Lenora's sweet vintage nursery

Check out my nursery on Project Nursery and give it a rating.

Eclectic, vintage, and pretty. That's how I describe my daughter's nursery. I had so much fun decorating her little space in anticipation of her arrival. She just turned one and it's about time I wrote a blog about her nursery and how it came together.
The room started as her brother's room, with superheroes painted on the dark periwinkle textured walls. This was not going to be an easy transformation. I searched my photos and could only find this action shot of the boys with one of the 4 superheroes in the background. (That's a Transformer arm and leg in the right top corner).





  
We started with a few paint color choices, including pale pink, peach, spring green, and a golden yellow color. I painted a square of each on the wall and looked at them for a few days. Surprisingly I liked the spring green, which was probably my last choice. It was so bright and warm in the sun and yet soothing in the nighttime. Perfect for a nursery. I used the quilt that I found at Land of Nod Outlet for color selection. It had many colors on it, stripes of different patterns, with magenta, peach, pink, gold, and green. I think it was called patchwork paisley or something like that.



                 To paint over the mural we chose a quality paint and we did not do a coat of white first. We did 2 coats of green and made sure and go over where the heroes were painted a few extra times. The end result was a gorgeous green, kind of pretty green, like new buds on the trees in the springtime. The color looked really nice on the walls and really gave the room an earthy feel, especially with the nice brown hardwood floors.

 

Once the walls were done, we added the boys' old white crib (good thing I saved that!) and dresser and a pretty little vintage side table. Now came the fun part, decorating! Pinterest was a big source of inspiration, in fact I had a whole board dedicated to decorating the nursery. In fact it might have made it harder for me because I wanted to do so many of the cool ideas I found. Scouring local boutiques, thrift shops, and discount stores (TJ Maxx, Big Lots) we found tons of great stuff  to make this nursery one of a kind. 

Peoria is lucky to have some super sweet small shops that have handmade or one of a kind items. Relics is an awesome local shop we hit up for some of the decorative items in the nursery. We found the sweet fairy print and statue there. Lost and Found is where I found the re-purposed frame turned photo display, which was painted pink and then strung with chicken wire. (I later added some branches and birds and yarn). Restoration is a very cool shop in the Sunbeam building. We found the shelf for above the changing table there as well as some vintage ballerina prints. The sweet vintage dress was from the Moss Avenue Sale, which happens once a year in June.

The dresser/changing table and the green wardrobe are both from IKEA. The lamp and the sweet fox, carrot, and strawberry softies are also from IKEA. I also hit up many a Goodwill, Salvation Army, and church thrift shop. That is where many of the knick knacks, frames, and other little pieces came from. The dollhouse is mine from childhood and I was so happy to break it out, though it will be a few years before she can actually play with it.                                                                                                                                                                                      

During December, a friend and I went to the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago, where I found the    perfect art print to hang in the nursery. The colors were so complimentary to what we were using, and I loved the silhouette or the tree and children playing instruments. Next came the DIY projects inspired this website that was found on a pinterest pin. I thrifted some embroidery hoops at the local Goodwill and added some pretty fabrics and hankies. They were then hung above the crib. Super easy and cheap project that looks AWESOME! love this idea!

I really wanted a branch with birds as a mobile, but I couldn't figure out how to use it in the space. Instead I added branches and birds to the chickenwire frame/photo board. It looks really cool hung on the wall next to the embroidery frames and I like having somewhere to display photos, cards, and other items. The room looks so unique and eclectic, with all of  the neat vintage and handmade pieces.

I made the crochet blanket on the bed. I found the free pattern on ravelry, rainbow ripple baby blanket. I bought gorgeous yarn from a sweet local store, Fiber Universe. We took the sliding doors off of the closet because we wanted to utilize the space. We pushed the vintage bookcase in the closet, stuck in some baskets for above the head storage and bought a corner fitting hamper. I found the sweet maroon curtains and pretty embroidered bird pillow at the local Big Lots. 

               Check out my nursery on Project Nursery and give it a rating. Had a blast putting it together and now Lenora has fun playing and chasing her kitty around her room.

Shop, make, bake...

The holidays crept up SUPER FAST this year. I can't believe there are only 10 days left until Christmas. People are almost starting to panic that their holiday shopping is not done. I am CLOSE to being done. There are just so many people to remember....Teachers, Aunts & Uncles, 2nd Cousins twice removed, your sister-in-law's boyfriend (is he even COMING to Christmas). It's overwhelming when you make a list of everyone to buy for.

If you are around the Peoria area and shopping for your mom, girlfriend, sister, friend, or other lady in your life, you have to go into my favorite shop, Relics. It is one of Peoria's best kept secrets, on Adams across from Hardees, next to Cracked Pepper. I tell everyone to go there if they like adorable housewares, vintage conversation pieces, affordable jewelry, books, and funky stuff. Crossing my fingers that my husband will go there and pick out Christmas gifts for me. Absolutely anything will do, but I love the jewelry...hint hint honey.

Homemade presents are cheaper (most of the time) and go over pretty well. I am crocheting my fingers to the bone to try and get gifts done. This site, The Crafty Crow, has great ideas for handmade ornaments and other gifts. I love the ideas for gifts that kids can make. Next week the kids are off school, and we always make some handmade ornaments to handout to relatives. I think we are going to make the bell flower ornament.  Although I really love the little owl ornament from that artist woman blog. So I might have just showed some of you your presents...whoops.

 Last year I made treat bags with Chocolate Chip Biscotti, a few fancy Tea Bags, and some candy, to pass out to extended family, friends, teachers, and people I worked with.
Here is the yummy Biscotti recipe I used. It was super easy, if you are good at burning chocolate chip cookies then you can make these! They are also vegetarian!

• 2 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, semisweet or milk chocolate
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 squares of semisweet bakers chocolate

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Add eggs and vanilla. Knead dough on a floured surface a dozen times or so. Form the dough into a long log 2 inches wide and 15-16 inches thick. Place long on baking sheet coated with nonstick spray. Bake for 30 minutes, remove from oven and let cool. Cut diagonally with a serrated knife, into 1/2" slices.  Change heat to 325 a d bake for 10 more minutes, then flip the slices over and cook for 10 more minutes or until golden and crunchy. The centers may look a little soft, but will harden as they cool.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave, following directions on the package. Allow chocolate to cool but not harden before dipping one side of the biscotti into it. Place cookies on wire racks, chocolate side up, until cool. Place in airtight container to store. Dip in your tea or coffee and enjoy!

Good luck with finishing your holiday shopping, making and baking!