Claire's Nursery Coming Together

It's been a process... feels like a long process... but Claire's room is starting to come together.   We had the room painted and got all the furniture some time ago.  But then there has been this list of projects to complete.  I guess I got into the DIY mode and thought I could do everything myself.  Well, not everything.

Several weeks ago, I made a bow board out of a cheap frame, some ribbon and the Owl fabric the coordinates with the bedding.

I also found these iron decor pieces at Hobby Lobby and bought the letters to spell her name.  Ryan did all the painting and hung them over the bed.  We LOVE the way it turned out.

A couple of weekends ago, I started making her curtains.  This is the same fabric as the bumper.  Mom went to the Premier Fabrics store in Jackson and bought the last 7 yards, much to the sadness of another pregnant lady using it in her nursery.  I got blackout fabric for a great price at Hobby Lobby and Hancock (had to get it in two cuts... HL didn't have enough).  After inspecting how Cason's curtains were made, I realized I could do it myself.  Just a simple curtain made like a pillow cover... sew the two pieces of fabric right sides facing each other on 3 sides, turn inside out, top stitch the 4th side.  The hardest part was ironing, pinning, lining everything up, etc.  I was actually sweating while making the curtains... so much fabric to deal with.

I got one panel done the first night...

Then switched gears to recover some baskets we found at Hobby Lobby.  I didn't love the original covers so I just cut them apart and used the pieces as my pattern.

I made 3 new covers out of scraps of bedding fabric and a yellow remnant that coordinates with the bedding.

Things were coming together nicely...

 

And I finally got the second panel done this weekend.  I got smart and used the hardwood floor in the loft instead of the carpeted game room to lay everything out and measure.  And moved my sewing machine to the air hockey table where there was more space to put the extra fabric.  The hard part of panel #2 was trying to line up the fabric so that the print "matched".  It was lots of iron, measure, remeasure, pin, measure, laser level (that's right, I used Ryan's laser level to cut my curtains), measure and then finally cut and sew.  Oh and iron some more.  I think making curtains is more about ironing than anything else.   Anyway, the second curtain is done and up.

Oh, and we got a bookcase too.

What's left?  I'm still waiting on the bedding and still need to hang this painting that my friend Margaret made.

Starting the girly nursery

We started crib shopping right after we found out we were having a girl.  We had sticker shock all over again and went home depressed.  I got an email from USA Baby about their coupon sale over Columbus day weekend so we went back to look at our original choices and then also went to Babys First Furniture to compare prices.  When it came down to it, USA Baby was cheaper and we had a great experience with them for Cason's furniture so I called that Sunday and placed the order over the phone.

They told me it would be 8-12 weeks.

This is what I have in Baby Girl's room right this very moment, I give you the Munire Bristol

And there is a really big dresser in a really big box in the dining room.  Waiting on some more muscle to help it up the stairs (any takers?)

We got the call on Wednesday, after the Sunday order, that everything but the toddler rail was in.

We were in that part of town on Saturday so we went and picked it all up.  We were able to get everything out of the truck without me doing anything except coming up with a brilliant use of one of our wagons as a dolly!

The fabric in the picture will be the bumper and possibly some curtains.  The skirt will be this stripe:

Both from Premier Prints Fabrics, same company as with Cason's.

We plan to paint the walls lavender.

Finishing the Nursery

We spent most of this weekend running errands and finishing up the nursery.   Here’s the photo play-by-play of the nursery projects…
Night 1 – Bookcase – We bought a bookcase at Target and Ryan let me help put it together!

Then I guess he needed a beer break while I was hard at work with the screwdriver.

Putting my feet up after all that hard work!

Ryan practicing his baby rocking technique

Finished Bookcase loaded with Cason’s books and toys.

We’ve had this monkey for a long time, I think I gave it to Ryan before we were married.  His hands Velcro together and since he doesn’t sit up well on his own, I thought he was best suited hanging on the lamp.

Night 2 – Walls! – Ryan’s brother Kevin painted canvases to spell out Cason.  We finally got the ribbon to hang them on the wall, along with the puzzles we’d been waiting to hang.
We did lots of math and put the laser level to good use!

Starting in the middle.  One Down, 4 to go!

Hanging the last one.

All done! They look great!  Thanks Kev!

And now a view around the room.
Walking in the door…
View From the Bathroom Door 
View from the closet door
I just love this little area of the room.

Hanging Curtains

Today was productive.  We got a ton done before 11:30 am which is very unusual for us.  It’s a lot easier to fill your Saturday when you leave the house at 7:45.  We headed out to the Mother’s of Multiples Garage Sale to see if we could get some deals.  But, we didn’t get there early enough to really rack up.  We did get a few things and totally raided one person’s bin of clothes that were 10-25 cents each.  Then we went to Toys R Us to buy a gift for a friend, to Bed Bath and Beyond for a curtain rod, JCP to pick up some pants I ordered, Walmart to return something and buy a few groceries and home.  Whew, busy morning. 
After a quick lunch Ryan hung the curtains (and then we headed down to Houston for the BBQ Cookoff). 

And a shot of our closet that is slowly filling up! 

Bedding Has Arrived

Our bedding arrived today and we are so pleased with how it turned out.  Ryan was so nice and waited on me to get home so we could open it together.  After dinner, we put everything on the bed.

  

We still need to get a rod for the curtains.  That’s on the to-do list for this weekend!

Thanks to ModPeaPod for such great work!

And thanks to both sets of Cason’s grandparents for providing him with a fabulous crib to sleep IN and stylish bedding to sleep ON!

Bedding on it's Way!

Just got an email from ModPeaPod.com that the bedding has shipped.  She included this picture of the final product.  Can't wait to get it!