Purple Baby Nursery (and free printables!)

While I enjoy some snuggles with my new baby girl, why don't you take a peek at her baby nursery!

Creating a budget-friendly nursery has been a fun project for me. From the moment I found out I was having a girl, I knew I wanted a purple baby nursery with white furniture. Purple purple purple!!! But I let some other colors creep in too :) We also wanted to keep things relatively simple - not too flashy - and I think the end result is pretty much perfect for our tastes (and more importantly, our wallet).

The Furniture

We purchased the dresser used and cheap. It was originally a mid/light wood color and was missing a knob. I painted it white, painted 4 of the original knobs purple, and then bought 2 new knobs for the middle drawer. Compare before and after:

 

My favorite part about this dresser is that it doubles as a changing table. 2-in-1? Yes, please!

I went through a similar process with the crib. It was a hand-me-down (hooray for freebies!) from my neighbor and was originally a light wood color before I painted it white. Once again, here is a before/after comparison:

I think both furniture pieces look better white. Don't you agree? These were my very first re-paint project pieces! Not too shabby... at least I didn't butcher them, right?!

The other piece of furniture in the room is this glider chair. The color of the fabric matches the color of the walls, and even though I would have loved white wood, the dark wood frame still matches the baseboards and doors in the room.

During the whole last stretch of my pregnancy, I would sit in this chair late at night and look around the room, imagining how it would be to finally have my baby girl in my arms. I'm glad I don't have to imagine any more!

The Decorations

For the letter "N" above the dresser, I wrapped some multicolored yarn around a wood letter from a craft store and added some flowers for a bit more of a "girly" touch. I was going to turn this wall into a photo wall, but then I decided to keep it simple. Who knows... I might add a few pictures as time goes by. We'll see.

The picture on the wall above the crib - the one of Jesus surrounded by little children - was something my grandparents gave me when I turned 8 years old. Someday I'll get a dark wood frame so it'll match the baseboards, doors, and chair frame.

The mobile took a bit more time to make than I expected, but I love how it turned out! I used this DIY paper mobile tutorial to make it (and yes, I used the same color scheme because it fit with the nursery best out of all the options at Michael's). I used slightly smaller embroidery hoops and a 1.5" hole punch instead of a 2" punch, but it still turned out great.

Isn't it fun? I'm kind of jealous that Nicole has this fun mobile dangling over her. Hmmmm, I have plenty of paper, string, and yarn left... It's cool for married adults to have mobiles above their beds, right? Right???

Moving on.

This is easily my favorite wall in the nursery. It's so simple, but so fun!

 The fabric pennant banners were actually made by my aunt for my wedding (I helped pick out the fabric, if that counts for anything) and they just so happen to fit in with the nursery!

For the canvas prints on the walls, I designed a couple simple images on Photoshop (I'm definitely a Photoshop novice) and then had them printed out through Tiny Prints, the site that happens to be known for their photo Christmas cards. 'Tis the season, folks! I must say that I really like how the canvas prints turned out, especially considering that I never do graphic design. I just love how they seem to pop out from the wall... it gives the space some dimension, ya know?

I made sure to use timeless quotes so that Nicole can hang these canvas prints on her wall for as long as she wants instead of just when she's a baby.

If you want to use the prints for your own decorating purposes, here are some free printables! I've included the two you see on the nursery wall, plus a third design that we didn't end up using (although I think I like the third one better than the "smiles" printable).

Audrey Hepburn Quote printable (5x7 PDF)

Smiles printable (5x7 PDF)

"Dream Big" printable (5x7 PDF)

Future Additions

This furniture set-up works great for now, but I kind of want to find a small bookshelf/side table to go against the big wall under the banners. That way we can store her books on it, as well as a little canvas box for her toys. So... I'm keeping my eye on KSL for a used piece. It would be great if it were already white, but I still have more paint if I end up needing it!

I had fun putting the nursery together! I'm normally not the most crafty or design-savvy person. Interior decoration is not my thing. (Laura, do you want to come out here to Utah and redesign my whole apartment? K thanks). That being said, I am pretty dang proud of what I've done with this little apartment bedroom. Nice and simple, but perfect for our family!


It is done.

I put the decorations up, just like I said I would. Yes, even the scrawny, skinny thing that we call a Christmas tree. I still stand by the firm assertion that I have a perfectly good excuse for putting up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. No regrets! Especially because for most of the weekend my apartment smelled like a peppermint mocha candle.

Forgive the short posts. I might be slightly MIA over the next week or two since, ya know, this baby could come any time now. (And I'm bad at pre-scheduling posts.) I'm just playing a waiting game!

In other news, I have officially joined the DSLR-owner club! Now I really really really need to learn how to shoot in manual. And work with RAW images. It's a learning curve, people. This will take practice.

For the weekend

The first snowfall of the season can be checked off the list! And on that note, I'm settling in for a cozy, warm, productive, stay-at-home-and-drink-hot-chocolate sort of weekend.

I will admit right now: I'm going to start putting up my Christmas decorations. Before you shake a finger at me, I'll just throw it out there that I normally wait until the day after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas... but I'm supposed to have a baby that weekend. I don't think I'll want to worry about decorations when I have a newborn. I pretty sure that's a legitimate excuse, so now I'm going to spend my weekend listening to dear Michael Buble's Christmas CD and adding a little holiday cheer to our home decor. And I will enjoy it.

Meanwhile, here are some posts for your personal weekend reading:

• One mom's thoughts on when a child's sickness messes up holiday plans (and that lamb costume is too cute!)
• Looking at this gorgeous quilt makes me want to be crafty and make my own
• This blogger put together a collection of free Christmas printables and I'm obsessed
• I was really intrigued by this post about the stigma of watching R-rated movies in the LDS church. Any thoughts from my Mormon readers?

SNOW! Oh wait...

Yes, we finally had snow here in Provo. However, that was a couple days ago and I'm just late on saying anything about it. So it's old news. All I know is that when I got home from trudging through the fresh snow back on Tuesday, I immediately threw on some comfy clothes, made some hot chocolate, and turned on a movie. So what if finals are in less than two weeks?! I'm a simple girl. Give me comfort on a snowy day and I will be happy.

In other news, my nail polish obsession is in full swing. I'm slowly getting better at doing things on my nails other than simply painting them all one color. It reminds me of my elementary school days where I would go to church every Sunday with a new design on my nails because I was obsessed with nail art. Well, I've found that obsession again. I'm just a bit (a lot) rusty.

And, for the record, I'm also obsessed with Julep nail polish. It just goes on so smoothly :)

I have been doing pretty good at keeping our apartment tidy... up until yesterday when I let the sink accumulate dishes and I decided to leave school supplies and my coat/gloves all over the couch. *Sigh... I was doing so well. At least my refrigerator has a friendly face on it that keeps smiling no matter what state my apartment is in!

These pictures are courtesy of Instagram, now that I actually (finally) have an account. I'm still new to the whole "Instagramming" thing so there aren't many pictures on my account yet, but you can still follow along!

There are only two weeks left until this semester is completely over with. Not that I'm counting or anything. The next couple weeks shouldn't be too bad though. I've been keeping all of my projects under thumb.

I have some fun things to look forward to, though! We have the BYU Ballroom Dance Company closing social to attend tonight, and it will be full of fancy clothes, yummy food, a live band, and lots of dancing. I'm getting a haircut (and I still don't know exactly what I want! GAH!). Next week I'll be performing a Viennese Waltz routine with my ballroom team at a Social Dance Lab. I'm singing in a trio this Sunday for church and then in another trio next Sunday. We have our ward Christmas party next Saturday at Aspen Grove. Also, I'm going to have the most awesome Christmas vacation ever. I won't say too much yet... spoilers! :)

I love the holiday season. So. Much.
Have I mentioned that?
So. Much.
I also eat way too much chocolate for my own good. But that's another story.

Fall decor, please and thank you

I've finally been cracking down on cleaning. Because my apartment is (finally) back to "company-ready" status, I've allowed myself to put up a framed autumn word print, some handmade yarn-ball acorns, a "happy fall" pennant banner, and even an extremely cute thick wicker pumpkin, in addition to my autumn floral arrangement I put out last weekend. I will withhold my actual Halloween decorations until October is actually here. It's taking some restraint though, people, let me tell ya. Now I just need to go buy a bunch of those cute, mini pumpkins and I'll be good to go!

A cleaner apartment and fall decorations, combined with going to lunch with my Grandparents today before they head off to Winter Quarters, Nebraska for a 1.5 year mission for my church, made a good Saturday. And I didn't touch my homework. The only assignment I think I have is reading Antigone... that's not too complicated.

Fall is here to stay. It's about time! Happy Fall, everyone!

Halloween Wreaths and Stuff

First things first... are the falling leaves on my blog too much? Haha, I was having fun with finding animations...

Out of all the crafts I keep saying I want to do (but never get done), this is one that I've actually made:

You'd be surprised what you can come up with when you just put a bunch of different things on a wreath. Now I need to come up with a cute fall one and start thinking of Christmas ideas!

I just wish that I could put a hook on the door that's less obvious... but what can you do when you live in an apartment with a metal door?!

We've been having fun with cobwebs in our apartment.

But I have some cute stuff set up as well...

But mostly, we just have creepy stuff. Like this skeleton salt/pepper holder sitting on our lazy susan on our table.

Or these skeletons hanging from nooses on a rope attached to our smoke detector.

So yeah. Spiderwebs and skeletons.
I need to put candy corn in cute vases or paint some mini pumpkins. There are so many opportunities for fun, cute crafts and decorations during October...

Do you guys have any fun (and relatively cheap) fall decorating suggestions?

Huge ol' bag of M&Ms

My ward (aka, church congregation) decided to have an indexing competition during the month of August.

For those of you who don't know what indexing is: You look at images of old death certificates, birth certificates, war registration cards, etc. that have been scanned onto the computer and copy the information from these pictures into a huge online genealogy database.

It's strangely addicting.

Long story short, one M&M was put in a bag for every name that was indexed.
My ward did over 1,100 names.
The person who indexed the most names would take all the M&Ms.

Guess who won.

These will keep my desire for chocolate in check for quite some time!

Chocolate is not the only reward for indexing, though. I think it is wonderful to know that I am helping to preserve the records of thousands and thousands of people. It's family history work at its finest!

On another note... some fall colors are slowly creeping into my home. I am excited to improve my decoration skills! (Let's face it... I am not the most creative person. I hope to change that!)

Hooray for decorating on a newlywed college student budget!