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Katie over at Moore from Katie has put together some great ideas and tips for creating your perfect nursery. "Baby DIY" has not appeared much on Pearls Poppies Pinkies Up (once possibly?), so I hope this can get some momentum going for child-loved projects and posts related to little ones! What not a better place to start than the Nursery!
In her words:
“I’m
pregnant. In nine short months I will have a little bundle of joy!
What needs to be done? Where do I start?” This, well something like
this, was my train of thought when I found out I was pregnant. With
all the options that require an educated decision, like umbilical
cord blood banking,
circumcision (if you have a boy), or whether or not to hire
a doula,
the nine months of pregnancy can end up being more stressful than
not. For me, I found however that there was no better way to remind
myself how exciting pregnancy is than decorating my baby's nursery.
Somehow,
nothing seems real until the crib is in place, the artwork is on the
walls, and the changing table is stocked with diapers and lotions.
Unfortunately, retailers know that parents-to-be will spend a lot of
money to outfit their baby's room. Even a simple mobile can cost a
pretty penny. That's where your DIY nature comes in. With a little
creativity and very little money, your nursery can be the envy of all
the expecting moms. Here are some tips I found useful to get you
started.
1. Repurpose!
You don't have to drop a ton of money on a changing table. Find a
used dresser and fix it up. Remove the drawer pulls. Choose a paint
color for the body of the dresser and one for the drawers. I use
low-VOC, eggshell finish paint, but choose whatever color fits the
theme you’re going with. Find some darling drawer pulls at your
local home improvement or craft store and attach them to the drawers,
toss a changing pad on top and voila! You have an adorable,
one-of-a-kind changing table. For extra safety, I recommend using a
heavy-duty staple gun to attach a safety strap or some type of walls
along the edges.
2. Rock it! Rocking chairs can be enormously expensive. Scour the thrift stores in your area or check Craigslist for a used rocker. Paint it to match the nursery. You can purchase a stencil and some stencil paint from your local craft store and decorate the chair to your liking. Buy or sew a cushion for the seat!
2. Rock it! Rocking chairs can be enormously expensive. Scour the thrift stores in your area or check Craigslist for a used rocker. Paint it to match the nursery. You can purchase a stencil and some stencil paint from your local craft store and decorate the chair to your liking. Buy or sew a cushion for the seat!
3. Go
mobile!
Cut a 1-inch wooden dowel to the desired width and drill a vertical
hole through each end and at intervals along the length of the dowel.
Insert the ends of a 24-inch piece of string or wire through the end
holes for the hanging apparatus. For the mobile itself, sew or thread
pieces of string to lightweight stuffed animals, fabric flowers,
painted wooden cutouts, stuffed felt circles or any other safe
objects. String these through the remaining holes at different
lengths. {DIY mobile ideas via Pinterest HERE}
4. Hang
ten!
Purchase or repurpose ten equal-sized, or odd shape frames and paint
them to your liking. Insert artwork. Try some black-and-white family
photos, some cute postcards or greeting cards, or make your own
artwork with stencils, stickers or using your own artistic abilities.
Perhaps you have some artwork stored away that you made as a child.
Hang the pictures on a long wall in two rows of five, one above the
other, or hang them in a collage like pattern to create a different
effect.
5. Set the mood! Lighting is everything in the nursery. You don't want overhead lights glaring at you during a middle-of-the-night feeding. Find a lamp at your local thrift store and use enamel spray paint to update the base if you wish. Cover the lampshade in cheerful fabric using fabric glue and attach fringe or tassels to the bottom of the shade.
6. Store it! You can never have too much storage in the nursery. Buy some plain, heavy cardboard stacking boxes at your local craft store and paint them with stencils or cover them in pretty fabric. Glue labels to the front and place them strategically around the nursery so you're never scrambling for an extra pacifier or burp cloth.
Simple tips like this helped me create a nursery that was my own, and that I didn’t have to fork out a lot of money for. Now, my baby and I can share new memories in her nursery together!
5. Set the mood! Lighting is everything in the nursery. You don't want overhead lights glaring at you during a middle-of-the-night feeding. Find a lamp at your local thrift store and use enamel spray paint to update the base if you wish. Cover the lampshade in cheerful fabric using fabric glue and attach fringe or tassels to the bottom of the shade.
6. Store it! You can never have too much storage in the nursery. Buy some plain, heavy cardboard stacking boxes at your local craft store and paint them with stencils or cover them in pretty fabric. Glue labels to the front and place them strategically around the nursery so you're never scrambling for an extra pacifier or burp cloth.
Simple tips like this helped me create a nursery that was my own, and that I didn’t have to fork out a lot of money for. Now, my baby and I can share new memories in her nursery together!
Katie Moore is the lovely author of this guest post. She is an active blogger living in North Carolina with her husband and little girl, Lily. Katie is passionate on the topics of pregnancy and pregnancy awareness, and all other things
Mommy. She enjoys writing, blogging, and meeting new people!
To connect with Katie contact her via her blog, Moore
From Katie or her twitter, @moorekm26. 