The 36th Avenue.: EXTRAORDINARY GUEST: Della's Nursery

Monday, August 22, 2011

EXTRAORDINARY GUEST: Della's Nursery

First of all, a huge thank you to Desiree for inviting me over to chat today.

I have happily ogled many of her beautiful, creative, and practical projects for a while now, and I'm so honored to get to share a bit of myself on her awesome blog!

So...hi there!

I’m Abbie, and like many of you, I wear so many hats that sometimes I walk out the door with the wrong one on. I’m a follower of Jesus, a mama to three children: Ezra (5), Simon (3 1/2), and Adelaide (9 mos.), a wife, a fitness instructor, a writer, a DIY fanatic, and a thrifting junkie.

Oh yeah. And I run not one but two blogs (hence the blogamy):

Five days…5 ways, which is kind of like my everyday house,

and Secondhand or Bare Bottom, a little more like a vacation house, with a closetful of killer 100% thrifted finds.

Today, I'm sharing with you some of the DIYs and thrifted goodness that I combined

to create Adelaide's (or Della, as we call her) nursery.

Because we built our house from scratch (and by “we,” I mean my hubby, my father-in-law, and I), I don’t have any truly horrendous before pictures to show you.

In fact, no matter how hard I searched, all I found in our expansive array of home-building pictures were these two measly shots (keep in mind we built well before I even thought about blogging; unforgivable, I know).

Here’s a shot of what we had to work with:

Plywood and primer and painter’s tape, oh my!

Oddly enough, even though she is my only girl, Della’s room is blue—a creamy aqua from Laura Ashley called Spruce Frost. It ended up being a pretty-darn girly color, but I chose it, partly because I’m not the color pink’s biggest fan, but mostly because I am a bit of a crazy-obsessed stalker fan of anything blue/green: teal, turquoise, aqua, ocean-blue…watch out because I'm coming for you!

…and now the serenity of:

*Sigh* That’s better.

My inspiration for the entire room was Alexander Henry’s beautiful, whimsical fabric, Starling (I found mine on Etsy under the “supplies” tab for a very reasonable $6/yd), which comes in several different color schemes. I chose Natural, which had everything I wanted: bright, but not overwhelming, colors, pops of black and white, fat little birds, and a retro feel.

After I chose my fabric, the rest fell into place as all of my decorating does: I see something that’s a bazillion percent off of the original price and think, “Hey, I bet if I spray-painted/recovered/altered that in some way, that would be perfect!”

Yeah…it’s a gift…and a curse.

Aaaaanyhoo, I’ve tried to be as thorough as possible with my sourcing, but if I miss something, and you have a question, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Della's bedding is a hodgepodge of 1) a Simply Shabby Chic Target full-sized bedding set that I bought at Goodwill, then cut up and made into a comforter and pillows (the blue/white ruffled one in the center). The bed ruffle came from that, and I just bunched it up strategically to make it fit Della's crib, 2) a fun bolster pillow I found at Walmart, 3) a bumper I recovered with the Starling fabric (also used to make her curtains), and 4) a piece of polka-dot fabric I used as a crib-sheet (an idea I got from the very talented Emily

The flower hangers were an old Hobby Lobby purchase, and I decided to repurpose them for Della’s room with a coat of red spray paint. In fact, unless you wanted to end up looking like a candy-cane, it was kind of dangerous to get anywhere near me while I was working on this room since pretty much everything got sprayed glossy white or Banner Red (Krylon).

I found the square decorative mdf pieces at Goodwill for $0.59 each—man, I love me some Goodwill!—and mounted Della’s initials (the unpainted letters came from Walmart for under $2 each) onto the front to give them a three-dimensional feel.

of Jones Design Company).

I made the butterfly mobile for well under $20 (including the butterfly punch, which accounted for $12 of that) and am showcasing a tutorial on how I did it for my Try-it Tuesday today if you'd like to hop over and check it out (after you finish here, of course! : )).

A fun, vintage glass shelf I got at a local "barn sale" flea market. It provides a place for the blue wooden mouse brought home from Germany by her Softa (my mom), a mini-birdhouse I found at Hobby Lobby, two red/white polka-dot dessert plates I scored at Goodwill for a $1 (for both), a pair of “ruby slippers,” and a pair of shoes I made her from the Starling fabric.

I changed out the wooden knobs that came with Adelaide's dresser for ones with more flower-power (from Marshall's), which I also spray-painted red (yes, all while I was pregnant; don’t worry, I worked outside in the sunshine, and Della has all her fingers and toes and only a minor facial tic—JOKE!—I’m going to prove to you how perfect she is at the end of this post).

I found her bed and dresser as a matching set on craigslist, by the way. The brand is Legacy.

The bassinet and Hello Kitty in the corner are gifts from my mother-in-law and work perfectly with all the other white and red in the room. I found the little-girl-praying silhouette at Hobby Lobby and added it to the to-be-sprayed-red pile.

I also framed more of the butterfly cutouts in vintage gold frames (an idea I swiped from a guest post at Stefanie of Brooklyn Limestone fame’s fantastic blog). I matted mine with a sample of textured white wallpaper I already had.

I found this sweet sign at Marshall's. I hope she'll do just what it says for Jesus some day.

Believe it or not, this chandy started out with a dark, old world look. Of course, then spray-painted every inch of it red and white (see? candy cane...stay away). It adds just the right touch of girly glamour.

My favorite corner of her room.

I got the chair for a steal ($25!) on craigslist—it rocks and swivels and is super-comfy—and then bought the fabric from a local quilting store and the covered buttons (which match the curtains and bumper) from Etsy. A local lady recovered it for me and did a fabulous job for a shockingly low price.

I made the curtains and the blue/white pillow. I found the pink/black one @ Goodwill for $3. The polka-dot rug is actually a bath mat—$5—from Walmart (it coordinates with the bolster pillow—$8—in her crib)

IMG_2722-2

I found the ottoman at Hobby Lobby for $8. A can of spray paint and aqua and white polka-dot fabric transformed it from a dark, manly-looking piece into the perfect little girl footstool. The red mini-chair was a random find from a roadside flea market (maybe the only wooden piece in the room that came red) – $4.

The trio of mirrors came in a pack for $6 from Ross. The butterfly print is from the Etsy shop of a really great Australian blogger, ishandchi. The "Adelaide" print is from the online shop of the amazing Jones Design Company.

I painted this little jewelry chest white and the knobs red, and it now houses Della's barrettes, pacifiers, and socks. A good friend made me the small butterfly canvas (the background is the text of Psalm 139; so cool!), and the little lamp is a Goodwill find for maybe $1. I recovered the lamp shade in white fabric, trimmed it in polka-dot grosgrain ribbon, then spray-painted the base and made a cover for the ugly cord out of some fabulous red/white striped fabric I found at—uh-huh, that’s right—Goodwill.

Last, but certainly not least, this is the adorable pouf my best friend, Mandy, made and hung from her chandelier at my baby shower. I tied it to the the curtain rod for an extra jolt of whimsy and color.

And there you have it!

I hope you love Della’s room as much as I do. It is my sanctuary of beauty and calm, and even before she was born, both my husband and I would go and sit in her white rocker (one at a time, of course; we’re not hobbits) and pretend we were holding her.

Now, that she’s here, it tends not to be quite as pristine as before (can we say laundry and diapers?), but it’s made infinitely better by her sunshiney presence!

In fact, I’m going to go take a turn in the rocker now. With this cuteness for company:

I would love to have you by for a visit, so we can "meet!"
I've got projects, tutorials, fashion finds, exercise tips, and house pics
(be sure to click on the "Our House" tab at the top of my home-page to see the latest)
galore just waiting for you!

AND.. today is your lucky day, because starting today, I'm hosting a giveaway for a $25 shop credit to...wait for it...The Pleated Poppy!!!
Check out the button in my sidebar for all the details!

..........................................................

WOW!

I really found Abbies' blog through the "So You Think You Can Blog" Link Party and I am so glad I did.
This girl's blog ROCKS...

I am in love with this bedroom... it is so adorable.

The colors work perfectly together and all the

little details are way cute.

Abbie, THANK YOU SO MUCH for coming to my rescue

in the very last minute...

I really appreciate having you here at The 36th Avenue..

...♥

Desiree.

Labels: Be My Guest, Home Design, Kids

6 Comments:

At August 23, 2011 at 5:55 AM , angie @ the cellar door stories said...: this room is amazing! i was just thinking of doing the same color scheme for my craft room and this gives me extra motivation :) beautiful!
At August 23, 2011 at 6:30 AM , Katie said...: WOW--I love this nursery transformation. I absolutely LOVE the colors. I've said it for the past few years that these would be my future babies nursery colors *not that I'm expecting any time soon... maybe in 2015? lol. LOVE this nursery!
At August 23, 2011 at 6:49 AM , Paula Parrish said...: Is is awesome to met Abbie. I love the nursery make over it is absolutely amazing.
Thanks for sharing.
Smiles, Paula
At August 23, 2011 at 8:37 AM , Rebecca said...: What a beautiful nursery! I love the mobile, pops of red details and well everything. =] Adelaide was on my list of girls names for my youngest but my husband wouldn't agree, my niece who is three weeks younger is named Della. It's not a name you see very often. <3
At August 23, 2011 at 2:02 PM , MaterialGirlGreen said...: I LOVE the color scheme! It's such a beautiful room! I'm a new follower through GFC. Please visit and follow me at http://materialgirlgreen.blogspot.com
At August 23, 2011 at 8:46 PM , Amanda said...: Holy cow. Awesome nursery. I love the light blue and bright red combo. Would never have come up with that on my own!