how to design a nursery

When we found out we were having a girl, my first order of business was to pull out some scrapbook papers I had bought a couple of years ago (with the hope that I would someday have a baby girl) and use them as my guide as far as color and style. I took the papers to the fabric store and found color coordinating decorator weight fabrics to use for the valance, bed skirt, pillows, and chair (which I wanted to reupholster).

My second order of business was to paint the room a baby pink color. Yes - me - tomboy of all tomboy's, chose pink! I used to be so against doing an ultra-girly room, but that was before I had two boys who filled my world with blue. I realized after my second son was born that if I ever did have a girl - I wanted pink. And I wanted to go deliciously over the top with it. :) My three year old (now four) took the surprise picture of me slaving away at painting.

Aren't you loving the shot of my undies? :) You should have seen a profile shot... I was seven months prego while I was painting. My husband offered to help, but I wanted to do it myself (because I pay more attention to detail and I wanted it perfect!). Nesting hormones are powerful motivators, my friend!

This glider was originally used for my sons and the fabric was a solid tan color. I wanted to dress it up to match the room better so I found this super cute polka-dot decorator weight fabric and did my first reupholstery project! I simply unpicked the seams off the original fabric and took out the cushions. Then, using the original pieces as a template, I cut out the new fabric and sewed it to the top of the original color pieces. Finally, I simply retraced my steps by replacing the cushions and sewing everything back up. The glider was super easy and required no sewing. I took the cushion off of the base and used a staple gun to secure the new fabric on the underside of the cushion. Then I put the cushion back on the base and secured it with screws.

For the pillow I simply cut out some bird shapes from my scrap fabric and appliqued it to pink chenille.

Isn't this dresser divine? :) It was a craigslist find and was in pretty rough condition. However, after some TLC (i.e. sand, stain, new hardware), it was turned into a perfect dresser/changing station for the nursery. Good job, honey! ;)

These pillows took all of one afternoon. :) I used chenille backing on all of them and scraps from the valance/bed skirt for the front.

For the wall I purchased four wood frames from the craft store and painted them a gloss white (spray paint works great!). I used these to frame the scrapbook paper that the room was designed around. I love how it turned out! For the valance I decided on a tab style accented with wood buttons.

This is the best picture I've got of the bed skirt. On the front (pictured) I did a single box pleat for a clean and crisp look. :) I bought the crib sheets and a minky-dot pink bumper to match the skirt and pillows.