Lots of new moms with a baby on they way go all out with cute outfits and shoes and whatnot, especially if they're having a girl...but I'm not huge into clothes shopping or playing dress-up. What I like is decorating...so decorating I did! I've been waiting a looooong to be able to decorate a kids room! All the color and toys and childish things! And I don't have to worry about a room being to masculine or too feminine and I certainly don't worry about it being too cluttered. While there are still some things we need to work on, this is what the room looks like right now!
Here's the before picture of the room when we first moved in. Last year we ripped out the carpet and pulled up the luan to expose the pine floor boards, which I stained dark dark brown to match the hallway floor and staircase. We also painted the room a light blue with a gallon of oops paint from the dining room (it was a little too childish for the dining room, but perfect for a kids room, no matter the gender). I got the acrylic chandelier new in the box from a garage sale here in town...only 20 bucks!
Almost everything in the room is old and virtually all the toys and things are things that I've been collecting for years. I had boxes of vintage toys in the basement and finally pulling them out and putting everything out was so thrilling!
The dresser/changing table was part of my mom's bedroom set when she was a kid. The old iron crib I got at an estate sale for $25. Ben tested it for lead and it was negative...phew! There's a vintage wooden crib in the closet that Ben bought for ten bucks as a backup. We might put that in the studio.
We got this cubby shelf at a yard sale and I painted it a yellowy cream (it took forever to get all of those boxes!). Perfect for displaying lots of toys and things!
Ben and I bought this dresser at a thrift store right before we moved from Boston. It's been floating around since then, not really finding a good place to settle down until now. Any little girl of mine needs her own china cabinet! :)
Most of these prints are postcards I bought out west during our vacation. They fit easily into my suit case and I framed them in vintage frames when we got home (I snag frames wherever I can and have a constantly evolving stash in the basement). The frog and bunny oil painting I did a loooong time ago when Ben and I were first together.
I also brought these back from our trip out west. They were a buck each in San Francisco's China Town. They make a nice mobile of sorts.
Some of these toys were mine when I was a kid, but most have been collected over the years and have been waiting patiently for a child to come along.
We bought this antique rocking chair on Craigslist for 60 bucks and swung by JoAnn's afterwards for some new fabric and a little extra foam padding. We got home that night at 9 pm after running all our errands and I didn't want to wait to start on the chair, so I started taking it apart right then while Ben was watching a movie in the living room. It was going so well that I didn't want to stop, even after Ben went up to bed after midnight. I stayed up until it was done...at 4 am! It needed some structural repair and lots of staples to remove...but I got it done. Not bad for my first ever reupholstery job! There was no sewing involved...so that's why it came out well! lol
I always forget to take before photos...but here's a "during" photo.
I'm a sucker for china cabinets and typer's drawers both, so my daughter needs her own drawer as well. Who doesn't love knick knacks!
Super sweet old toys that have already been tested out a approved by nieces and other relative children.
The science posters again came from out west...I just added the wood edging to make them look like they should hang in a class room.
Sophie lays in the crib every opportunity she gets...a big no no!!
One kitty is from childhood. One kitty is from my teens. One kitty is from my 20's. I'll be turning (gulp) 30 in a couple of weeks. I'll need to find a new kitty for that decade! :)
My mom bought me this adorable little kid desk a couple of years ago at an antique fair. It needs a bit of work before it can be put to use (mostly a scraping and some coats of poly), but baby won't be sitting up for a while, let alone doing schoolwork...so I've got some time. :)
My mom painted me this picture of her and I several years ago and it's extra special to me now that I'm having a daughter of my own.
More toy shots!
I hope you enjoyed this tour of baby's room! Hopefully you'll see lots of more of it in the future as she grows! :)
