Remember my recent thrift store score? Well, I thought I’d share them in action! I’m now on the hunt for new eiffel bases for them, but in the meantime, I’m pretty happy with how our dining room is coming together! Now the paint color…? That’s another story.

When we moved in to our house last January, Phil and friends worked to move everything from our third floor apartment, while my dad and I went out to buy insulation and wall paint. (Yep, that’s right- our Northeast Ohio home wasn’t even insulated when we moved in- in the middle of Winter!) I was exhausted, and wanting to get back to unpacking dishes and such, so I quickly picked out a paint color, “elephant gray,” and in my impatience, didn’t even bring home the swatch to ruminate on the color for a while. Since I was pregnant at the time, I didn’t participate in the painting process, but hid away at my parents, eagerly waiting for the fumes to die down so I could take a gander at the new look for our dining room, laundry room, and living room.

Well, when I saw the color… I didn’t love it. Though I didn’t hate it, either, so I figured maybe it was just a shocking change from my usual white, and I might grow to love it. But after a few months with the color, I had become used to the color, but still didn’t like it. It’s how I imagine wearing someone else’s favorite jeans might feel. Sure, they might look nice on the hanger, but they just don’t fit right on me. So, I’m looking forward to repainting! I just need to settle on a color. This time I’ll bring home the paint swatch and stare at it for a while. Hey, maybe I’ll even get a sample paint can, before asking someone to cover our walls with three gallons of paint when I’m not even there to see it….. Well, you live, you learn, eh?

I’m so excited to finally share our little girl’s nursery with you! Sure, she’ll just be a little baby who sleeps, and poops, and spits up everywhere. And for the first couple of months, she’ll actually be snoozing away the nights (fingers crossed!) in a bassinet in our bedroom, rather than in her crib you see here. But still, it was so fulfilling to put together a fun, friendly, and cute little room for our little girl who will surely have all of those characteristics and more! I hope we can spend lots of time in here, reading together, playing pretend, watching the squirrels run through the backyard, and wave at the trains that go by. Hopefully she will love her room, and when she’s old enough, together we can add special touches of her own.

As an interior design school graduate, and a person who just generally loves to decorate, I was sort of super bummed out by the tiny bit of our budget we were able to allot for putting together a nursery. I told myself it didn’t matter. I reminded myself that babies don’t care about nurseries, and that I shouldn’t either… but none of those things worked. I still found myself obsessing over this project, and somehow managing to pull everything together on a shoestring budget. I feel pleased and blessed to be so happy with the little space. And now I have motivation to turn my attention to planning the decor of the rest of our home.

• Our drop-rail on the crib is currently facing the wall, and will be bolted to disable that feature.
• The art hanging above the crib is securely fixed with heavy-duty foam tape.
• The chord for the balloon lamp on the crib wall has been secured to the wall with coax staples.
• The flooring in our home is terrazzo, which is marble chips laid into cement and sealed.
• I shared some planning details for this room at this post and this post.
• Below, I’ve noted where items were purchased/how they were revamped.

• dresser: hand-me-down from my grandparents
• rocking chair: Craigslist find – 1955 rocker reupholstered with a blanket by me and Phil
• lockers: Craigslist find, repainted by my father
• pepsi crate: vintage
• white toy basket on lockers: Marshalls Department Store
• floating book shelves: Umbra Conceal Floating Bookshelf from Amazon
• three-unit crate shelf: Marshalls (gift from parents)
• side table/typist stand by rocker: thrifted
• yellow lamp: thrifted
• pouf under typist stand: DIY (my process shown here)
• set of two interlocking wall shelves: vintage (from Etsy)
• crib: Craigslist (gift from parents)
• rug: Flokati purchased on eBay 4 years ago
• pom pom garland: made by me with yarn scraps
• rag doll on interlocking shelves: Oh Just Dandy on Etsy
• striped knit bunny on crate shelves: Bi Bi oj Blaka on Etsy
• knit bunny in white basket on lockers: BlaBlah Kids
• all linens (crib sheet and changing pad cover aside): vintage or handmade by me/as gifts
• coral flock screen print: purchase from Three Potato Four four years ago
• all other art, toys, books, and clothing: thrifted and/or vintage
• curtains: Lowes
• wall paint: Valspar brand (from Lowes- can’t recommend it) color: Champagne Pink
• curtain rods: Bed Bath and Beyond

Lately, life around here has been a whirlwind of painting, cleaning, painting some more, cleaning and organizing baby clothes, and crafting up one project after another. We’ve been busy, holed away in the little corner bedroom of our house making preparations for our baby girl, due to arrive on September 21st, and maybe sooner!

I’ve been reminded how grueling painting can be, how finicky I can be about making decorating decisions, and of that saying my favorite professor was known for: “Just because you spent time on it, doesn’t mean you should use it.” I spent 7 hours on Saturday (even breaking my sewing machine, as I was crying about on Twitter) quilting, ironing, and hemming curtains for the nursery, only to decide that night that I hated them on the windows, and that there was no way I was going to use them in the nursery. But I’m not wasteful, so now I have to come up with a different use for the panels. I’m thinking baby blankets! But we’ll see.

In other news, I think the paint fumes are getting to Phil, as you might have figured by his mistaking a paint brush for…. an ice cream cone? We’ve also been dog sitting for the past week- my brother’s dear little dog Archie. He has been loving following us around wherever we go, quite curious about all of the preparations being made in the nursery. I hope he and our little girl will enjoy palling around some day soon!