A nursery in the making!

I have a vision.  That is all it is right now is a vision, but I did make some purchases today that make my vision more of a reality.  I'm REALLY  EXTREMELY excited about it, too!

When I became pregnant with little #3, I desired to make the bedding set for the crib.  We kept the gender a surprise, so I searched and searched for the perfect, gender neutral fabric.  After finding one I loved, I priced it out----> It would have cost me nearly $200 to buy the fabric amount I needed for the nursery.  Not to mention the time it would take to make it.  Boo.  I could buy a set that I liked for less than that & not spend the time & energy of sewing one.  Sure it wouldn't be as personal, but it would work!

Then, the move (#6) happened & we didn't have a room that could be dedicated to the nursery.  Currently, H sleeps in our room in the pack-n-play & the crib is in her sisters room- not really functional.  Right now the crib just serves as a storage bin for gifts we have received, my Moby wrap, and other miscellaneous items.

But....I have a vision.  :)

I didn't want to do a traditional "girly" nursery in pinks & purples.  N has that & I love it, but I didn't want to do it again.

N's room in Iowa before I got her headboard finished

 I decided I wanted more of a color scheme than a theme room.  I also have always loved the French country look & took that idea and ran with it.

First, I found a bedding set that I liked & was neutral enough that I could add the touches I wanted to.  Its gingham & red (my favorite color).  Here is what it looks like off the website image-  *note the crib in the picture is the same crib we have, only in black instead of the wood finish we have.*  (Yes, it is a drop side crib.  Yes, I am aware that these type of cribs have been recalled.  No, I am not going to purchase a brand new crib for baby #3 when I know this one is safe & I have checked all the parts to make sure they function properly)

The bedding set comes with the quilt, fitted sheet, and bumper.  (does anyone actually use those silly diaper holders, anyways??)  The crib skirt could be purchased separately, but that was TOO much gingham for me.  

I decided I wanted to make the crib skirt & curtains in a toile fabric.  I found several different fabrics that were red toile, but just not right for a nursery.  I didn't want it to be too stuffy & adult, I wanted it to be fun & child like.  Then I found this:

Covington Over The Moon fabric.  

Isn't it perfect??!!   It still gives me the French Country feel I want, with the toile I want, but the toile is covered in nursery rhyme characters such as Humpty Dumpty, The cow that jumped over the moon, Peter Horner, Mary Mary (quite contrary), and more.  Plus it has accents of sage green- the other color I wanted to incorporate into the room.  YAY me!!

The other project will be turning our pine computer armoire into a clothing storage component for the room.   

This is pretty close to what the armoire we have actually looks like.  But, it won't look this way for long.  I plan on painting it- probably an antique white & adding an antique glaze medium.   :)

The walls in the room are currently a very light gray.  One wall is a chocolate brown. (Not my doing).  I'm going to leave it for now & if it doesn't look right, I will consider painting the room.  I'm not a fan of painting rooms.  We did a LOT of painting in our last house & while it was a huge improvement over what was there, its a pain!

Now if we could get the basement finished faster so that N can move downstairs & I can put my plans into action.  I hope it turns out as well as I have envisioned! 

I'm linking to:

Glass Front Cabinet Transformation.

This project isn't recent.  Its not even one I did in the current house we are living in.  But, it was an easy solution & it worked wonderfully!

In my last kitchen, I had a glass front cabinet.  It was over the desk area in the kitchen, and while I loved it- it lacked character.  When we moved into the kitchen, the cabinets and the walls were white.  White on white.  I like the white on white look, but it wasn't working in this kitchen.  My first project to add character to the kitchen was this one.

Here is the cabinet- before changes:

See??  No character.  My white dishes looked very blah and sad inside this cabinet.  Here is what I decided to do.

First I measured my cabinet.  Specifically I measured the back space of each shelf.  Then I cut foam board to that size.  It is just the super cheap foam board that you can find in the office section of any big box store or craft store.  Nothing fancy. :)

Then I ironed my fabric to rid it of any wrinkles.  The fabric I chose matched a striped fabric that I planned to use for cornice boards in the dining room (they never happened, but that is the problem with moving every 2 years! Grr!)

I then cut the fabric to the size of the foam board with about an inch overhang on all sides.  Originally I planned to use spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the foam board, but I decided that I wanted to have the option of changing the fabric without having to re-cut the foam board every time.  So...I got out the handy dandy duct tape.  You can't go wrong with that stuff!

Here is the front of a finished panel:

The next part is simple.  Simply slide the panels into place in the cabinet.  Mine fit snugly since I made them the exact size, so I didn't feel the need to add any fasteners, but if I had, I probably would have used velcro.
Finished look (before we changed out cabinet hardware- please excuse the tacky, cheap, gold knobs)

Much better!  My white dishes pop now & it has character.  Here is the cabinet after we painted the kitchen & added the new hardware (2 weeks before moving. *sigh*).  Hopefully someone buys our house soon & enjoys that beautiful kitchen & dining room as much as I did.

once again a before & after:

Have a wonderful Monday!