Rhymeswithsmile Nursery

Today, I finished the nursery!  Since we moved in, it's been the holding space for pretty much everything in the house that didn't have any other place to go.  But today, it's a finished baby space - and ready for the little one's arrival sometime in the next 2ish weeks.  Just thought I'd show a few little things and link up to the tutorials.

Hanging over the crib is fabric in different sizes of embroidery hoops.  I originally had these hanging over my sewing table, but needed something for a wall that I would be seeing more frequently than the sewing nook for the coming weeks.  And it'll be so easy to change out when my mood/the nursery space/the season changes.  I've seen lots of embroidery hoops in second-hand stores, on craigslist, and on freecycle, so this kind of art collection would be easy to put together on a budget.

The set of five pictures over the rocking chair was inspired by the collection of ideas for upcycling toddler art that I saw here.  I felt like I wanted Little Girl to contribute something personal to the new baby's room, but wasn't really sure what that could look like.  Looking around on Pinterest got me thinking that it wouldn't be a Bad Mom Move of me to cut up some of her art ... so, we delved into painting:

 ... and ended up with lots of painted half-sheets of paper (and paint all over the kiddo herself) ...

 ... then I found free clipart silhouettes of animals online, traced them onto the painted parts of the paper, and cut them out (because of some of the white space below, you can't really tell what the animals are - but there is a pig, a duck, a rabbit, a cow, and a turtle) ...

... I replaced the pictures that were in these 8"x10" frames with Little Girl's artwork, taped onto cardstock.  If you look closely, it's definitely homemade.  But whatever.  The new baby won't care, and the Mr. and I are pleased with Little Girl's contribution to the room.

Believe me, it's REALLY REALLY easy to make
a crib sheet out of a couple yards of fabric.
I'm not just saying that.  It really is.

I made my own crib sheet using this tutorial.  We got the fabric at Ikea (the Torva collection) to coordinate with the curtains in the room.  Fun fact: my cousin saw the fabric and said, "You would make a crib sheet out of that.  It's all garden and green and family and vegetables."  Yes, yes I would.  And I did.  I love it.

Tucked away next to the crib is a crate full of fun toys for Little Girl herself.  I'm so thankful for friends with experience in this keep-the-older-sibling-occupied thing - we've received some fun and interactive gadgets to keep her entertained while I've got my hands full.  Thanks, friends!

Awesome chair from the side of the road ... that was a surprise blessing!  I am so excited to have a fully functional, curb pickup, good condition, glider/rocker for the nursery ... partly because I know I'll be sitting in it a lot, and partly because it means we get to keep the other rocking chair in the living room.  Yippee!

And last but not least, a Craigslist find for $15.  We just needed a plain, sturdy changing table - nothing fancy really.  This one is solid wood, but it was somewhat dinged up so I repainted it white (with paint I got off my local freecycle network).

So, we're ready!  Come on, little one!