Our Baby Girl’s Nursery

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Now that our little girl is here, I figured it was time to give you guys a little tour of her nursery! We actually managed to finish the nursery only a few days before Juniper made her arrival, and I’m thankful I snagged some pictures that day, because it’s definitely hard to keep it neat and tidy with all the activity that goes on in there (and she isn’t even sleeping in there yet).

Worth noting, this is the hardest room in the house to get pictures of because it is super dark in the summer! Even though an entire wall is floor-to-ceiling windows, it’s nestled back in a wooded area, which means that even if you take photos on a bright and sunny day (with a tripod and a trigger) like I did, it’s still really dark. Great for a sleeping baby, not so great for photography. Bear with me!

When we were originally planning for the nursery, we had set ourselves a nice budget to really deck it out with some fancy furnishings, but then we had an unexpectedly large tax bill and suddenly, our nursery design budget was drastically cut. Which meant it was time to do some thrifting, repurposing, and DIY—which, honestly, we ended up liking even more. Our style is definitely eclectic, and running out to Babies ‘R’ Us and buying a matching set of furniture just wouldn’t have really been “us” anyway.

We knew we wanted the room to be bright, colorful and fun—and it was important to us that this be a room that she could grow up with. I’m not clueless – I know that we’ll probably have a few design reworks between now and the teenage years – but we’re hoping that this not-so-cutesy style can at least keep our girl happy through toddlerhood.

As far as the furniture, it’s almost entirely hand-me-downs (with a couple of thrifted pieces in there, too). The crib is a hand-me-down from my sister. Even though the nursery is right next to our room, our plan has always been for her to sleep in a bassinet with us for quite a while. But even still, it’s nice to have the crib all ready for her. I made the crib skirt, and Craig painted the crib (it was originally black).

We also did the two cut-out topographic prints above her crib—one is of Lake Monroe and the other is of Lake Superior—an ode to her two middle names, and the two lakes that Craig and I both grew up on. We snatched the ginormous J on clearance from Hobby Lobby!

We made sure to secure all three of these with screws in studs plus big long strips of heavy-duty mounting tape, so there is no chance they’re coming down. And just to be doubly safe, we pulled the crib out from the wall a bit.

And the quilt was made by my Mama. Amazing right?

The changing table was also a hand-me-down from my oldest sister, which we painted.

We actually originally had a different changing table in there (a hand-me-down from my other sister—there are benefits to being the last sibling in your family to have kids), but the drawers ended up being too shallow to hold cloth diapers, so it’s now in my crafting area. This one has a lot more space for fluffy bum covers.

As far as art in the room, we did all of it ourselves. It’s either things that I designed and printed, illustrations Craig did, or items that are mementos. We did all the art in the room (including buying the frames) for less than $20.

The rocking chair is the same rocking chair that my Mama used with both me and my brother. I love that it has some history. We didn’t do anything to it but clean it up a bit and oil some of the squeaky joints. I made some pillows as cushions, knitted the footstool pouf myself, and made the pinwheel mobile. We also set up a side table we had on hand so I have a nice little nursing nook. The quilt on the back of the chair is a beautiful, thoughtful, handmade gift from my dear blog friend Melissa. It’s amazing!

Because the room is really large, we also have enough space to have a futon. We really like the idea of having seating for multiple folks in the room as well as having an additional sleeping space for guests (we have a true guest room upstairs). Plus, having a futon to sit or lay on is just a nice change of pace from the rocking chair sometimes! I loaded up the futon with some fun pillows I made. Behind it you can also see the blackout curtains and pom-pom garland I made.

Baby girl has a huge, massive, giant closet (it’s bigger than the one in our bedroom!).

So we divided it up. One half holds her clothes, with some plastic drawer carts for teeny tiny things like socks, hats, and onesies.

And the other half is for more bulky storage—carriers, big toys, extra blankets, etc. It’s actually pretty empty now, but I’m sure as she gets older and we accumulate more stuff, we’ll have no problem filling that space up.

And the space between the two closet halves is perfect for a little thrifted bookshelf we found. We went back and forth about painting this, but ended up leaving it as-is because we loved the rustic look of it. We’re hoping to keep on filling it up with more and more books!

We also DIYed our own ruler growth chart (more about how we did that in a later post) so we can track Baby J’s height from her first day home.

And we threw in some hooks alongside the door to hold…well, anything! Right now, we use them to hold slings and jackets, but one day, I’m guessing they’ll hold a backpack or two. Let’s talk about how cute baby jean jackets are, k?

Our favorite part of this room is that we still have a ton of floor space! We intentionally left a huge amount of floor space clear so in the future, we can easily get down on the super cushy rug (which we got on 75% off clearance—it’s this one from Home Decorators Collection) and play with our little girl. There is so much space for toys and crawling and fun!

Feel free to ask any questions about sources for anything (although admittedly, my answer will probably be either “thrifted” or “we made it,” but I can try). I know our crazy colorful, eclectic style isn’t for everyone, but this room feels so much like our family! We are in love with it.

What’s your favorite room you’ve decorated in your house?