Nursery Reveal

The nursery has been so much fun to do but SO time consuming.  I started in around late March, early April working on it every weekend almost and got everything all done the 3rd week in June.  So this just shows how much time it all took.  But I am in absolute love with the end result I hope you will like it too.  This is what the room looked like when it was Cason's nursery.  I have always wanted bead board in all the nurseries but have never gotten it.  Since this was to be my last nursery I insisted on it.  Jon wasn't too sure how he was going to do the bead board or whether he was going to have the tools.  I have been seeing on a few blogs people using wallpaper bead board so I found some at Lowe's and that is what we went with.  In February I had found all the fabric I wanted for the nursery and decided to paint the walls gray (leftover from painting my room last summer).  Jon and his brother Jimmy knocked out painting above the chair rail that was in the room already while I was out buying the wallpaper.  They then got to hanging the wallpaper.  Now none of us have ever hung wallpaper so this was a learning experience for us all but in one Saturday they got the walls painted and the wallpaper up.  Here is what it looked like in steps. 

 

This was in the process of putting up the wallpaper

The walls after the paint is up and the wallpaper too.

 After the wallpaper was up the next day I painted the chair rail, the trim and the wallpaper white.  This is midway through the project.

 This was after the first coat.

 Then over the next few weeks.  I completed painting the dresser, crib, bench, shelf, and sewing the quilt, curtains, bumper pads, crib skirt, and recovering the rocker I got for free.  Here is the end result. 

This is the headband organizer that hangs on the back of her door.

This is the same shelf that was in Cason's room I just painted it white.  I also repainted the birdhouse from cream to fuchsia.  I also made the owl in the middle from the wood creation.  The plain wooden owl on the right will be replaced with a turquoise ceramic owl my mom is giving me at my shower.  once I have her newborn pictures I intend to replace the cheesy picture with a picture of her.

I absolutely love how her crib turned out with all the bedding I made.  I love the colors and I just love how girly it all looks.

This is what the nursery looks like as you walk into the room. 

 

This picture shows you the inside of her crib so you can get a good idea of what the bumper pads look like completed.  I love the lamb in the crib.  My mom bought this lamb for Cason at the hospital when he was born.  Cason insisted that he wanted to give his lamby (as he calls it) to his baby sister.  I heart that boy so much.

In this picture you can see the new rocker, the refinished dresser.  Don't you just love the knobs and the pop of color?   With leftover fabric I made a banner to spruce up the old window.  When we have her blessing dress that will hang to the left of the window. 

Here is the cute bench I refinished.  And the bear is a bear my mom got for me when I was probably 7 or 8.

Isn't the owl so fun?  I got all the décor at good old hobby lobby.  I love that store everything is always 50% off.

I love this frames they are also from hobby lobby and I plan to put her newborn pictures inside. 

Yet another view.

I absolutely couldn't be more thrilled with how this room turned out.  Hope you like it as well.  And most of all I hope baby girl likes it too.

Nursery Projects

 There have been a lot of projects that have gone into baby sister's nursery.  I already told you about the chair I recovered.  Here are some of the other projects that I did.  I have bought quite a few bows and headbands over the months and my sweet friend Amy gave a TONS of them from her daughter.  I wanted some way to be able to see them without having them shoved in a drawer.  So I got the hair brained (he he he) idea to make a pocket organizer.  I went to good ol' hobby lobby and picked out fabric I wanted and some of the plastic stuff people use to cover like tables and things.  I figured out how long and wide I wanted the organizer I sewed all the edges back so there was no raw edges.  I then cut strips of the plastic to be the pockets.  I pinned them to the fabric and sewed all the way down on each side.  Then I sewed across each strip.  To make each pocket I just drew lines down each strip at 5 inches each and then sewed on those edges.  I added some ribbon to hang it and voila. 

I finally took count and I have wait for it.  53 headbands and 10 bows.  I am sure we will have many more in the future as well.

 PROJECT #2

I made all the crib bedding and the curtains in the nursery.  The first project I did was the easiest.  The bumper pads.  I bought bumper pads at JoAnn's when I had Cason and made his nursery set.  I couldn't get anyone to buy his set so I just unstiched his bumper pads and used his.  I measured the length and width of the pads and added a 1/4 inch for the seams.  I cut out 12 pieces of fabric and then I cut out 24 ribbons to tie the bumper pads to the crib.  I laid out a piece of fabric pinned 4 ribbons into each corner and placed another piece right sides touching.  I then sewed around the edges except for one side so I could stuff the bumper pad inside.  I did this to make 6 pads. 

 This is what each one looked like before I put the top piece on.

PROJECT #3

Another project I did was this bench my mom found at a yard sale.  She found it and thought I could use it in the nursery.  I am not a fan of oak so of course it had to be painted.  

 Before

So I took the seat off and sanded all the pieces then I used the same paint I bought for the shelf and the drawers and painted the shelf.  Once I had put about 3 coats on it I polyed the whole thing.  I love how it turned out.  She will now have a cute bench to sit on in her room if she wants.  Right now it is storing all her shoes that should fit in the coming months.

 

This is what the bench looked like after two coats.

After

PROJECT #4 and 5

As I mentioned I HATE oak.  The crib and dresser Cason had in his nursery were oak.  I didn't think about changing them with Cason but when I got ready for baby girl's nursery I knew oak wasn't going to do.  Here is what the dresser looked like before I got to work on it.

 

First I took all the hardware off then I sanded all the pieces.  I washed everything off then the dresser itself got about 10 (no joke) coats of white paint.  I then painted the drawers themselves this fuchsia color which also took a million coats to cover the white I had painted on them first.  I then went to home depot and found some great glass knobs to replace the hardware.  I then sanded and distressed all the edges of the drawers and the dresser.  I then covered everything this poly.



I did all the same things to the crib as I did to the dresser.  This process took place over several weekends. 

This is the after of the crib.

 

PROJECT #6

After making the bumper pads I took on the biggest task.  I knew from making my tiered ruffled curtains last summer this was going to be quite the project.  I cut out the strips in the three colors I was going to use for the tiers.  I followed this tutorial on pinterest I had to make a few adjustments for my crib but it worked out pretty well.  This project took several hours because I had to cut the strips, sew them together, fold under the edges, sew them, sew a base strip along the top and then pull the string to make the ruffle.  Then you pin the ruffle to the deck and sew them.  Repeat for all colors on three sides.  This is what it looked like when I had the first ruffle done.

 

This is what the crib skirt looked like once it was all done.  I LOVE how it turned out.  I am just slightly sad that you can't see the crib skirt that well when its on the crib.

 

PROJECT #7 

Making the quilt.  I wanted a easy but unique quilt.  So I just started cutting different lengths of the fabric I used in the nursery.  I then sewed them all together.  I then bought the same fuchsia for the back and the binding.  I then went to my Aunt Sue's house to use her quilting machine to quilt the quilt.  Here is how the quilt looks.

 

I also painted her shelf in her room fushia, made her curtains, and made her carseat canopy.  It was a lot of work and very time consuming but everything turned out just how I wanted it to look.  Check back tomorrow to see the finished nursery.

37 weeks

How far along:  37 weeks

How big is baby:  the size of a leek, 19.1 inches long and about 6.5 pounds

Progression:  2 cm dilated and 90% effaced I was a little bummed to not be more dilated but I did efface more.  My dr stripped my membranes to help with getting the baby here too bad it didn't work.

How I am feeling:  READY to have my baby in my arms.  I know I should enjoy every last minute of these last few weeks but really I am just done.  I want her here.  I only sleep in one hour increments between potty breaks and switching positions that are some what comfortable.  The swelling and the heat are miserable.  We have had our hottest June on record this summer of course since I am 9 months pregnant.  But I will miss feeling her move around and Jon spoiling me like crazy.

What's on my mind:  When is she going to come.  I am getting induced on July 18th.  I still hope she will come on her own but at least on the 18th she will be here.

Best moment this week:  When Cason grabbed his bear and lamby and put them in the baby swing and told me.  They were going to be the babies until Baby Sister got here.  The boys are so excited for her to get here and its so sweet.

36 weeks

How far along: almost 36 weeks in the above picture.

How big is baby:  The size of a coconut, 18.7 inches long and around 6 pounds.

I am changing how much I have gained to how progressed I am:  Because on Tuesday my feet started to swell to balloon size proportions and I had a gain of 4 pounds in a week which I know can't be true I am no longer going off my weight gain.  Last week when the doctor checked me I was dilated to a 1 and 70% effaced.  When he checked me this week I was dilated to a 2, and 80% effaced.  Progression in one week SWEET!

How I am feeling:  I am so ready to be done.  With my feet swelling and night time sleeping becoming almost a thing of the past I would love to have her anytime that will be healthy.  My feet have swollen I little with Cason.  But with baby girl they are MASSIVE.

What's on my mind:  LABOR!  I really don't want to go through that again.  Its funny how you block out the pain until its time for you to go into labor again. 

Best moment:  Getting the nursery almost all finished and I think finally agreeing on a name. 

35 weeks

How far along:  I am exactly 35 weeks

How big is baby:  Baby girl is a honey dew, she is around 18 inches long and weighs around 5.5 pounds

How much I have gained: around 1... something total gain of 22 pounds

How I am feeling:  Anxious.  I am ready for her to be her.  Or at least ready to have all the projects I have in my head done so I can just enjoy the last few weeks.  I am uncomfortable at night but sleeping better again then I was there for a while. 

What's on my mind:  just getting everything done.

Best moment:  When Cason sang me a song he made up to sing to his baby sister.  I can't wait to see these to sweet boys as big brothers.

The time I reupholstered a chair

Jon's boss' wife was getting new furniture so she was getting rid of this antique glider.  Now the picture doesn't quite so how awful this chair looked.  The fabric was stained on the seat and the fabric on the arms was ripped.  The fabric didn't match the nursery at all BUT.....Its the most comfortable chair and when you have late nights with a baby you want a comfortable chair.  Jon brought this chair home in the end of March.  I have been dreaming of how to redo it and researching it and finally last week my mom and I bit the bullet and got to work considering the baby is due an week now. 

We started by removing the millions and millions of staples to get the fabric off.  I am telling you the person who redid this chair last must have gotten paid by the staple.  It took us from 11-2:30 to take all the staples and fabric off.  Here is what the chair looked like after we had removed all the fabric.

A few days later we laid out all the fabric pieces to make our new pieces out of the gorgeous black fabric we found.  I scored JoAnn's had their upholstery on sale for 50% off so I got all we needed for $50.

Then my mom and I began putting the chair back together again.  I sanded and restained the wood on the whole chair.  We got most of it done in one day we just needed to get upholstery tacks to finish the back and put the arms on.  And here is the finished product.

 

I absolutely love how it turned out.  I couldn't have done it without my mom.  I can't wait to rock my sweet baby girl in it in just a few weeks. 

34 weeks

How far along:  34 weeks today

Weight gain: up 1.2 so total of 20.2 pounds

How big is baby:  as big as a cantaloupe

How I am feeling:  same ole' same ole'.  UNCOMFORTABLE at night and if I am on my feet too long.  My hands are starting to swell from the heat making it uncomfortable when I first put my wedding ring on.  I am very conflicted.  I am ready to meet the baby and have her here and no longer be pregnant.  But I will miss never being pregnant again.  Jon has been so sweet and just dotes on me and hey who would want to give that up.

What's on my mind:  Finishing this nursery.  Its almost done just need to get the last few things done.

Best moment:  I think we agreed on a name for baby sister!