A Nursery fit for a Prince OR Princess

Sprout's Nursery Is Finished! Well, as finished as it's going to be before we know whether Sprout is a girl or a boy ;). It was definitely a challenge trying to make a gender neutral nursery - and many may question why I even bothered since the baby rooms with us for the first six months anyway. Honestly, I was excited for the challenge! And no matter how chaotic things are - I know it will only get more so once the baby arrives. Besides, preparing the nursery is one of my favorite parts of pregnancy! :)

After refinishing dressers purchased off of Craigslist for the boys and for Norah (and obviously finding it much more budget friendly) - one of the first things we set out to do was get started on a dresser/changing area for Sprout. Craigslist disappointed me time and time again with how much people were trying to charge. I finally found exactly what I was looking for at the Salvation Army for $54.

I forgot to get a picture pre-sanding/stripping - but this is kind of what it looked like :). And instead of having Justin stain it like I did with the other two dressers - I decided to try something different. I wanted to paint it. And I wanted to paint it yellow!

The finished product - complete with all new hardware which only set me back about $18!

My attempt at 'gender neutral' burp cloths. :)

Isn't the owl flannel adorable?!

When starting the nursery, I knew that I wanted the colors (Reef Green and Mint Frappe') to be bright, but not primary and that I wanted the main accent color to be yellow. This became more of a challenge than I anticipated as I searched for the kind of yellow I was envisioning. I finally stumbled on (and fell in love with) an old Amy Butler print (woodfern gold) that was a part of a decorator-weight collection (Nigella) from a few years ago, but none of the online fabric stores I buy from carried it anymore. I finally lucked out and found someone on ebay selling their last 4 yards for just $6 a yard! Needless to say, I bought it all! :)

Pre-painting I had Justin take down the closet doors so I could replace them with curtains. I love how it turned out. :) (I bought the panels at Target, but made the tie-backs out of scraps from the yellow fabric.) And yes, those are clothes hanging in the closet. Half are adorable baby boy clothes that I found on clearance and just couldn't pass up - the other half are adorable baby girl clothes. I probably have about 5 outfits for each and whichever ones I don't end up using will make great gifts. :) I just wish I knew which half I get to keep! :)

This was an unfinished wooden shelf from Hobby Lobby ($6 during 50% off unfinished wood sale) that I sanded and painted with the same color used for the dresser. The removable center is supposed to be a frame for pictures, but instead I wrapped it with scrap fabric and hot-glued it in place. The books are a few of my favorites from the kids' collection and the outfits - well - let's just say I had to have SOMETHING to hang! :)

The pillows were made with scrap fabric all around! I had some green chenille leftover from a previous project and already had (most of) the batting on hand. I love it when I don't have to buy anything! :)

An easy project: I spray painted wooden clothespins and two wooden drawer handles for my photograph clothes line. I printed all of the pictures off in black and white because studies show that babies are able to focus and see black and white objects/pictures more clearly. This way little Sprout can look up and see his or her family while he/she is being changed.

I love the way it turned out! :) Most of the photographs were taken by Courtney Beck during our family photo shoot last November. The others are recent ones I've taken. Also in this picture you can see the crate-liners I made using some of the yellow fabric. The crates are the same ones I used for Norah's changing area when she was just a baby - I just spray painted them white and then added the yellow liners.

The valances were one of my first projects. I decided on tab tops after the tie-tops looked a little to feminine - and then added some green ribbon trim. I was also inspired (last minute) to add some pearly-green shell accents and really love the way they turned out! (You can click on the picture to make it larger if you can't see the shells.)

I got the frames at Hobby Lobby's 50% off unfinished wood sale for around $3 each. Just a touch of sandpaper and a few coats of paint and they were ready to roll! For now I have scraps of yellow fabric framed, but I intend to add Sprout's initials to the center as soon as we know what those initials will be! :) The final thing I made with the yellow fabric was the crib skirt. I settled on plain and simple since I didn't want it too feminine if it's a boy. Besides, I can always add some ribbon trim later to make it more 'girly' if the need arises. :)