Baby Otto's Room

The baby's room is ready, now where's the baby? He was due July 4th, so we are waiting anxiously for his arrival. I have been working on Otto's room for the past 4+ months, basically ever since we found out we were having a boy. We are renting our condo and I didn't feel like painting a room that I wasn't going to live in for too much longer. I like the color on the walls - it's neutral and looks good with everything. I ended up with a room that is pretty gender-neutral just because I'm practical and didn't want to buy all new bedding, pillows, curtains, etc if we have a girl in the future.

I love green and yellow and decided to look for bedding that featured one or both of those colors. I ended up finding some bedding on The Land of Nod's website that was on clearance. The green ended up being a little more lime-y than I wanted, but I think bright is ok in a baby's room. I didn't want everything to be green and yellow -  I wanted a lot of whites and neutrals as well. I didn't want a theme in the room, but rather just a cheery space since I knew I would be spending a lot of time in there. I didn't plan on having so many animals, but once my sisters gave me the tall giraffe, which I absolutely love, I thought other animals would look cute with it. The last thing I want to add to the room, which isn't quite in the budget right now, is a zebra rug like this one I've seen on Pinterest. Otherwise, I think it's complete besides maybe a blank canvas on one wall opposite the rocking chair to do a footprint timeline or something with footprints and handprints.

I knew I didn't have space for a dresser and a changing table, so I decided to use a dresser I already had as a changing table as well. The dresser was given to me, so all I had to do was paint it white to match the crib, which I am borrowing from my sister-in-law. I like how bright the white is on the crib, so I was happy to paint the dresser to match. I used semi-gloss white paint and a foam roller, which was so much easier than trying to brush the whole thing. The foam left a little bit of a texture that I really liked. I ended up doing three coats of paint just to make sure it was durable, letting it dry for 24 hours between each coat.

For the curtains, I wanted something simple but that would also block the light, which is acutally really hard to find. I found these curtains at Target, but they were pretty thin, so I bought some thermal lining fabric when the fabric store was having a big sale. Besides not having much space to lay out the curtain and lining to pin it together, it was pretty easy to sew the lining on the back side of the curtains.

The artwork was done by my 8-year-old neice Estella, who is so creative and a natural artist. I asked her to paint some animals, and the ones I ended up liking the most happened to be turquoise. I like the way it looks with the lime green bedding. The frames were on clearance at Michaels, but they were plastic and an ugly brown color. I figured I could paint them black using the same black furniture paint I had bought a couple years ago. It worked great and I couldn't believe how much more expensive they looked in black!

I had the black shelves and hadn't been using them since at our last house, putting up the shelves caused one of the first fights my husband and I had. I wanted to be really sure where I wanted them before I asked him to help me put them up. :)

I copied a painting of a zebra I found online. I just used the cardboard insert that came with the frame and I like the texture it gives to the painting. The whale painting I had done years ago - it was a copy of a small painting I had seen at Anthropologie.

My sister made the blocks on the shelf out of wood my parents had in their yard from trees that had been cut down. She and my dad used a chopsaw to cut them into cubes and sanded the edges. She added a coat of white paint, and then stenciled on the letters. I love them and want to make some alphabet blocks at some point!

I got the idea for the mobile from Pinterest (I call it Otto's Mobile). The one I saw was elephants in neutral colors, but I wanted to make it much brighter and I needed some green on that side of the room. I bought a few felt squares and a 1/4 yard of batting, which are both super cheap. I also bought some thread to match the felt, since I knew my sewing skills aren't good enough to have the thread show too much. I drew a few elephants before deciding on one I wanted. I cut out the paper to use as my pattern and pinned it on the felt. I cut it out and sewed the ear on each side first. Then I sewed the two sides together except the part between the legs so I could stuff some batting into it. After making four elephants, I threaded some clear jewelry string through the top seam of each elephant and tied a knot. I had some 18 gauge aluminum wire from a previous project that I used to make the two levels where the string would hang from.

The rocking chair was something I had found from Salvation Army for $25. It was a cream color and in really good condition, but the fabric just looked a little dirty, especially next to the bright white dresser. I decided to recover it in a textured brown fabric to keep it neutral. My slipcover isn't perfect, but I think I'm the only one who really notices the flaws. Basically, I made a pattern out of an old white sheet and then used that to cut out the brown fabric. I tried to follow instructions on these two sites: Remodelaholic and Apartment Therapy. The hardest part was the corners where three or four pieces meet. I didn't do a great job at making them look professional, but after a while, I just didn't care anymore. I suggest taking your time and not trying to rush it becuase then you will make mistakes.

I don't love the color of the chair next to the giraffe, but it's not too bad and there's no way I'm attempting to make a slipcover anytime soon. The  white blanket my grandma made and simple yellow striped pillow I sewed help it fit in with the room.

On the fourth wall in the room, I put up a chalkboard I got from Hobby Lobby for $8. I painted the frame white, and glued a clothespin to hang things from. I might add a few additional clothespins.

The cost of everything I bought for the nursery is listed below. I had a lot of things, such as the shelves and dresser, that I could reuse which kept the cost very low. Obviously it would have cost more if I had to buy everything, so thanks to all those who gave me things or are letting me borrow them!

Bedding (bumper, sheet, crib skirt) - $70
Paint and foam roller for dresser - $15
Rocking chair - $25
Fabric to recover rocking chair - $45
Nursing stool - $8
Paint for nursing stool (leftover from dresser) - free
Yellow-and-white striped pillow supplies - $14
Target curtains - $20
Thermal lining for curtains - $10
Curtain rod (from Ross) - $15
Yellow pot on dresser (from Ikea, painted with yellow paint I had) - $3
Brown frames (on clearance at Michael's) and black paint (free) - $8
Artwork - free
Blocks - given to me
Elephant mobile supplies (felt, batting, thread, string) - $10
Chalkboard and chalk (from Hobby Lobby) - $8
Changing pad (from Fred Meyer) - $20
Changing pad cover (see link below) - $13
Total: $284

Your room is ready, Otto... we can't wait for you to arrive!