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.

Hello old friend

I've been majorly neglecting this blog for way too long. Got my laptop fired up for some late night blogging. Much has changed in our household since my last post 2 Februarys ago. We had a new little bumble-bee join our hive in March of his year. Baby Lenora Rose made our family complete. I've got lots of projects to post, but just have to find the time to get them all written up!  It had been about 8 years since my last pregnancy, so I learned a lot this time around. I wanted to attempt a natural childbirth, labor & delivery. I dove headfirst into all things NATURAL childbirth...books, movies, websites, groups, etc.  Childbirth and motherhood is completely inspiring and I had a ton of support from my husband, my family and all the wonderful women in my life. Hoping to share all the good (and bad) info I have learned on the subject as well as fun baby experiences, ideas, projects, and info. I also have some great nursery project ideas, crochet projects, and other crafting ideas I am hoping to share. Now if I can just get the little one to let me set her down for a few minutes I can get to typing. (: