Caitlin’s Marine-Themed Nursery

Today’s guest post is from Catilin,

Our teeny tiny third bedroom was originally an office when we first moved into our townhouse. When we found out we were pregnant with our son, Emerson, my husband and I were really nervous about how to convert what little space we had into a decent nursery.

I majored in Marine Science in college and have always loved the ocean. I knew that I wanted a nursery that reflected that (and that I really didn’t want to repaint the dark blue walls!) We eventually settled on a surfing theme, but when I tried to find bedding or decor online I was shocked to see how much some of it cost. Three hundred dollar bedding sets! Seventy dollar rugs! I just couldn’t do it.

I enlisted the help of the craftiest person I know…my mom! And we got to work looking for bargains and doing whatever we could ourselves to save money. One of my first finds was a Finding Nemo themed crib sheet and fleece blanket. At $2.99 each, they were super cute but way cheaper than the full bedding sets I had been coveting. I found a plain white crib skirt on clearance at Target for $3.99 to complete the set.

I’d seen gorgeous wooden letters spelling baby’s name in boutique stores, but many of them started at $8 a letter. With a name like Emerson, we couldn’t afford that! Instead I ordered them online for less than $3 a letter and painted them myself with paint pens.

My mom and I spent a few weekends painting the surfboards on the wall above the crib. While it did take a lot of work, it was also a lot of fun to spend that time together and I love my son’s room has such a personal touch. I googled pictures of surfboards and she drew them on
the wall with chalk. We filled in the chalk lines with acrylic paints (the kind you get at the craft store) and copied the pictures I’d found. We drew the wave design with white paint pens.

I also made a “Who Loves Emerson?” cork board display to help Emerson recognize some of his family he doesn’t often get to spend time with. The pieces of cork board came from a craft store (with a coupon, don’t forget to always bring a coupon!) and I mounted photos on left-over scrapbooking supplies to make it more colorful.

The “curtains” are toddler sized Hawaiian shirts from Once Upon a Child, a great kid’s consignment shop. I spent about $12 for all three shirts and hung them on a cheap curtain rod from Ikea.

The glass shelves, which line one whole wall, I originally considered taking down. We had put up the shelves, from Ikea, when we first moved in and they were great in an office. But, I hated the idea that we wouldn’t have a “traditional” nursery with a chest of drawers and matching changing table. In the end, the shelves have been one of the functional parts of the room.

I found the sets of wicker baskets on a great sale at a craft store. They came as sets of five baskets and I bought three sets for $15. I use the larger baskets for clothes, books, and toys, the medium
baskets for socks, bibs, and hats, and the smaller baskets for CDs, photo albums, pacifiers, and other assorted baby items.

The closet originally had wire shelves for hanging clothes, which was not functional for baby. Maybe its just me, but we don’t own many (err, any) baby clothes that needed to be displayed on hangers! We took down the closet door and the shelves to make the closet seem like
a part of the room instead. I found the changing table at a consignment shop for $30 and it matched the furniture perfectly. I also hung a clear shoe organizer along the closet wall to hold small baby items within easy reach. I painted the sign hanging over the changing table with a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote using a sale canvas from the craft store and more acrylic paints.

I researched cribs for hours and hours trying to pick out the safest, most cost effective
option. I spent a lot of time on the Consumer Reports website reading their rankings of cribs only to find out that one of their recommendations was only $158 at Walmart. It ranked just a high as the $300 and $600 cribs they recommended. My parents bought it for us a gift and even got 97 cent shipping to our door!

I knew I wanted a rocker, but we couldn’t afford the glider versions I saw in all the stores. I ended up with this old fashioned rocking chair for $8 at the Goodwill. A few coats of white paint and a $7 clearance cushion from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and it is a perfect place
to sit for a moment (not that I get many of those moments now that Emerson is crawling!).

When you are trying to put together an inexpensive nursery, the best thing you can do it ask for help. Ask family and friends to keep a look out for items that you can repurpose. Or enlist them to look at the nursery and help think of creative ways to make use of the space you have. Have a painting party and put them to work!

Check consignment shops, thrift stores, Craigslist, yard sales, where ever you can think of for cheap find. A coat or two of paint can really transform a piece of furniture (or an entire room!). Google ideas for themes you like and create copy cat versions of the pricey stuff.

The very best piece of advice I can offer is to start brainstorming early. The more time you have before baby arrives, the less pressure you’ll feel. You can take your time, shop for bargains, and not feel forced into spending more than you can afford. Most importantly, have fun with it! Take lots pictures of the work in progress or write about it in a pregnancy journal. One day your little one will want to hear the story of how his or her beautiful nursery came to be!

Caitlin is a working mom, loves knitting and photography, and blogs at Pacifier In My Pocket.

This post is part of BC’s Nursery on a Budget Series. See more posts in the series.

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