Shabby Chic Girls Nursery

*** As seen on On to Baby! *** Finally, we had a GIRL!!! I had the best time styling and decorating Kennedy’s nursery! I went with a  Shabby Chic feel.  I didn’t want her room to be too baby-ish either! I know you may not believe this, but I did NOT paint the room PINK. Shocker, I know! I actually went with a nice warm gray tone. In fact, all of my bedrooms are one shade of gray or another. What can I say, I LOVE the color gray! Check out Kennedy’s Shabby Chic Nursery.

I am sort of a nut. If I think I can make something for cheaper than I can buy it, I do! Many of the items in Kennedy’s room were DIYs. Hang in there, this post is going to be jam-packed with information!!! Are you ready?

Let’s start with her crib. . .when I had Skyler almost 8 years ago, we had a white crib. When Jackson came along, I was dying to have a black crib. We used the same black crib with Emerson too. In fact, click here if you want to check out what it use to look like. This time, I knew the black would be too harsh with the color palette I picked, so we (meaning my darling husband) painted it an antique white color. I just love how it turned out. Plus, all we had to do was pay for paint (see below for resources).

At the same time, we also painted Kennedy’s “dresser.” I am not a fan of changing tables. We have a two story house and I am normally downstairs. After we had Jackson, I decided that I never used a changing table, so why buy one. Due to our lack of closet space, I knew I needed something to hold all of Kennedy’s clothes. We were shopping at Goodwill and I found this amazing piece. It was only $75 and made of solid wood. You should have seen Lincoln’s face when I told him this was what I wanted to buy. I am sure he thought I was crazy, but I was several months pregnant and he knew better than to argue with me! I had seen a VERY similar item via Pinteret on a blog, Antiques for Lindsay, that I used as my inspiration. I can’t even tell you how many times I referred to Pinterest while working on her room. How did we live without it?

We had to make a few minor,  or major changes to it. As you can see, we painted it! I just love the color. We also replaced the majority of the hardware. Some of it I really liked and some of it, like the hinges, we couldn’t find anywhere. I just ended up spray painting the hinges, screws, and the decorative plates that were on the doors. I also got rid of the terrible glass and replaced it with regular glass. This made a HUGE difference. I didn’t like the spindels in the top middle section either. I’m guessing they were suppose to hold plates, but I hated them. I had Lincoln whack them out with a crazy saw! I am beyond happy with how this turned out. What do you think?

Can you see what my next HUGE DIY was?

I really wanted to add some texture and have an amazing rug in her nursery. However, I didn’t want to pay upwards of $500-800 for one either. I was talking to my Mom about my dilema and showed her some pictures. She brilliantly suggested, “Why don’t you just make one. Those look like the rag rugs we use to make in the 70’s!” Duh, why hadn’t I thought of that? In hindsight, I am not sure this was a good decision, but hindsight is 20/20, right?

I immediately started googling “rag rugs” and other similar key words. I found several tutorials. Many of them used old t-shirts purchased at Goodwill that they cut up. The thought of putting my new baby on old grungy t-shirts wasn’t very appealing. I decided to just purchase brand new fabric instead. This in itself was a chore. One, I had no idea how much fabric I needed since I couldn’t find any measurements on the tutorials I followed. And second, none of the tutorials  made a rug as large as I did.

First, I found the pink fabric, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any more. Bummer! Now what? I decided to use the pink fabric as an inlay and choose another color. Alas, I settled on this off white jersey fabric. I was able to find a lot of it and it was something they stocked at JoAnn Fabrics so I knew that I could just go buy more whenever I needed it, or so I thought.

This rug took yards, and yards, and yards of fabric. I think I bought 25 yards, (No, that’s not a typo!) for the center part alone. If I had to guess, I think I purchased close to 45 yards of fabric. I am too nervous to add up all of my receipts, but I think that’s a pretty close estimate. After multiple trips to multiple JoAnn Fabrics I finally had enough fabric. Thankfully, I didn’t do this all on my own. I had several friends and family members who helped cut and latch and hook the fabric to the rug. I think this probably took me around a solid month to complete with all the help! I worked on it almost every day and some days for hours on end. Thank goodness for Netflix. I watched every season of One Tree Hill. Haha!

I will say, this rug was a HUGE undertaking. However, it allowed me to spend some quality time with friends and family, kept me distracted from the fact that Kennedy didn’t want to come out, and really created some fond memories.  Lincoln jokes that it will be a family heirloom and that she has to take it with her to college. If she does, she’s going to need a forklift because it weighs a TON!

My goal was to have this all completed before I went to the hospital (you know how type A I am)! On the morning of my scheduled induction, they called to tell me that they had to push back my induction time and my Mom and sisters came over and rallied to help me finish. The small hole in the upper right was all that was left. After we came home from the hospital, it took me like 2 hours to complete and it was FINALLY finished! Yowza! Here it is in all it’s glory!!!

Other DIYs that were not so involved include, the crystal mobile, button magnets, magnetic bulletin board, and headband stands (also used at my baby shower). None of these projects were nearly as involved or time consuming! They were actually super fun! I will post a link to all of the tutorials I followed at the end of this post.

For the button magnets, I had originally seen similar ones by Shugabee Lane. They sell 6 of them for $18, so if you don’t feel like making your own, then go buy theirs because they are super cute! I wanted to make a ton of them, so I just purchased several buttons in various sizes and colors (and got a few “vintage” ones from my Grandma), round magnets in a few sizes, and hot glued them together. It was that easy!

I also used Shugabee Lane lane for my inspiration for the magnetic bullatin board. I took an old frame, removed the glass, purchased some metal sheeting from Home Depot and trimmed it with metal sheers. Then I took my fabric, wrapped it around the metal sheeting (Careful! Use gloves because the edges are sharp!) and used some spray adhesive to keep it in place. I wasn’t super happy with the results because you could see some of the spray adhesive through the fabric. So, if anyone has a better trick for this, I would be curious to find out what you use. I didn’t worry about it too much though, since I knew I was going to be putting pictures and magnets all over it!

When I was planning out Kennedy’s nursery, I found this adorable bedding set, but it was like $300-$400. Thankfully, I have a fabric ninja, my dear friend Julie, who can always track down any fabric I’m looking for. She found a seller on Etsy that sold the same fabric. Did I also mention that Julie is the best seamstress I know? She always does an amazing job sewing anything I need. She did the drapes in Kennedy’s nursery, the duvet cover (we bought a Pottery Barn insert), and the matching pillows for her chair. She’s also the brains behind the DIY headband towers with the sewn fabric sleeve too. I’m lucky to know talented ladies.

Speaking of talented ladies. I LOVE my Vintage Distressed “Kennedy” sign that my BFF, Laura made for me. This was also propped up at my baby shower. It is the perfect compliment to Kennedy’s nursery. So, the only thing that I think is missing is a picture to the left of the sign. What do you think? I am thinking of having one for Kennedy’s newborn pictures (maybe the one used on the front of her birth announcement) enlarged and hung there, but I just don’t know. . . HELP, please!!!

Here are a few more photos in case you haven’t already seen enough!!

Please contact me with any questions or comments!  Thanks you guys! I hope you love Kennedy’s nursery as much as I do!!!

*****

VENDOR CREDITS:
–Custom Bucket: Brodder’s Tubs
–Diaper Bag: Layla Grace
–Mirrored White Side Table: Target
–White Wash “Milk” Baskets: Target
–Sweet Dreams Ceiling Medallion: Marie Ricci
–Round White Mirror: HomeGoods
–Ornate Picture Frames on Wall Display:HomeGoods
– Round “K” Framed Letter: Layla Grace
– Off White “K”: Pottery Barn Kids
–Tea Set: Pottery Barn Kids
–Glass Headband Holder (on hutch top left): HomeGoods
–Picture Frames on Hutch: Target
–Headband Stands, Base: Pottery Barn
– Curtain Rod: Home Depot
– Headbands: LB Boutique

SUPPLIES FOR DIY PROJECTS:
– New Hardware for Dress/Hutch: Home Depot
–Glass for Hutch: Aloha Glass
–Fabric for Rag Rug, Papyrus Rayon/Spandex item number 400104933448, Reg. $12.99 per yard: JoAnn Fabrics
–Latch Hook Canvas: JoAnn Fabrics
– Buttons for Button Magnets: JoAnn Fabrics
–Fabric for Drapes, Pillow, Duvet: Modern Cloth, Sewn by: Julie of, Totes in Tow
– Metal Sheeting: Home Depot

DIY RESOURCES:
–Crystal Mobile: God Bless Our Nest
–Rag Rug or Latch and Hook Rug: Xoelle
–Headband Stand (inspiration): Ruffled Sunshine, Sewn by: Julie of, Totes in Tow

PAINT COLORS:
–Crib and Dresser Color: Home Depot BEHR- Name: Eggshell Cream, Base: 7050, Self-Priming Interior Satin Enamel (contact me if you need me to email you a photo of the label that they can scan)
– Bedroom Color: Home Depot BEHR:- Custom Color Match, Base:2400, Self-Priming Interior Eggshell Enamel (contact me if you need me to email you a photo of the label that they can scan)

GOODWILL, CRAIGSLIST, OR ANTIQUE/THRIFT STORES:
–Pink Ticking Chair: Craigslist, $75
– Chandelier: Craigslist, $75 Brand New: LampsPlus
– Silver Serving Trays: Goodwill, $3.99-$6.95
–Dress/Hutch: Goodwill, $75
–Vintage Chest: Monticello Antique Market, $25

PHOTO CREDIT (you can tell which ones were shot with my iPhone):
–Nursery Photos & Newborn Pictures by: Courtney Jade Photography