Okay, I know I did this forever ago...but this was such a HUGE project I just have to share it.
Before we had Gabe, I didn't bother decorating his room at all. I don't know what I was thinking. Actually, yes I do...I was thinking "we are too poor to do anything with his room". So I left the walls blank and bought some ugly winnie the pooh crib sheets at the thrift store for $8 and that was it. Poor Gabe.
Well I hated how ugly Gabe's room looked whenever I went in there so a YEAR after Gabe was born, yes, I said a YEAR, I went to Joannes, bought some wood letters and animals and paints (all for well under $10) and stuck them above his crib: simple and cute.
Then Gabe got some picture frames with the jungle theme (I decided jungle theme because his pack n play was jungle them and I hate winnie the pooh) for his birthday and I hung those up. And then I hung up some pictures of his one-year portraits. Then I drew some jungle animals on foam board and cut them out and stuck them above his dresser.
That was it for a long time and then I went crazy and decided the entire room needed to be redone-- and those darn hideous winnie the pooh sheets just had to go. This was especially important since we were going to have a new baby and they would have to share a room because we don't have enough bedrooms.
I seriously REDID his
entire bedroom. I got rid of a book shelf, took out the craft stuff I had in some plastic drawers and put the drawers in the closet, filled them with Elisa's clothes and put all the craft stuff in a long box that fits underneath our bed. I also reorganized his entire closet, packed up his pack n play, and eventually put his twin bed in place of the pack n play. I searched everywhere for a changing table and found on on craigslist for $20 that match the furniture perfectly. Sounds simple just writing it down. NO. You have know idea just HOW LONG this project took me! It took
months just cleaning and organizing his room.
Several reasons why: The place was a mess. I hated having the pack n play up because it was too easy for me to be lazy and just throw stuff in there. Or in his closet. Or on top of the bookshelf. Then there was the craft drawers-omg..it was so unorganized and I had to organize it ALL-seriously, it was a DISASTER! Also, I had a big tummy so it was difficult to keep bending down and getting back up again. But the main reason was this: it was Gabe's room--Gabe slept in there. So, I couldn't clean his room while he was sleeping for obvious reasons. Thus I had to clean it while Gabe was awake. And, as many of you know who have toddlers, cleaning is a two steps forward, one step back process. I would clean up one part of the room while Gabe would be busy undoing another part of the room I had just cleaned. So frustrating!
SoOOoo....with that done, I moved on to more fun things. And took care of that eyesore of a bedding. I looked and looked an looked for some cheap jungle theme crib sets that I liked. I looked online, in the stores, on craigslist...nothing worked for me. It was either WAY too expensive or not what I was looking for. Well, I was in Joannes (as usual) when I can across some adorable jungle theme boxes that matched perfectly with the rest of the room. I bought them, and I'm kicking myself for not buying more. Anyway, to make a long story short, Joannes, (and only Joannes) happened to have a line of fabric and home decor in that jungle theme I liked that was the same as the boxes I had bought previously (the boxes were part of the home decor). I was in heaven! So for around $30 I bought all the fabric and went to town on making the bedding (but most importantly ridding myself and the world of those offensive winnie the pooh sheets):
Out, out demons of tackiness!!
How convenient...I got to use the batting from the pooh crib bumpers. I
very much enjoyed tearing up the winnie the pooh fabric, just so you know.
Yeah...I'm crazy. It bugs me when things don't match so I bleached around the edges of the orange fabric so it would look like the tiger in the fabric.
Gabe enjoyed helping me. I didn't use a pattern for this but it miraculously turned out pretty good!
All done!
Gabe's bed. I bought the bedding at walmart (jungle theme of course)--$20 for all of it! Except the bed skirt. I made the bed skirt. It was the most boring sewing project I have EVER done. I bought the crib rails for $10 at Other Mothers.
The other side of the room. I also made a shadow box to hold a few mementos of Gabe's babyhood.
In short, I decorated Gabe's room for just over $100. Not too bad, considering crib sheets alone cost that much. It pays to look around and do it yourself! And to have wonderful in-laws that will give you a crib, dresser, and bed! I will not mention, however, the hours spent redoing his room and making everything. Whew. I'm so glad his room his cuter and more organized. I'm proud of me for doing it pregnant AND all by myself. Well, not exactly all by myself. Erik did vacuum the room.
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