Baby boy’s nursery.

Back when I originally planned this room’s paint color, I didn’t know whether the little one was going to be a boy or a girl. I loved the idea of a navy blue with bright white accents, regardless of the gender of the baby. Well, that decision played to my advantage this time around as well. If you remember, this is what the bedroom looked like when we bought the house, and then what the little one’s nursery looked like after some work:

I loved how her room turned out. It fit her well – bright, colorful, and happy. Once we found out we were having baby boy, we decided to keep the nursery as a nursery and move the little one into her own new big girl room. We had two main reasons for this: the bathroom in the nursery is really convenient because we use cloth diapers, and because we wouldn’t have to repaint, rebuild the crib, or re-do much of anything for that room. I love the navy, orange color scheme for a boy, so I was excited to get to use it this time around. I added in some grey and green too.

Here is baby’s boy nursery in its current state…

My mom bought new rugs, so I scored her old one for this room. It’s so nice having a soft rug in there…especially since the old wood floors are super creaky without it! I removed the button crib skirt I made and opted for no crib skirt this time around. I bought the little trash can at Big Lots for like $6 because it was perfect colors. We’ll use that for wipes, and we’ll keep the bigger white trash cans for the used cloth diapers. I also swapped out the Katie Daisy prints that I based the little one’s whole nursery on, and I used clip boards and prints I found either online or made myself. 

I bought the kelly green pendant light from Ikea for – get this – just $14.99. I was nervous it’d be too green, tut I think it adds nice variety to the space.

I kept the same orange changing table that I originally found on the side of the rode & painted. I used new scrapbook paper and modge podge to update the shelves to from flowery to stripes.

I loved how the little one’s colorful mobile turned out, but this time around I used scrapbook paper to make pinwheels, glued them to some twine, and created a new mobile for our little guy. {Just Google how to make a pinwheel. It was super easy!}

 

 

I had some extra pinwheels, so I made a little garland with them. I still need a lamp and some new decor items on the shelf.

    

I still have some ideas of things I’d like to add to the room, but for now, I’m happy with the results so far. :)

We are getting quite excited to meet baby boy. I can’t wait to see what kind of personality he has, how he looks, and how he and his big sister will interact. We have some exciting times ahead of us, that’s for sure!

House tour: guest bedroom.

I started the virtual house tour a couple weeks ago before I went on vacation. I’m close to finishing it, so pardon the pause and jump back in with me. If you missed any earlier ones and want to catch up, you can see them here: little one’s room, master bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining room.

We have three bedrooms on the main level of the house. The third bedroom hasn’t really served a purpose yet, so I haven’t focused on making it pretty. Eugene’s family lives right down the street from us and my family is only about 20 minutes away, so we rarely have overnight guests. When we do, they usually are Eugene’s college buddies who prefer to crash on the couch after playing videogames or watching sports way late anyway. Right now, the room is a guest bedroom/my closet/office space. Perfectly clear, right?

To be fair, we have to start with what the room looked like when we moved in…

At first, Eugene & I used this room for ourselves, but we later moved. I can’t remember why, maybe for a bigger closet? I just loved this tri-paddle fan. {Sarcasm.}

Looking at the photo below makes me so happy we got new windows. So happy.

I haven’t shown this room on the blog in quite a while. Basically, I painted all trim white, painted the walls a cool light grey color, refinished a $5 dorm desk into a cute turquoise gem, added a new FOUR paddle fan, and threw in a twin bed, leftover rug and hope chest. Like I said, I haven’t paid much attention to this room. Nothing really matches, but it’s okay. It’ll probably become a playroom for the little one soon. And then maybe another nursery one day. {Lord willing.}

Don’t mind the random engagement frame leaning in the window.

I’m keeping it real here. That big cardboard thing next to the bed is the leftover Ikea butcherblock. I have plans for that baby someday. And yes, I stuff lots of stuff under the beds.

All that’s left is the bathroom, the outside, and basement; I think I’ll leave out the basement ‘cause it’s not pretty. ;)

This room needs some attention for sure, but I feel like it’s best for the budget if I just wait until we have a purpose for the room. If you haven’t figured out, we’re pretty low-budget and low-maintenance around here, so for now it works just fine!

House tour: little one’s room.

In continuing with the virtual house tour, let’s move onto another bedroom. The bedroom we converted into the little one’s room started out yellow…

And there’s a small half bath attached to this bedroom. Here’s the “before”…

For a while, pre-baby, I turned the room into a guest room without painting or anything…

And then we found out the little one was coming & I got to work creating a happy, colorful spot for her. This included lots of DIY projects: button light, button adjustable crib skirt, orange fitted crib sheet, colorful mobile, & orange changing table.

The half-bath’s still “in progress,” but it’s come a long way with beadboard walls, new flooring, new toilet, & new sink…

It cracks me up to compare these to when I first revealed the nursery {before the little one was here.} These have so much more real life clutter – toys, and towels, and diaper bags. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I really love how bright and crisp this room turned out. I realize not everyone loves color the way I do, but I think the room shouts joy when you walk in…perfect for my joyful little one. :)

House tour: master bedroom.

Our bedroom started out with lots of brown…

Ha! Such a sad brown mess!

This room really hasn’t received much attention so far. Other than some much needed color with “totally teal” paint, changing chargers into mirrors, and sewing some Mr. & Mrs. pillows, that’s about all I did. All the furniture are hand-me-downs, curtains from Ikea, light was a DIY flop, and the comforter was on clearance at Meijer. Someday I may try to put a little more love into this room, but for now it’s just fine for Eugene & me.

Stay tuned on this one, it may just get a boost sometime in the near future. :)

Dorm dud to office official.

Now that the little one is 6 weeks old, I’ve began working again this week. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to split my time working from home and working in the office. I’m not certain I will be able to make it all work {working from home & taking care of an infant & maintaining my workload}, but Eugene & I both agreed after much prayer that this was a God-sized opportunity that we at least needed to give a chance.

We’ve been working to create an office space for me, and we picked our third bedroom as the spot. This bedroom is now the guest bedroom/office, and is very much still in the works. Here’s what it looked like when we moved in…

I wanted a bright desk, but we’ve had some huge costs for the house & family lately, so I knew I wanted to keep my budget as low as possible. My plan of attack was to hit up the same Salvation Army warehouse sale where I picked up my $1 coffee table. I hit the jackpot again, and drove away with this $5 dorm desk…

And to keep you from any suspense, here’s the before & after…

I’ll give ya the quick run-down of my process. I first removed the desk’s hardware…

I spray painted these with ORB {same paint I used to transform my bathroom faucet.} I then sanded the desk & gave it an unofficial priming coat with Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Ultra Coverage Satin Heirloom White {just because it was only a $1.60 at a local store. Why buy real primer; remember, I’m on a budget!} It’s dark out because I painted it super late while the little one slept. It only took one can to cover it for priming…

My next step was a couple coats of Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Ultra Coverage Satin Aqua. I used two cans with a little bit to spare, which was a good thing because the store only had 2 cans of this color in stock {also just $1.60 each!}

I used some sand paper to take a bit of paint off the edges to give it more of an antique/worn look. When I put the hardware back on & moved the desk into the room, I just wasn’t happy with it. It was too bright, too harsh…

So I decided to try to white wash it with a light gray paint {is it gray wash then?}. Basically, you water down your paint with a ratio of 1/3 paint to 2/3 water and use a brush to apply even long streaks and a cloth to wipe off the excess…

It worked perfectly – just enough gray to dull the bold color to a nice soft hazy turquoise…

Oh, and I had some extra scrapbook paper left over from my curbside changing table re-do, so I mod-podge’d it in the drawers as a liner…

And here’s the final version…

The legs are my favorite part…

You can see the gray wash & the corners where I sanded off some paint here…

So that’s my office desk. Not bad for a total of $11.40! Now I just have to figure out how to type with one hand so my other’s free for napping…

{So perfect.}