One of the most exciting personal projects I’ve done this year is designing our son’s little nursery. For a girl who has worked with flowers all day every day for the past three years, getting to design a boy nursery was way outside my typical wheelhouse. But it was also JUST what I needed to get a fresh dose of creative juices flowing.

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Renovation Plan & DIY Projects

It’s no secret that I love neutrals so I chose to not really have a “theme” for his nursery. Instead, I decided to work on finding the perfect blend of textures and incorporating lots of thoughtful details that represent what we want for him and what’s important to our family.

I believe the most powerful and cost effective thing you can use to improve your home is paint. When we moved into our house, this was a tiny, dingy room with yellowish beige walls and dark hunter green trim. I painted the walls a very light grey called Eider White by Sherwin Williams and the trim white, and it immediately made the space more open and much larger.

Our main project was the closet. The whole room is only 8×12 and I knew I needed to make use of every square inch to have a functional nursery. Last year, I watched one of my favorite bloggers turned personal friend Katie Lamb transform many of the closets in her house into extraordinary spaces. The existing closet spanned the entire width of the nursery and was a completely blank space, so I asked my husband and father-in-law to create a custom built-in closet from scratch. It took them one day to build the frame for it, and it took me about 4 days to caulk, prime, and paint it into the glorious custom organizational space I had been envisioning. It was tedious, uncomfortable work at 28 weeks pregnant but WELL WORTH it! I’m able to keep all of his things organized without filling the floor space of his room with furniture that would barely fit and would make such a small room look even tinier.

The other project I chose for this room was a feature wall and I wanted something a little out of my comfort zone: color! I wanted his room to gently scream boy. For three months, I agonized about finding the perfect smokey grey-blue wall to create a board and batten wall behind his crib. After pinning literally every grey-blue color on Pinterest, I finally decided on Benjamin Moore “Smoke.” To create the board and batten framework, we used inexpensive primed 1x3x8 MDF boards from Home Depot. In total, the boards cost around $40, a few tubes of caulk cost around $8, and 2 quarts of the paint cost $40. Pretty inexpensive for a beautiful statement wall!

Decor

Next, I moved to decorating. MY FAVORITE part! I wanted to keep everything rather simple and minimalistic because that’s just my personality – a ton of “stuff” on every wall or surface visually stresses me out. So I chose a cute rug, new modern ceiling fan, and multi-function side table from Amazon; beautiful organizational baskets and luxurious grey black-out curtains I had been eyeing from Target; we DIYed the sign over his crib; and I found a few miscellaneous toys and decor pieces from Hobby Lobby, Magnolia Market, Home Goods, and Target’s Hearth and Hand line.

I wanted a side table for the long nights I would spend in this glider and decided on this double duty storage nightstand. When I first got it, all the blankets and swaddles were folded and rolled perfectly, but let’s be real – this is more what it looks like now (or even worse ;). Some of the reviews say it’s hard to put together but I put it together in about 15 minutes at 36 weeks pregnant….and I have zero skills at putting furniture together.

These baskets have been a dream for keeping all the baby odds and ends organized. I bought several of the largest size of these baskets for closet’s long top shelf and threw all the diaper packages we received from our baby shower in them – such a cleaner looking space with all those tucked away.

This giraffe was a last minute impulse buy from Home Goods. I wish I had a link for it because it’s adorable but ya know how Home Goods works. It’s the perfect compliment to the cream and black rug!

Here’s a little surprise: I bought his crib and glider used from friends. I think it’s important to acknowledge in this world of more, more, more that it’s ok to stick to budgets, prioritize purchases, and not always have the newest item on the market. Buying a crib and glider new would have easily equaled the amount I spent on this entire nursery, and I knew that wasn’t a good financial decision for us this year. By buying them used, I paid less than half of what each item costs brand new.

So that’s the full reveal of our little boy’s nursery. I’m so proud that we actually finished one of the rooms in our house 100% (you 95%-er’s know exactly what I’m talking about!). I love that he sleeps under this sign that we made for him every night. I know, I know: he can’t read it but I love that such truth is spoken over him as he grows up. And it’s a great reminder for me when I’m struggling to get him down for naps that he’s here for a much greater purpose than I could ever imagine right now.

We love you, baby boy. Don’t grow up too fast, ok?! Mommy wants to enjoy this nursery for a good, long time.

Product Sources Recap:

 

I am His Sign: DIY’d

Pillow: Hobby Lobby kid’s section

Giraffe: Home Goods

Tractor: Fall 2019 Target Hearth and Hand Line 

Toy Truck: Magnolia Market