Moving into an old house, I knew that part of the planning process would be a nursery transformation in our first floor guest bedroom. Out with the old, and in with the new! The original room was quite a bit outdated. It didn’t feel very homey, and it didn’t feel like a comfortable space to have a baby in. When I found out we were expecting, I knew that the nursery needed a new look before the baby arrived.
Step one, was repainting the walls. Getting rid of the old wallpaper on the east wall was a slow task. Thank goodness, my mom was here to help check that off the list. She steamed the wall to loosen the paper and then peeled it all by hand. After we got that out, and we took the old shelving down, we were ready to repaint the walls.
Woodland Forest, Our Nursery Theme
From the photos it may not seem much different, but the original was very creamy. Now, it’s a blue gray. And check out this mural that we painted! Let me tell you, that was a struggle. We bought Pittsburgh Paint from Menards and hopped to work. Thankfully, my mother-in-law helped with the mountains. Later, my best friend (and one of my bridesmaids!) helped finish the trees and added in a little of Lookout Mountain in the top right.
From the photos it may not seem much different, but the original was very creamy. Now, it’s a blue gray. And check out this mural that we painted! Let me tell you, that was a struggle. We bought Pittsburgh Paint from Menards and hopped to work. Thankfully, my mother-in-law helped with the mountains. Later, my best friend (and one of my bridesmaids!) helped finish the trees and added in a little of Lookout Mountain in the top right.
Honestly, that was one of the biggest successes of the nursery transformation! I drew inspiration from a few different Pinterest ideas that I saved, and we kind of winged it from there.
But I think I got ahead of myself. MOM BRAIN! Backing up, step two was removing that hideous carpet. Not only was it hideous, it was also really dirty and stained. I cannot tell you how much work went into it.
Isaac did such an amazing job! After tearing out the carpet, we found out the original hardwood floor was in really great condition. It actually lead to us tearing the carpet out on the whole first floor (with the exception of the dining room… I am sure I will have a post for that later on!). From there, Isaac sanded down the floor, twice. Sanded the edges. Then, applied a simple finish, twice to preserve the natural color.
Next Steps in the Nursery Transformation
After what seemed like forever, it was really simple to finish the room. The walls and the floor were the biggest transformation. Part of the painting that I missed discussing before was the closets. We were blessed with some of the deepest closets I have ever seen! Apart from walk-ins of course… but to give the room more of an open look to it, we removed the doors and repainted the insides to match the walls.
- My dad took the crib and changing table and refinished them. They used to be a dark color, but he tore the pieces apart, sanded them down, and covered them in four(ish) layers of white paint.
- We removed the blinds and replaced them with gray blackout curtains. SHOUTOUT to my mother-in-law again. She took the time to hem them up to the best length for the room!
- We placed all the items in the room and hung the clothes.
Some of my favorite nursery items:
- 5-Piece Crib Bedding Set
- Our Owlet Security Camera
- The Diaper Genie!!!
Truthfully, I love it all. I feel like my thoughts are all a blur and I may be a bit scatter-brained, but the last few months of getting this room ready was such a combined effort from everyone. Both sides of the family helped with one thing or another!
