When I was pregnant, my favorite thing to do was shop. I mean, you find out that you're expecting a baby and it's like a natural impulse to just start looking, pricing stuff out, and buying all the fun baby stuff. As much as I loved it (and I did) it gave me severe anxiety! (I think my anxiety was heightened during my pregnancy in general) I felt like everything I found was so expensive! And kept thinking "How, in the world, do people afford a child?!" So I decided to get creative. Of course, I scoured Pinterest for ideas and different things to make her room unique and still pretty.
After looking and looking, I finally decided to do neutrals with some light pink accents in it. I did not, personally, like any hot pink or bright colors or character themes for my baby's room. Just not for me. If she gets older and wants a hot pink Hello Kitty bedroom, then by-golly she'll get that. But, the rest of our house will be neutrals. Luckily, when we bought our house all the walls were a nice beige color, so I didn't have to do any painting in that sense. I like white. I like things to look clean. And it's not TOO girlie.
I don't know about you guys, but I very rarely buy anything brand new (with strict exceptions - like mattresses and undies). If I can't find it at a thrift store or yard sale, then it better be on one heck of a sale for me to buy it from a department store. The very first thing I purchased for her room was her changing table. My mom and I were looking around the Salvation Army, I still felt like it was a little too much at $30 but my mom said she thought it was a nice piece and she was right when she said it would go with most anything else we decided to put into the room. So, it came home with me.
Now that I have it and use it every single day, multiple times a day, I'm so glad I bought it. It's in perfect condition and has been a champ! It's a baby, diaper, wipes, basket, toy holding machine. I pondered with the thought of taking the wheels off, but my husband was adamant about keeping them on and, again, I'm glad I did. Makes moving it when the baby throws her pacifier and vacuuming underneath it muchhh easier! Once I got it, I knew I didn't want to keep it the same color, so I scrubbed it down, let it dry, sanded it down really good, and painted it with a this paint I got in the mistints at Walmart for a project prior to this one that I purchased for $5. Let it dry overnight and painted a second coat. And I think it's perfect. Don't you?
Then, while frantically searching for a dresser for her room, my mom informs me that she has a dresser that I used as child at the house, still. She asked me if I wanted to use it and of course I said yes! I'm a sucker for all things sentimental. So, she brought that over and, lo and behold, it was perfect! Did the same thing with the dresser that I did with the changing table, by scrubbing it down, sanding it, then painting it with the same paint. Then with the hardware I used my favorite spray paint (Rustoleum on them, I put them in a small box (I had just moved so it was perfect) and once over did the trick just fine.
(Borrowed this picture thanks to Google)
And this is the finished project:
Its nice because the drawers are nice and deep, and it's extremely sturdy.
Now the crib I did purchase new from Target, mostly because it was getting closer and closer to when she was supposed to arrive and I could not find one on Craigslist or Facebook yard sale pages that I liked enough to redo. And my husband didn't want me to be out in the garage sanding and painting, sweet guy. But don't tell me what to do! Just kidding. Then the whole idea of her chewing on the rails eventually, and that scared the mess out of me thinking of her eating paint! So, yea. After the baby shower, we got a couple gift cards to Target, so that's what we put the money towards. The mattress and the bed set we received as a gift at the baby shower. And the "mobile" my sister made for me with a wreath wire, burlap, 40lb fishing line, and decorative diamonds. Pretty easy to make. Not so easy to hang up..
Well, that's about it. For these few things I tallied a little over $100. Not too bad, right?!
I'll do another post about the rest of the stuff I got for my daughter and how I stayed under $200 total! I found my way of keeping my spending low. And I am about that life. Also, I will be sharing with you my whole labor experience. That will be an interesting one. Stay tuned!
Thanks guys.
