Painting the Baby Room


When I decided to paint this room, I was only hoping that someday it would be my son's room. After months of trying I still wasn't even pregnant, well I think there is power in suggestion....not long after I started this room I was pregnant with our son..

I didn't really have a plan...I just sort of started painting...I knew I wanted a 2-tone room with a chair rail. I also had some ideas in my head from different baby magazines.
This is the room before...
My husband had is 'office' in the closet. Notice there are no shelves around the closet doors.
I chose a light blue and a dark blue. Two gallons of paint were about $20 each. I measured up the wall how high I wanted the bottom half and just marked a spot every foot. This allowed me to keep the line even when painting. The chair rail will cover where the paint meets so no need to be perfectly straight.
I bought this chair rail at Home Depot and painted it white. My lovely husband cut it to fit. I had to touch up a few spots where I didn't quite get the paint matched up.
Well then I decided that I wanted to add some stripes. I bought tape and another darker color.

I broke this step down into days because I just didn't have the patience to do it all at once. Taping is very time consuming and you want to take your time and do it right or the whole project just won't look nice. The tape I used was 2 inches wide. So I placed a strip then measured 2 inches then placed another strip then measured 6 inches all the way around the room. The 2 strips and the 2 inch gap equals 6 inches. So I had a 6 inch solid section and a 6 inch striped section. You MUST make sure your tape is sealed tight to the wall so paint doesn't seep under the tape.
As you can see in the photo, I used a darker blue for the 6 inch stripe and then just painted the light blue from the top of the wall in between the two strips of the 2 inch tape. You can use thinner or wider tape/more or less stripes for your look. Just have fun with it.I looked into buying some 'words on walls' but it was just too expensive for my taste. So my husband brought this projector home from work. I'm told that you can rent these from your library or college. I found a clip art of something I liked online, copied it to paint, changed the font and name and then printed it on some transfer paper. Then you just project it on to the wall and it will cast a shadow that you can trace with a pencil.
Pick your colors and try to color inside the lines:)
I found this dresser at a garage sale for $20, painted it white, put airplane knobs from hobby lobby on it and velcroed the changing pad to the top.
I have yet to build the toy box/window seat. I'm gonna have my husband make a box with a hindged lid. I will paint it white and put a blue pillow cushion on the top. A place for all the toys to go in, while we sit and look out the window.
My handy husband built these shelves around the closet. It saves space and isn't something my son will pull down on himself. This was done in an afternoon for less than $75.
This is my favorite thing that keeps the changing table smelling oh so fresh and clean!!! I wouldn't be without it.... you can get it here

My son absolutely LOVES this blanket. I love to buy homemade whenever possible and affordable. This is a steal for $10 plus shipping. Different colors and designs here and you can also ask about a monogram or personalizing.
I love his room and how it turned out....but I can't wait for Rains to come to me and say "This is a baby's room, I want a Big Boys room" and I get to do it all over again.
I will be blogging about every room so come back for the rest of the house.

Please see my left sidebar for all the wonderful places I'm linking up and for other great ideas!

http://poppiesatplay.blogspot.com/2010/04/parade-of-homes-linky-party.html







55 comments:

erin said...

very cute room design!

YayaOrchid said...

You have such a good eye for design and I'm so glad you shared your tutorial for painting. I LOVED the hint about the projector. People pay big bucks on those fancy Cricut machines, and I think you did something similar to what the machine does for next to nothing! Rains has a beautiful nursery!

YayaOrchid said...

p.s. Glad Rains likes his blanket! I look at his face and it just makes me smile!

Life is 5 Minutes Long said...

Very cute. He is too!

Amy Henderson said...

Nicely done! Inspiring! :)

ThinkFeminist said...

Your blog is amazing and very detailed too. Your son is grogeous!!!

This is Blessing from Safe Home Happy MOm following you from MBC/FFF. You do have great contents on your blog.

You can follow me back at www.safehomehappymom.com

Michell @ Girl In Air said...

Thank you for all the comments...I had so much fun painting his room and can't wait to blog about the rest of the house

karenmed409 said...

wow, fantastic job on the decorating!!.
Mom following from MBC

Great Blog

KatieBug said...

Following you from MBC ;)

Windthicket Fables said...

Oh, this whole room is precious! I just love it. I am TTC right now- it is taking forever! LOL!

i'm following you now from MBC

Richele McFarlin said...

The room is great but the baby is even more precious! Just so cute....the baby and the room! He totally deserves that room.

(hi, richele from Friends Following Friends...thanks for joining!)

JaelCustomDesigns said...

I Love It!

Following from MBC (FFF Club)!
you can find me at
http://www.jaelcustomdesigns.com

Carolee Hollenback said...

I am impressed! Very cute

Checking you out from MBC

Brittany at Mommy Words said...

Wow it looks great! I am a DIY girl myself and post my projects whenever I do them so I love this type of stuff. You should link up to some of the DIY parties out there in bloggyland!

Great blog and adorable family. I am now following from FFF on MBC!

Veronica Lee said...

WOW!
Hi Michell. Welcome to the FFF Club!

Book Lover said...

What a beautiful room! Your little one is pretty cute too ;)
Following from FFF ~Mandie
http://www.takingtimeformommy.com

Scarlet of Moms Wear Your Tees said...

Super nice job!! Wow. And what a cute baby!
I am following your blog now. If you want to check mine out it is http://www.momswearyourtees.blogspot.com
I found you on MBC, FFF.

Anonymous said...

That room is to die for!!! It could be right out of a magazine - so cute!

I am following you now from MBC!

Organic Motherhood with Cool Whip said...

Too cute!!! Thanks for sharing your whole process. I could never do something that awesome on my own. You are super talented. Following you now from FFF on MBC. Please visit me sometime too at organicmotherhoodwithcoolwhip.com

Genny said...

Following from MBC!

Love the painted room. So cute. :)

Unknown said...

Love the room! Following from MBC! Wish I was that creative!!! And your munchkin is adorable!! I love those cheeks!

Mayra said...

It turned out amazing!!! Great job!

Following from MBC. =)

PS. Your little one is a cutie.

Anonymous said...

You did a good Job, I like how you have the buy it here laid out. I was going to click on your Google ads but I didn't see any. I'll look again after I post this.
Matt A.

Roller Coaster said...

That room is adorable! You're very creative. Following you from MBC! Nice to meet you.

http://militaryspouserollercoasterride.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

WOW! It came out perfect - I love the shades of blue.

New follower from FFF at MBC :)

You can find me at

http://silversavings.blogspot.com

Ann Harrison said...

I am so inspired. Just beautiful work.

Found you through FFF on MBC!

Andrea said...

Very cute! Following MBC:-)
Andrea
http://andrea-newblog.blogspot.com/

Jennifer said...

The baby's room came out so nice. I striped my daighters room when she was born 8 years ago. it took days. Now she is a big girl and wanted a JOnas Brothers room

Gillian Behnke said...

Wow, this room is absolutely beautiful and I love the play by play! It's funny, when we first moved in I painted the second bedroom pale green. We knew one day it would be the 2nd baby's room, but we always thought we would only have boys. I wasn't pregnant yet, and the weird thing was I could only picture it with pink accents. Lo and behold when the time came, we had a girl!

Your blog is great and I've started following it. :)

Mine is at http://imfindingmyweigh.blogspot.com. Please come by and have a read!

Gillian

Mary said...

Stopping by from the Mom Bloggers Club. I LOVE what you did with your son's room. So adorable and it looks like it's straight out of a catalog!

By the way, I just became a follower of your blog, so I'll be back!

Tiffany said...

Really Cute! Yeah to find a new fun blog!
-Tiff

Francisca said...

Nice job I love the way your son's room turned out. God Bless your son, he's so adorable.

Be Colorful Coastal said...

Great space. I especially loved the shelves around the closet. I have done a lot of wall words. Some I have bought and some I have printed out and then used carbon paper while I traced them on the wall. Hey, whatever works - right? :)
Your post really took me back. We had difficulty getting pregnant the first time and it seemed like everyone around me was having a baby but us. Now as the mom of three almost grown kids I realize it was always in the plan just not on the schedule I had in mind. I am now redoing rooms as my babies leave for life and college. I am posting mine too but it is slow going. I do look forward to seeing the other rooms in your home. Keep it coming and keep me inspired.
Pam

Unknown said...

You need your own HGTV show :-) your son is a cutie pie!

Jennifer said...

OMG what a cute little boy ! Smile God Blessed You So much with him. - Smile

cocoamommy said...

OMG, I wanted to fly over to sleep in his room. It is so precious and so is your little boy. The room is so cozy and I love the stencils on the wall. I never thought about doing those; you just gave a decorating idea. Peace & Blessings to you and your family.

Artsnark said...

Gorgeous room! Lucky boy.


Stopping by from MomBloggers

chris said...

What a transformation. I love what you did with your baby room. Great job.

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

Please come paint and decorate my house! that is an AMAZING ROOM! I will feature this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com. Grab my "featured" button.

Jess said...

You did such a great job! Come stop by my Favorite Things Friday Party if you would like to join in!

* The Design Confidential said...

I love this project. I would love to catalog it in my PROJECT: LIBRARY. Will you send me the link to your post via email? rayanturner@gmail.com, I know my readers will love having this tutorial linked up!

Kendra@My Insanity said...

Very cute! Love how the stripes turned out!

Maryann @ Domestically-Speaking said...

I adore stripes and the "Sweet Dreams" is just perfect! Thanks for sharing at the POPP.

Magic Brush said...

What an adorable room! And stripes are so ambitious!

I am in the process of ordering one of those "expensive stencils" (I get a discount tho for ordering alot of them)....so I am SO proud of you for finding another way to do it. And I couldn't tell yours from one that was ordered! It looks perfect!!!!!

Great job! Come visit me at my painting blog sometime! Jennifer

NewlyParents said...

Very nice! You did a great job. We have a similar post on our site when we painted our baby's room. Check it out if you get a chance. We painted and took all the pictures about 6 months into our pregnancy so we didn't have all of the little items to fill it out.

Hope you like it!

http://www.newlyparents.com/2009/12/02/nursery-pictures/

Sharon said...

cute room and congrats on your son:)

Susan said...

Cutest room ever! Most adorable little boy ever!

restlessrisa said...

That room is absolutely adorable, and I love the shelves around the closet! Great idea! :)I am visiting from p@p.

<3

Risa

Andy Porter said...

What a great room! I love that you started creating it before you were even prego with that cute little guy!! He is ADORABLE by the way!! I love that you did so much of the room yourself!! The sweet dreams sign turned out so well!! I love the stripes too! The hubs did such a great job with the shelving!! Everything came together really well! Thanks so much for linking to Poppies at Play!

chris said...

Nice paint job. I have a place in my home that I would like to do stripes. I heard this tip, but haven't tried it yet, where you glaze the edges of the tape. It dries clear and then you paint over it and the edge is sealed.
Rains is so cute, I love his chubby hand and his round face! My guy was 9.9 and was always so chubby. Now he is 13 and tall and skinny!
Thanks for sharing all your hard work.

Michelle @ Sweet Something Design said...

What a cutie pie! I love the detail of his room and the stripes are awesome! Great job!

Leanne said...

What a sweet room. You did such a beautiful job and what a cute little guy.

Carol said...

FIrst, he's an adorable little boy! Second, what a cute room filled with great ideas! Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's so awesome, I have been working on my son's room since before we moved in, although I was pregnant at the time so I couldn't do it all myself.

Sean V.

Blue Artichoke Interiors said...

Michell,
Before I went back to design school, I had my own business painting murals, faux finishing, stenciling, etc. but mostly children's rooms. I wanted to say "Well Done" on your beautiful little boy's sweet room.
P.S. There is a little trick to getting the perfect line with paint, no seeping. If you are curious, please conact me and I'll share!

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