nursery part III

Still no baby, which means more time to blog.

Actually, we had a really nice day of sleeping in (maybe for the last time?), relaxing and NOT doing house projects, so I am just now getting to this. 
(I am also suffering from third trimester insomnia which is why I am up so late.)

I thought I would just give a break down of the nursery.

The wall color is Benjamin Moore's no VOC paint in Stonington Gray, 
(color recommended by my friend Jess).
I talked about my no VOC paint frustration here, and finally found some I love thanks to my friend Emily.

The crib is from Pottery Barn Kids, but we got a killer deal on it. 

(You can read that story here).

The linen curtains are from IKEA, (where else?).
Christian was stressed about the fabric pooling on the floor and getting dirty before I had a chance to hem them, so he tied them all in knots one day.
The knots grew on us and we ended up just leaving them.

We scored the rug randomly on a trip home from Chicago.

We decided to stop at The Land of Nod Outlet in Naperville, Illinios.

Christian spotted this huge, gorgeous, off white wool rug which had absolutely nothing wrong with it.

It was crazy marked down.  

I think we payed $82, (it was originally $250).

The chandelier hung over us at our wedding.

I found it at a little old firehouse turned lighting shop in the village of Zionsville.

It used to have a white, silk cord cover but Christian said it looked girly, and I had to agree with him.

I saw these really cool burlap cord covers at Anthropologie, but they don't sell them separate from the lamps, so I bought some burlap and Christian's mom helped me sew one myself.

I love it!

I made the framed artwork that hangs over the crib.

 I love this bible verse for our sleepy little one:

"The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love..." Zephaniah 3:17

In fact, I used it in my letter to Baby way back in November.

For the artwork, I took dictionary pages I had left over from my dictionary wreath, and stamped the words on top.
Some people have asked if they are bible pages, which would have been even cooler.

I painted these huge brown square frames.

I wanted them white, but not solid white.

You can still see the brown through the white paint in some spots.

Christian's very talented mom made the crib bedding.

It took me a long time to decide on fabric.

I finally ended up settling on some light gray duck cloth from JoAnn's, (I love how thick duck cloth is), and some really soft cream decorator's fabric with a diamond pattern quilted into it, which I found for half price at Hancock Fabrics.

On the other side of the room is the changing area:

(Laundry basket with chalkboard is from Target.)

You can read the story of how we re-faced this dresser here.

Ever since I convinced myself that Baby J is a boy,  I decided that my original all neutral nursery inspiration just wasn't going to cut it.

If it is in fact a boy, he needs some fun color, so I went with some pops of modern yellow to compliment the gray.

I custom ordered this yellow and white fabric, (which still has some nice femininity to it just in case my hunch is wrong), from JoAnn's and again, Christian's talented mom sewed a cover for the changing pad.

 

We received the organization system which hangs above the dresser and the small white floor cabinet as wedding presents, (both are from Target but are great Pottery Barn look alikes).

All of the white frames are again from IKEA for only $4.99.

 All of the baskets and boxes are from Home Goods.

The metal bucket is from Target's dollar spot.

I bought it last summer, painted the handles white and hot glued a little piece of wood which I painted with chalkboard paint to it.

I had been using it in the kitchen for fresh produce.
Now it fits a wipe dispenser perfectly, (well worth the $1 I payed for it).

I just cut some strips of yellow duck cloth and made labels out of black and white tagboard for the baskets where we will be keeping our adorable cloth diaper shells and soakers.

My friend Jane spray-painted wine bottles white and wrapped twine around the necks, then used sticks to make centerpieces for our owl-themed shower.
I thought they were too cute so I kept a couple.

One is on the floor cabinet next to the dresser and the other one is in the closet along with all the cute owls Emily and Jane made out of styrofoam balls and felt:

Remember the before picture I posted of the closet here?
It is quite the transformation.

 

The white organizers were already in that closet, (even though it was NOT organized before).
I had purchased the baskets for my classroom (they come in 4 packs at Lowes), but since I won't be needing them there anymore, (as explained here), I brought them home, did my best to wash the crayon and marker stains out of the liners and re-used them.

I also hemmed some old curtains we were not using and hung them at the top of the closet so there is a place to hide any odds and ends.


My ultimate dream for this nursery was to take out the pocket doors on the closet and hang a huge barn door on a slider in their place.
I knew we could make the barn door ourselves, but my dreams were crushed when I was unsuccessful at finding sliding hardware for under $400.
It's now on my list of "someday' projects. 

I already explained about the homemade rocker.

Christian's Grammy heard I was hunting for a little footstool and let us have this one from her house.
His mom and dad used the same yellow swirl fabric and a staple gun to re-cover it for us.

Katie of Krubooks came through for me again.
 I mentioned here that I had my eye on this subway sign that she sells in her etsy shop.
The only problem was I found a really cool gray frame at Micheal's and I was worried that the gray wall, gray frame and gray background of the subway sign would be too much.
I sent Katie a picture of the nursery and she sent me this customized sign with a cream background and gray words:

She even matched the yellow words to the yellow of the cute pillow I found at Target.

I love it! 

I had a gift card to Tangerine Cards and Gifts, so I stopped by one day.
I fell in love with a little antique bench they were using to display children's toys.
Of course, it wasn't for sale.
I begged the woman working to talk to her manager, and she called me a couple days later and agreed to sell it to me!
Now it lives in Baby J's room:

I put a big Target milk crate basket (gift from Emily) on top with some toys in it and the adorable Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag that Baby's Aunt Sarah picked out for me without even knowing what colors we were doing in the nursery.

There was already a hand painted white frame which had no glass on the wall from when this room was our office, so I took the picture out, painted a piece of board that Christian cut for me with chalkboard paint, and now it matches the sweet chalkboard bins of the little bench.

Are you noticing my chalkboard obsession?

It all started with my chalkboard pantry door, and that same tiny pint of chalkboard paint has served me well for tons of fun little crafty projects.

For now, the chalkboard is being used as a place to cast votes:

If you would like to join in on the fun, cast your vote in the comments section below.

Hopefully we will know the answer to that question sooner than later.

The suspense is killing us!