T-minus 12 (11?) Weeks and Counting

So! Here I am (Mom, and my one sister who might be reading this?). I didn't mean to stay away so long. I don't have much of an excuse beyond being busy and pregnant and kind of wimpy. Speaking of which, I'm having a baby in um, 12 weeks. At the most. I'll probably have to have an early c-section in 11 weeks. I'd better get this nursery business wrapped up so this child won't have to sleep in a drawer.

(My friend Mimi is having a girl at almost the same time, so we're going ahead with the Penny Carnival shower theme, and oh-em-gee, is it going to be cute. I can't wait to share pictures.)

I am having boy #2, and I still like most of the red and blue nursery I posted before, so I've forged ahead with that. A few things have changed my original ideas. The first: lack of space in this tiny room (9x10) means I can't fit a changing table AND a dresser in, so I decided to try to find a low and long dresser, the top of which will double as a changing table. I got a crazy deal on a mid-century-esque Basset dresser on Craigslist (thirty dollars!), and the finish was beat up enough for me not to feel guilty sanding and painting it. It currently has 5 coats of red high-gloss on it, out of the 342 that will apparently be necessary. Sigh.

(The dresser in the picture is not mine, but it represents what I hope mine will look like!)

The second thing that changed my plans around a bit was my discovery of the baby bedding virtual designer at Carousel Designs. After fiddling around with the fabrics, I realized I didn't care for all the brown and cream in my first choice of sock monkey fabric, but I loved the blue option. I tried breaking up the print of the bumper and the skirt with a red crib sheet, stuck everything in a crib that looks pretty similar to the one we already have, and I loved it.

Rather than shell out $500 to purchase everything custom, I found the Moda Funky Monkey fabric on fabric.com, ordered $40 worth, and set my mom to work worked with my saint-like mother to make everything. So far, we've (SHE'S) finished the bumper, and it is looking fantastic. I will say that the fabric is a little more vivid than it looked in most pictures I saw, but I'm going to temper that with a super-pale aqua on the walls, so the room isn't too monkey-crazy colors-frenetic.

So, the bedding and dresser are almost ready to be checked off the to-do list. One of the rugs has been purchased, but it's tiny, so I hope to find an identical one to put next to it. The rocker is probably a no-go (too expensive), so I'll need to recover the cushions from Graham's glider (probably in red microfiber), and the $100-plus light fixture will probably end up being some sort of DIY effort (hold me). The book shelf pictured is similar to one I already have (that's followed me around since college), and I have bought the little cube bins to go inside. I'll feel better when I slap some paint on the walls in there.

1. Light shade, Schoolhouse Electric. 2. Bookshelf, generic image via Google to match my ancient Target Dolce bookshelf. Storage cubes, Closetmaid via Target. 3. Mid-Century Rocker, Urban Outfitters (on sale!). 4. Rug, Ikea Sveje (out of stock EVERYWHERE, but I managed to find ONE on eBay. Still hunting for a mate). 5. Crib image generated via Carousel Designs' virtual baby bedding designer using Moda Funky Monkey fabric in blue. 6. Alphabet prints, FinnyandZook, via Etsy. 7. Dresser inspiration from Red Modern Furniture. Lamp inspiration (similar to old Target lamps I already own), Robert Abbey via StyleCaster. Pin It