sage's diy nursery

Finally, I present to you Sage's nursery! Remember way back in January when I featured my old office and how it was to be transformed into a baby nursery? And then in March when I was trying to decide if I should paint the walls pink or taupe? Well the nursery has been done for a while but this busy, sleepy mommy just hadn't gotten around to taking some good photos. But now I'm excited to share it with you! Since we were on a pretty tight budget, many of the elements were DIY - which actually made it a really fun and satisfying project.

As you may have noticed, the walls are neither pink or taupe! We decided to go with a really pale yellowy-beige colour that looks like filtered sunlight - Benjamin Moore's Almond Bisque (CC-280) which is really warm and lovely. And just as I was going to add the Dwell Studio bedding into the crib, I spied the cutest little turquoise dresser on Craigslist {scroll down to see it below}. And that cute little dresser, my friends, changed my entire design plan! I said bye bye to the pink accents, and instead went with a turquoise and yellow colour scheme! Or 'goldenrod and robin's egg' if you want to be all Martha and fancy!

In deciding not to use the bedding I originally bought, I instead made my own crib skirt with this fabric from Tonic Living that inspired me at the beginning of the design process here! I didn't actually make the blanket and crib sheet though - they are from Pongo Baby. But I did paint the owl and framed it with an IKEA Ribba frame.

Last year we babysat at a friend's house and they had the most comfortable, cushy glider ever! I swore that I would get the same one, and so we did! That was our only splurge in this room and it was a good one. Many an hour have been spent in that chair already, rocking and nursing the babe.

I created the 'You Are My Sunshine' print to add some colour to the shelf, and it's now available in my Etsy shop. The doll was sewn by my great grandmother! And the little dress is something I made a few years ago - I just mounted it onto a canvas.


The chandelier was on sale from Canadian Tire for $50 - down from $80. Woohoo! But it was gray with pink crystals, so I spray painted it yellow and found these clear crystals on clearance from Rona {don't use Valspar spray paint by the way...they have nice colours but the paint itself is sucky...doesn't stick well and is slow to dry}.

Another detail in the room that I love is this little owl light switch cover from Anthropologie. I have a little bit of an owl theme going on, and thought this was an adorable touch.

The lamp and side table were cheapy cheapies from HomeSense, and the flower pot was an old one that I spray painted blue to match the decor. By the way - HomeSense has THE BEST lamp selections lately! Lots of funky shapes and colours. The plant is, believe it or not, a cutting from a plant that was in my own baby nursery - yes, the plant is still alive and kicking. And I decided to give the side table a bit of a sprucing, and so painted a chevron pattern on top for fun using this tutorial.

For artwork in the room, my sister bought me this awesome wooden laser cut alphabet from my former One of a Kind Show neighbours, Arounna and John of Bookhou. It's gorgeous! But the colour of the wood blended so perfectly into the wall colour that you literally couldn't see it. I decided to cover a canvas with burlap, and mount the alphabet on top to make it stand out. And my favourite piece in the room is a collage from my friend Céleste Gagnon, a children's book illustrator. It is so delicate and beautiful and so perfect for the nursery - I love to stare at it!

Here she is - the little turquoise dresser from Craigslist that changed the original plan for the room! We use it as a change table too. Above I 'framed' fabric scraps using embroidery hoops - cheap and easy. Sage loves to stare at the colours and patterns when I change her!

BEFORE

AFTER

Voila - the nursery! It's hard to believe it was once my office. But we love it and I hope you like it too :)