This post has been a long time coming! Joe and I are so excited to finally be done with the nursery. Joe worked SO hard on it, and was able to "prove his skills to me." When he was 12 he and his dad built the home he grew up in, and then in college he did an internship building homes in Dallas. So, he's always told me he could build whatever I wanted, but it took this project for me to trust him. I can now say I trust him 100%, and will never question him on any future remodels=)
So, for you to really appreciate what the nursery looks like now, let me take you back to where we started. This is the room before we bought it when the home was listed. Not the ugliest room I've ever seen, but definitely not the cutest. Especially when everything was taken out, and there was just a random chair rail at an odd height.
Joe knew I hated the chair rail so he and a buddy ripped it down after we first bought the home so the painters could retexture the walls. This is what we were left with.
Joe and his buddy repainted the ceilings and trim a bright white.
When we found out we were having a girl, Joe asked me how I wanted the nursery done. I had seen a picture on Pinterest that I loved! He told me he would do anything I wanted. So, when I showed him the picture I wanted to get our inspiration from, he immediately started thinking about what he would need to do. Part of the first steps involved ripping out the baseboards that he had painted.=) Ooops!=)
Then he needed to redo the windowsills because he was going to frame out the windows and they weren't big enough. So, this is what we had.....
and then he ripped them out!
So, this is where we were at now. All the windowsills were ripped out and no baseboards. I was just a little nervous at this point=)
Next, he tried sanding down the bottom of the walls to get the smooth texture to make it look like board and batten without having to put up board. That didn't work, so he ended up mudding over the walls with a light coat, and then sanding those smooth. The grey part was the mud=)
Joe worked so hard on this room, and I know it's because he loved his little girl........and wanted to keep his pregnant wife happy!=) I must also say that he did all of this when he was working a 6 day a week, 10 hour a day work schedule. He would wake up early, work all day and then come home and spend hours on the nursery. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband.
After the mudding was done, he painted several coats of white semi gloss paint on the bottom part of the walls and primed the top part.
Then it was time for the wood work. We cut and used a router to do the windowsills (Joe made me try my hand at it, and I must say it was pretty empowering to create something out of wood using power tools!=) )
You can't see the edge I did because of the lighting. I did it though!
Next we had to paint all of this wood! Not my favorite thing in the world.
Joe was much better and faster at it than I was, so I quickly became his assistant.
Then Joe had to measure and cut the windowsills and all the boards for the board and batten.
He did all the windowsills and then framed out all of the windows. I was a little skeptical of this, but I will fully admit now that I was wrong to be skeptical. Having the windows framed out makes the BIGGEST difference and it looks SO nice and finished. Like I said before, I will never question him again=)
After the windows were all framed out, it was time to start putting up the boards. We started with 1x4 boards for the baseboards and the top board.
Then we used 1x3 boards to create the board and batten look. Joe had to caulk the sides of all the boards to get rid of the little gap.
Then it was time to mud over all the little nail holes from nailing the boards up
After that it was paint time! We worked as a really great team doing this part. I would go ahead of Joe with the brush and he followed behind with the roller. It always made it more fun when we worked together.
After we got the bottom all painted, Joe painted the top of the walls grey.
LOVING IT!!!!
Don't the windows look INCREDIBLE!? It really made such a huge difference! You were right babe!=)
And well, after that Joe was all done with his part! Well, for the most part=) I did have him hang a few things=) Thanks Bob for being Joe's assistant and helping him hang the prints and letters!=)
Then it was my turn to decorate! I decided that with the board and batten, it was better to just keep the rest of the room simple. And well................ Here it is!!! I wish I had a better camera and better lighting, but you get the point.
This chair is one of my favorite things about the room! I LOVE it! It even reclines and it's super comfortable! I can't wait until I actually get to use it when Brooklynn is sleeping in her own room.
I made the crib skirt and covered the bumper pads myself. I bought the sheet. Making the bedding ended up being easier than I thought it would be, it was just time consuming. We painted the crib bright white. We found it on craigslist a while ago but it was kind of an antique off white color. Nothing a little spray paint and wax can't fix!=)
I modge podged the letters with cute scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby. This was a fun project, and I think it turned out really cute.
We printed these prints ourselves and kept it simple with white frames and white mats. "From the moment they placed you in our arms, you snuggled right into our hearts"
This one is my favorite. "No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you. After all, you're the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside."
My friend Haley made this cute diaper wreath for my shower, but it matched her room so well that I had to hang it on her door. Another one of Joe's projects was to change out all the doorknobs and hinges. The hinges were all painted over, and the knobs were that shiny gold. Yuck. He really did such an incredible job on everything!
I got these flowers from Hobby Lobby and stuck them in some styrofoam. Simple but pretty.
My sister gave this pig to Brooklynn last Christmas. Isn't it just adorable! This of course had to be in her room!
I couldn't get a really great lighted picture, but I also made the drapes. I wanted light pink black out drapes that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg. I couldn't find anything I liked so I resorted to making my own.
I also made this quilt. The only other quilt I've ever attempted was back in High School in sewing class. Lets just say I didn't have the greatest skills back then=) Joe got me a sewing machine for one of my first birthdays after we were married, and I can honestly say I have now put that bad boy to good use! Thank heaven for the internet. I was able to find tutorials for pretty much everything. And I have a great friend that is a sewing queen that I was able to go to when I had questions or got stuck. Joe was even impressed with how this turned out. That's saying a lot=)
All in all we are incredibly happy with how everything turned out. Was it hard? Yes. Was it totally worth it? You betcha!!!! There were late nights, frustrations, pretty sure some tears, sweat, and even a little blood..... but it was all worth it in the end. We both love this room so much, and we are absolutely crazy about the little girl that will call it hers. Thank you SO SO SO SO SO much to my sweet husband. He has got some mad skillzzzz!!!! He would do anything to make his girls happy! He loved how it turned out, and I even heard him ask "What if our whole house was like this?!" Pretty sure we're never going to know the answer to that question=) ha ha!
I LOVE how it all turned out. Hopefully you do too!
