A Labor of Love: Stella Rose's Nursery
One of the best parts of being pregnant was getting the nursery ready. I love anything and everything to do with home decor, so this was really fun for me. I don’t have an exact “theme”, but there is a color scheme of light pinks, grays, and shades of gold. When we moved into our house, we had all the bedrooms painted with Sherwin Williams’ Repose Gray. Since that was less than a year there was no need to repaint and I love how this color works with the blush and gold undertones. There are also a lot of elephants because I think they are so damn cute! At the end of the post I included a list for each item with a corresponding link for convenient and easy online shopping!
It is important to note that we made this work on a budget. As you can imagine it is easy to get carried away. Pottery Barn Kids’ website alone will make you bankrupt. Before you buy anything I recommend having an idea of where you will get your important, must-have items such as your dresser, crib, mattress, and rocking chair.
These are all items you want to ensure are built well especially the crib and the chair. Luckily my in-laws bought us both the crib and the mattress for a baby shower gift. Next to the chair, those were the most expensive items in the nursery.
{Here is a tip: even if you think people may not want to buy you these big picture items (crib, chair etc) put them on your registry anyways. It cannot hurt and in some ways is helpful for family members who want to go in on a gift for you.}
Another great budget tool: Amazon Prime! Most of this room was actually furnished by Amazon. I also recommend doing your baby registry with Amazon, but I will go into more depth on this in a separate post.
The crib (pictured below) is from PBKids. Their cribs are a little on the pricier side, but your baby is sleeping in this thing. Why try to cut costs here? You want something built well. Besides I love all of their designs.
The Mattress s made with organic cotton from Naturpedic which is also available on Amazon . One side is for the infants and the other side is for toddlers, so it is a good investment. I did a lot of research on crib mattresses and this one came out #1. The sheets and the crib skirt are from PBKids. I wanted to go all out and get the crib bumper, blankets and a mobile etc. However I quickly learned that the crib is supposed to simply include a sheet for the safety of the baby. Through the many books I’ve read on sleep training, there are a couple that recommend keeping the crib “boring” absent of mobiles and toys as they need to familiarize the crib with sleeping only!
We decided to forgo wasting money on a changing table and use the dresser as a makeshift changing table too. I found the dresser on Ikea for $250! I wanted to add a more personal touch, so I bought pretty pink crystal knobs at Anthropolgie.
It took my husband 6 hours to put together, but for that price it was so worth it. Dressers can get super pricey. Save your money for something else like the nursery chair!
As for the changing table part, we registered for the Summer Infant Contoured Changing Pad and the Summer Infant Ultra Plush Changing Pad Cover. We used a rug pad underneath that grips to the dresser well.
The dresser is on the larger side but it is great for storing everything. I bought these Ikea Drawer Storage Organizers which work perfectly for diapers and all the changing supplies such as diaper cream etc.
I am also using them to organize all of her socks, hats, bibs, burp cloths, and newborn onesies.
As I mentioned previously we splurged on a nice rocking chair and ended up with the Charleston Convertible Rockerfrom PBKids. I did research other brands, models and styles but found a lot of them to be too stiff and frankly uncomfortable. When I tested this rocker, I was instantly sold. If what everyone tells me is true, Stella and I will be spending a lot of our time in this chair, so it is important to me that it’s comfortable. The great thing is PBKids always has sales, so be on the lookout for those.
I get so many compliments on this rug ! When I tell people it was under $100 they don’t believe me. We ordered it on Amazon for $82, in distressed blush, size 5×7. I really think it ties the whole room together. Don’t you love when you find steals like that?? The Bookcase and the Nightstand are also under $100 ordered directly through Amazon Prime. What did we do before Amazon? It is so easy to find an inexpensive version of anything on your wish list. Each piece was easy to put together (I even did the end table myself), and they are sturdy too.
As for the mirror, I had my eye on this one from Target for a while. I love how it adds a gold touch to the room. The wall art is from Minted.com. I order the elephant print framed. For the other two heart paintings I only ordered the prints and bought plain white frames from Amazon to save some $$. It worked out well. I recommend that because the frames from Minted can get pricey.
Lastly, the light fixtures! I had fallen in love with this scalloped white flush mount light fixture from PBKids. It is perfect for a little girl’s room. It is a subtle detail, but those are what make a room complete. (#worthit) The dresser lamp is actually Kate Spade that I found on CLEARANCE for $24. It was originally $125. The blush and gold tones work perfectly in the room. It took me forever to find the right lamp. At one point I had bought 4 different lamps because none of them looked “right”. It was driving Jeff nuts. So when I found this gem I was so happy and he was THRILLED the lamp fiasco was over. Sometimes you need to look around and do a solid search. Never settle if it doesn’t feel right.
There are still a few things I would like to add to the room and we will do over time. I really like this Monogrammed Wall Sign in white to put over her crib. Then we will add some more photos to the wall over the year as she starts to grow into a cute little toddler. (ah!)
This room was such a labor of love. Each time I added a new piece I would get more and more excited. Working on a budget can always present challenges, but it forced me to tap into my creative side.
Every detail, each piece of furniture was like finishing a puzzle. Now all we need is the last piece, our little Stella, to make it complete!
