In this guest post, BC reader Alison shares how she and her husband created their cute, colorful nursery on the cheap:
Like many moms-to-be, I began dreaming of the perfect nursery decor about 2 minutes after telling my husband we were going to be parents. I knew I wanted something non-traditional, I’ve never been a strictly blue-or-pink person, nor have I been drawn to a heavy theme such as animals, cars, or cartoon characters. (Not that there’s anything wrong with those; they’re just not my aesthetic.) We found out we were going to have a little man at my 20 week ultrasound, and then things started to pick up speed in the nursery – I had completed nothing for the room design until I could envision who this space would be for!
I figured I’d start my search by looking for the perfect bedding set, but I completely struck out. The modern, fun prints with bright colors that I loved carried a heavy price tag. So I decided to just start with the paint. There were 2 colors I knew I loved together, red and turquoise (sounds crazy, I know). We were thankful that the room already had a chair rail that broke up the wall space. The colors (Behr Jamaica Bay (blue) and Daredevil (red)) were perfect and the white chair rail, trim, and ceiling made the room pop!
After the paint went up, I actually found a bedding set to coordinate – the Circles collection by DwellStudio at Target. Unfortunately they were discontinuing it about the time we purchased the set and it’s no longer available at Target. Shopping a discount store like Target puts you in the fast lane to save some bucks over a traditional department store, but I found another way to save money with the bedding – I realized that getting a crib bumper was so controversial that I’d just skip the issue entirely! Instead we just got the Circles crib skirt, sheets, and a few accessories (blankets, musical pillows, and some wall decals that matched the set). The combination of these seemingly small items pulls the room together but doesn’t look overly theme-y, which I love!
Our son’s room isn’t very big so we had to be extra creative with the furniture we used. This also meant we saved money by skipping the “traditional” items that occupy a nursery – specifically a rocking chair and an actual changing table. Instead, we used the recliner we already had in our living room to rock our peanut to sleep when he was brand new. And we used the top of the dresser for his changing table – actually we still are using it, 11 months and 26 pounds of baby later – I don’t know if that spindly little changing table we were looking at would still be able to hold him! We added the traditional changing pad as well as a “diaper organizer” (it’s made by Munchkin and holds diapers, wipes, medicines, q-tips, everything you need right at your fingertips!) to our baby registry and they are two inexpensive things we couldn’t live without!
We fell in love with a Munire convertible crib on clearance for $250 – over 50% off the regular price! There wasn’t a Munire dresser left to match the crib (luckily!), so we found a dresser that came from a full bed set that matched the crib perfectly. The best part? That dresser was only $160 and will grow with our son as his crib changes into a full bed someday. Another bonus for us? Getting an “adult” dresser meant the dresser was taller so it’s way more comfy to change him on versus a shorter changing table, given that I’m 5’10″ and my husband is 6’4″. We walked into the furniture store assuming we’d have to spend $600-$700 and walked out under $500!
The only other pieces of furniture we put in his room were a floor lamp to add lighting (from Target), and a short bookshelf we got on clearance (also at Target) to hold books, a few toys, and some collectibles. I was pining away for the Fisher Price Rainforest mobile, but had sticker shock over the $50 price tag – luckily I found one on craigslist for $20! He LOVED that thing, and I smiled knowing how much joy he got out of it for $20!
For artwork, I used a frame I already owned with multiple openings for photos. Our son’s name is Brecken, so I found several images of the letter “B” on flickr and got permission from the photographers to reprint the photos (on my home printer – more savings!). I put all those “B’s” in this frame for personalized (and cheap!) artwork. I also got 2 prints off etsy and framed them myself. Total cost, less than $20. We also used the Circles decals (they coordinated with the bedding set that I mentioned earlier) on the walls to help pull the room together, and I’m lucky enough to have a woodworking grandfather who cut the letters for his name out of wood – a friend painted them for me as a gift!
His closet was also small and had the home’s original sliding wood doors on it still. We took those off and installed a ClosetMaid organizer which quadrupled the storage space! We’ve left the doors off for this first year and are in the process of getting either bi-fold doors or simple curtains installed in the opening – it’s been great having it open though, it makes it super easy to grab his clothes and other necessities when we’re in a rush.
My initial goal with the nursery wasn’t to do it on the cheap, but thankfully I found myself doing just that! I know I’m completely biased but I truly love how it turned out. As he approaches his first birthday I know the space is just starting to change to a toddler’s room full of big boy things, but I know the space will continue to grow with him.
This post is part of BC’s Nursery on a Budget Series. See more posts in the series.
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