Conceptualizing and planning a room before knowing the person who will occupy it is a difficult thing.
When it came to planning Maria’s nursery we did things we only hoped she would like and enjoy. Not that babies have much opinion about anything but we wanted her to have fun in her room until she was old enough to tell us exactly what she wants.
We waited to find out the sex of the baby before we decided on paint. We both quickly decided we liked purple and green. I originally thought her room would be a little more ‘mature’ as pictured in my moodboard from this post but the room ended up evolving in a much different direction. I think it started with these little guys:
We found them at a local hardware store of all places. They were too cute, bright and quirky to pass up. I’m glad we got them, Maria loves staring at them while getting changed.
Since I was put off work early due to pregnancy induced carpal tunnel , money got a little tight when it came time to do Maria’s room. Creativity was a must. The only thing we spent money on was good-quality-sticky-baby-fingers-friendly-washable paint, curtains/blackout blind, supplies to make two $10.00 shelves to hold her vast collection of books as well as supplies to make her mobile above the rocking chair.
The crib was a very generous gift from her grandparents and the rocking chair is Mike’s grandmothers antique rocking chair. Since Maria is named after two of her great grandmothers, using her chair is extra special.
The wooden legs of the chair on the hardwood was quite slippery so I stuck my green yoga mat underneath for anti-slip.
When looking online for mobiles I came across a cute one on pinterest from an etsy shop but decided, especially since funds were tight and I was off work looking for things to occupy my time, I would have to try and re-create to the best of my ability. I ordered the paper lanterns off ebay for a total of about $10.00 with shipping, had the yarn at home and bought a cheap wooden dowel from our hardware store for less than $2.00. I think it turned out pretty good.
Getting it to stabilize was a bit of pain, as it stands today it’s still not totally straight but it is usually moving around from the window breeze so no one other than me would really notice.
My favorite project of her room was my DIY wall flowers:
You can buy these for $20.00-$30.00 a package/24flowers but they’re all monotone colors. I wanted more than one color and wasn’t about to spend that kind of money. A quick google search lead me to Billie Monster and her DIY flower template. I knew I had found my solution.
I used thick, textured scrapbooking paper and a package of flat-head thumbtacks. I started by placing them with double sided tape until I found a position I liked, once I was satisfied, I glued them to the thumbtack and pushed into the wall.
Other than the pain (for me at least with sore hands at the time) of cutting each flower they were totally worth it. I love them.
Hubby helped make the shelves for her books as well as painting an old dresser we use as a change table. The dresser turned out especially well. We had the white paint and brushed nickel spray paint from past projects so it was totally affordable.
She doesn’t spend a whole lot of time in her room yet since she’s still co-sleeping in our room but we hope she grows up to like the room much as Lily, who lives in this room now, she loves the window.
















































