Tuesday, March 24, 2015

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Baby Blue Girl's Room


I must say, it's been an awfully busy year this year! We moved twice, I got remarried to someone phenomenal, my kids have flourished, and our little family is about to grow by one! Actually, in just two days that is! Phew! As busy and as crazy as it has been, it has been absolutely wonderful too.

With the addition of a new little person into our beautiful family, I got the opportunity to decorate her entire room. My husband and I love the color blue and I am still slightly obsessed with denim so, hey, I designed a blue, white, grey, and denim patchy nursery and I cant believe how cute it turned out!

I know what you're thinking, "Wait, blue for a girl?" Yes, my fellow skeptic. Check it out, it is anything but "boyish":



We started by painting the room "Baby Boy Blue" (ironic, I know) It made the space calm and soothing  and the perfect backdrop for denim and white and gray. This is the changing station. We had a small cube organizer from Ikea already in the room and purchased a changing pad for the top. It'll be great while she's teeny and I made a cover for the pad with some remnant flannel in gray and white chevron and a zipper to be easy to clean when necessary.



The pad is the perfect size for the top of the organizer and a great use of space for something that was already in the room. It can be used for toy storage as she gets older. The beautiful vintage quilt is mine from when I was a baby. I was looking through my cedar chest for clothes I saved from when Adree was a baby and found this gem. The baby blanket I primarily used is threadbare and completely full of holes (evidence of a well-loved item), but this blanket is in surprisingly good condition. It was made by one of my great aunts and I am thrilled to show it off as a wall hanging.





Since we are talking a nursery, what better opportunity than this to paint a feature wall! When we first purchased this house, I noticed that the wall with the closet is quite wide and also vaulted on one side of the room. It's a bit asymmetrical. I was able to correct this by painting a denim patchwork mural  to just above the closet. This took me about a day to complete, but I love painting! I started out by measuring  lines in 6" and 8" widths up the wall and scoring them with a pencil and a yard stick. I used this as a template to paint patches in shades of blue, white, and gray. I mimicked the look of worn denim by a combination of crosshatching and lightening centers of the squares to look just like denim. I love denim and this was really fun to do!


The quilt top for the crib was the first thing I completed for the space. I hoard (maybe just a little) fabric and always have a huge collection from various places. Some thrifted (best way to get vintage finds), some remnant bin digging at big-box chains, some purchased for specific projects. Almost all of of the fabric for the crib bedding was thrift store finds over the years and kept until I had the perfect place for it! Score!
 Knowing that we were doing a blue nursery, I alternated stripes of blue, white, and gray in a variety of prints and textures. I love the chambray and gingham and cloud prints, they are whimsical and fun! It looks great with her white crib.

 When I purchased the batting for the quilt I noticed they had ready bumper-pad inserts as well. I used the same fabrics I used in the quilt and made all the bumper pads too.



I just did some quick machine quilting in a quick zigzag motif. Quilting isn't really my forte, but this should outlast many-a-washing. ;)

The back of the quilt and the bumper pads too are backed in a soft blue cotton waffle. It washed up well and is really soft!



Somehow miss Adree ended up with a new loft bed in her room and we moved the daybed I purchased for a whole $25 bucks (and updated with a little spray paint) into the nursery. It had a comforter on it that didn't necessarily match.


Simple solution here with a twin sheet set ($12 at Ross) in a Nautica denim stripe and a denim blue flat sheet that I had in the closet. These  made a great duvet cover with a couple of seems and the addition of some Kam snaps.

A quick crazy denim patch pillow to add with my favorite yellow pillows with blue roses and the bed was dressed to match.



Now I had put a lot of thought into the denim patchwork wall, but not so much into what needed to go on the other two blank ones. I happened to have a few things that hadn't found places in my house yet and used those and bought a couple of things and made a few more!


I knew I wanted another chevron element in the room and when I came across these 7 x 14 canvases, I knew they would work. A little painters tape some gray and navy blue paint and a couple of simple outlines and I think I accomplished my goal.


I purchased a small shelf on clearance at Homegoods and filled it a silver frame from my SIL and some angels from my MIL, my awesome vintage children's books, my favorite bicycle planter with my husband's bear and topped him with a teeny crocheted hat I made while I had to put my cankles up.


This denim wrapped floral ring actually had a different intention when I wrapped it, but turned out so cute with some denim flowers and made into a wreath!



These framed pictures were all either painted or sewn by me and miss Adree. I love how the simple white and silver frames make them all relate to each other, even though they are all very different.


I used a denim pocket left over from another project and filled it with felt flowers and a patchwork "love" to make this cute little picture.


I love to take pictures and recreate them into paintings and my all-time favorite pictures to do this with are those taken by my husband. I painted this one in January of 2014 and it's from a picture taken in Colorado (his favorite place).


I told Adree that I needed to paint something for the space and she wanted to participate too. This girl is very creative and I am always surprised at how well she paints. She wanted a silhouette of a bird on a black background. I helped by free-handing the bird in pencil and she painted the image. I must say, I'm impressed!




I actually painted this image (taken in Colorado by my husband) a few years ago and never hung it up. It's perfect for in our baby's room.


 I happened to have some more chambray in my stash and knew I wanted curtains for the room in it.

I added some felt clouds and surged the edges and paired them with a great lace panel I found in a bag of remnants from Savers and I love, love how cute they turned out!


Another thrifted find was a boppy pillow for $5 at the Goodwill. This silly things are so useful, but are obnoxiously expensive. I brought it home and laundered it and made a flannel cover for it out of material in my stash. Sweet!


Yes, I made a matching mobile too. These are just patchwork and felt stars that I stuffed and hung from a musical arm set that we found on Amazon. It is so cute and matches the room perfectly.


This was such a fun project to do! I was able to  take a non-conventional color pallet and make it whimsical and not "boyish" at all and I can't wait for us to bring home our baby girl and enjoy it. <3 p="">