Home Decor & DIY

I am one step closer to TOTALLY READY to evict this baby. Our bedroom and nursery nook are done! NESTING SO HARD.

This glorious transformation and post brought to you by Carousel Designs – www.babybedding.com

We teamed up with Carousel Designs on the crib bedding and curtains. It was our starting point, and everything came together from there. Their HUGE selection of fabrics for custom bedding designed by me, made by someone else (the BEST combo ever) made it easy to create pieces that were fun and whimsical enough for a baby-centered space without being too cheesy for a grownup room.

The crib sheet is made with Gray Willow fabric, and the crib skirt is made with Silver Gray Linen. We opted for no crib bumper. (More room details to come further down in the post.)

Originally, I worried how to tie the nursery space into the rest of the room, but these 96″ x 42″ drape panels in Gray Ikat Damask are all grown up. We chose the basic lining since we have blinds in here, too, but blackout fabric lining is also an option.

The changing pad cover is a pop of color in Aqua Herringbone.

It is crazy easy to use Carousel Design’s Nursery Designer to design everything you need for baby’s room. You can even select wall colors, flooring, and crib finishes to match what you have in mind.

They also have a super awesome feature that lets you design and personalize a crib sheet or changing pad cover. We are all over this! As soon as I have this baby and we figure out what his name is.

I wish I could have used Carousel Designs for the last 3! Remember that time I made all of Leyna’s bedding and curtains? Nearly. Killed. Me. This would have been a far better option that would have resulted in much straighter stitches and much less blood from that dang seam ripper.

Now, let’s get to the rest of the details of the room, shall we? 

I think first I should show you what this place looked like before.

Oof. It wasn’t pretty. We moved in 2 years ago, but of course, this room fell to the bottom of our priority list. We finished nearly every other room in the house and hadn’t got further than the (horrible choice in) paint samples on the walls in here.

As you can see, it’s huge (thank you, Texas real estate), and we weren’t doing anything with that side of the room, other than leaving my luggage there, still packed,  between trips.

We needed a good excuse and a swift kick in the pants to get this place put together. We thought, let’s go all out. Let’s make a whole space just for the baby in here, and not worry about turning our 5th bedroom upstairs into a nursery. I quite like having a guest room, especially because I quite like having guests who will come and help me take care of this baby.

So the idea of a “nursery nook” came to be. He’ll be in our room probably for the first 6 months I’m thinking (since that’s about how long the others lasted in our room), and then we’re moving him upstairs to share a room with Lowell.

It should be easy to transition the nursery space to a reading/lounging space once the crib is out. I have my hopes set on a sleeper sofa for the litter of children that always want to sleep in our room on Friday nights.

Paint Color- Nature’s Reflection by Behr / Shiplap wall- installed by my husband, following this tutorial 

The crib is the “Hudson” by Babyletto in all espresso. We HAD to get a new crib since Lowell busted out the rails in the last one. This one is smaller in scale, which is perfect for this space, and will be great when we move it into a room with a twin size bed. It’s still a full-size crib, though, and even comes with a toddler rail.

And yes, that’s a (faux) shiplap wall. Call us suckers for a trend, but it wound up being a great way to add some dimension and character to the space for very little money. Scott also put a lot of work into adding crown moulding around the room.

Crib- “Hudson” by Babyletto / “I Like Naps” sign – Hobby Lobby / Brass round mirror- Target / that thing tucked beside the crib- DockATot / Nursing pillow with “Serenity” muslin cover- Bebe Au Lait / Fabric basket- Target / Blanket – Aden + Anais

I asked my immensely talented friend, Mandy, to make me something custom for a mobile, and I love this fluffy-cloud inspired piece she came up with!

Custom mobile – Paige & Roy

We had to pack a lot of function into this tiny space, and I think we were successful. We have plenty of storage here for his clothes (current size only, and the rest is stored in our closet for now), swaddles, booties, hats, first aid and grooming basics…

Dresser- Ikea / Copper basket- Joss & Main / Hanging diaper storage – Ikea / Floating shelves- Target / Wire bin & glass jar – Hobby Lobby / Booties – Robeez / A-Z bookends – Joss & Main / Books by Usborne (with a Fantastic Beasts thrown in) / Gray bin – Target / Hexagon shelf- unfinished from Target, painted by me / Bunny- Gift from little brother, by Peekawhoo / Plaid doggy- Sarit Shani Hay / Framed feather print- Hobby Lobby

And we also have plenty of room for disposable & cloth diapers, since we’ll be using both in the beginning, at least. I love using the FINTORP system from Ikea to organize above the diaper changing area!

Disposable diapers – Seventh Generation / Cloth diapers – bumGenius / Wipes – Aldi / Cloth wipes – Target 

Wood slice art- made by me with the help of my Silhouette Cameo

For our bedding, I had to tame my aspirations a bit. I really wanted a gorgeous, expensive blanket from Pendleton… until I read it was dry clean only. HARD PASS. We’ll have to give up the high-end bedding until there aren’t 4 kids and 3 dogs trying to climb in bed with us every night. The good news is the blanket I wound up getting wasn’t just a super great price (less than $50 for a king size!), but it also washes beautifully.

I did splurge a little on a couple gray linen pillow shams from Etsy to tie in with the gray linen crib skirt. I also love that they give the bed some varied texture, especially in contrast to the super smooth, super breathable white sheets by Bedgear. I love having white bedding as a backdrop for pictures of baby in those early days when you spend all your time in bed anyway. It’s one of my favorite tips for photographing a newborn!

Photo – picture I took in Tahoe, printed on unstretched canvas by Canvas HQ, nailed to a DIY frame with upholstery tacks / Headboard- made by my husband / Lamps- Target / Side tables- Overstock / Gray stripe blanket- Wayfair / Fuzzy aqua throw- Home Goods / Gray linen pillow shams- Etsy / White sheets – Bedgear

This deserves a drum roll.

I’ll wait.

For the first time EVER, we have framed pictures of us up in our room!

Brass frame – Target/ Photo by Life In Motion

This includes WEDDING PICTURES!! It’s only been 10 years.

Collage frame- Target / Photos by Tyler Schmidt 

Here’s a closer look at the curtains. Those rods came with the house, and originally I hated them, but they’ve grown on me. I like the pop of glam they give the space. And I like that they were free.

We have no shortage of lovely, soft blankets for this baby, so I had Scott build a simple blanket ladder to store them.

Blanket ladder- built by my husband, using this tutorial / Swaddling blankets & thick blankets – Bebe Au Lait & Aden + Anais

We’ve had this Ikea dresser and the matching, smaller one for years, and have been really happy with them considering how little we paid. This wall was pretty simple. We just balanced out the space with the blanket ladder on one side, and a leaning floor mirror (secured to the wall) on the other.

Dresser- Ikea / Floor mirror- Target, chalk paint and distressing by me/ Battery operated candle and copper geo orbe thingy- Home Goods

I think that brings us all the way around the room and to the end of our tour!

A HUGE thanks, again, to Carousel Designs – BabyBedding.com-  for working with us on the room and for sponsoring this post. I can not wait to get our personalized crib sheet with baby’s name on it. But first, must have a baby! (Official due date is this Friday, if you’re wondering.)

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