The Nursery (Part 1)

Oh the nursery!  This has been one of my favorite parts of getting ready for Baby Jett.  When we first found out we were having a boy, Jon's immediate reaction was to do a sports nursery.  My thought was that we have the rest of our lives to do sports (more than likely) with this little guy, so I wanted to do something different.  I spent hours looking up nursery ideas online.  We looked at bedding from literally everywhere & couldn't find anything that we both loved.  When I found the airplane material on Etsy and we both loved it (gotta go with what you agree on!) that's what we settled on.  Of course.... all the "custom" places online were either outrageously priced OR would take anywhere from 8-12 weeks.  For those that know me, when I want something I want it done pretty much instantly.  (I call this "only child syndrome" at its finest) My wonderful mother, knowing how I am about things, decided that she could probably sew the bedding.  I just had to promise to help & not want perfection since she repeatedly said she's "not a seamstress."  :)

I found the material a lot of places online, but ended up ordering 8 yards for about $40 (on sale!) from here.  Once we got the fabric, we went & got the baby bumper inserts for around $20 and picked up some cording and extra material for the bed skirt, crib sheets, and cording around the bumpers.  I think in total the materials we used were around $100, which was much cheaper than getting it made online AND I was getting exactly what I wanted. 

Making the bedding was a labor of love from my mom.  We stayed up way too late many nights sewing and making mistakes with the bedding.  We got acquainted with the seam ripper pretty good, but looking at the bedding you'd never know that we made mistakes!  We used Mamaw's sewing machine so it was so special creating something for Jett that, no doubt, Mamaw would have been so proud of us doing.  There were so many times, though, that we both just wanted to pick up the phone & ask her a question about sewing.  I still laugh thinking about the lady in Hancock Fabric telling Mom she'd have to use a zipper foot for the cording & Mom saying "Okay...um what's that?!"  It was so great just to be able to spend time together doing the project & the finished product turned out amazing!  Definitely fun memories that I'll never forget.

Mom sewing the cording & material

The first bumper complete! It was only about 1AM, but we were so proud!

 

Up close of the bumpers while sewing them

Final product of the bumpers and crib skirt (before the crib sheets were done)

Emma was really tired & ready to go to bed after us staying up so late,

so she just decided to sleep on the extra fabric!

Papaw even got in on the sewing! This was him making an orange pillow with minky material and a satin edge.  Turned out perfect!

 

 Final product of the bumpers, crib sheets (just one of them, but I have several), crib skirt, & orange pillow Papaw made! I'll post more about the decal in my next nursery blog.  :)

Mom also made the curtains using some of the extra material from the bedding.  The orange part of the curtains is actually king size sheets from Bed Bath & Beyond that were on clearance for $18.  She cut the sheets into panels the same size as the airplane material.  They match perfectly! 

Other Projects:
I also decided to make use of several items I had in the house instead of going out & buying new things.  This turned out to be way more fun than I expected! I took a swatch of the airplane fabric to Home Depot & got blue and green paint that matched the bedding perfectly.  Home Depot has little sample jars of paint that they'll mix for you for around $3.  For what I was painting, the little sample jars are more than enough for what I needed and I still have some left.  The paint from there is much better, in my opinion, than buying the little cans from Hobby Lobby. 

My first project was turning in an old canvas I had previously painted (and didn't use) into a wall hanging for the nursery.  I went to Hobby Lobby & bought the wooden letters and airplane 1/2 off for around $5.  The airplane was originally baby blue and red, so I used my paint from Home Depot & painted it to match the nursery.  After everything dried, I used Mod Podge & glued the letters on the canvas.  I thought it turned out cute!

Finished Product!

 

Since Mom & Dad moved in the middle of my pregnancy, they had lots of things from their house in Camden to get rid of.  I got this gold mirror from Mom's bathroom and decided to paint it to go above the changing table using the same paint. 

 

Before:





 

After:

 

 

I knew I wanted a lamp to go in the nursery beside the glider.  I had this lamp just stored in my closet because the original colors didn't match the current decor in our house.  The lamp was originally turquoise, brown, & white.  Using the same paint (seriously, best $6 investment ever) and masking tape, I painted this lamp the green & blue that match everything else. 

 



Finished Product!

 

It was so fun getting to paint and make different things for the nursery.  It really has made it special knowing that my family has helped with different parts of the room.  Can't wait to post pictures of the completed nursery soon!