainsaw and leftover boards (and lots of water deliveries from me), Wes had the backyard as good as new.


We've also been busy making room for baby. I'm a few days shy of the half-way point and starting to feel like it's time to see some progress. I've gotten three of our five closets cleaned out, and we rearranged and got rid of some furniture this weekend. And, of course, we've added some, like this flea-mall high chair, which I've added to my needs-a-paint-job list. More to come on these projects!