I’ve been wanting to post about Birdie’s nursery for ages, since i did so many DIY projects whilst putting it together, but as per usual, life gets in the way! Now that our littlest love is a toddler, her room is starting to change and become less of a nursery and more of a kids room. Cue tears from Meg. So i’m glad I got some snaps of it before we started moving things around.
One of the very first things i made was the kitty ottoman to use with my rocker (originally blogged here) and it was ridiculously useful. I couldn’t be happier with that ottoman. Though, after a year of it propping up my feet while nursing it is well and truly a bit beat up now. It definitely needs a bit of spot clean here and there, and the embroidery needs some repair. I guess theres a lesson in that – embroidery does not last well under feet!
Since we are completely sentimental and unable to throw out anything that our babies have touched, we brought all our nursery furniture from the US with when we moved back to Perth. Which means all three of our loves have used the same crib, change table and rocker. That makes me so happy somehow!
This time i was able to tackle a project i have wanted to do since before Bunny was born. Our change table and crib are Cherry wood, but at the time we couldn’t find a rocker glider that matched and was in our price range. I was pretty thrilled to find our rocker in a thrift store ($40 WHOOP WHOOP!), and had plans to refinish the wood with a darker stain – but never got there before Bunny’s birth. I made the cushion covers before Bunny was born, and i felt like they still worked well in Birdie’s nursery, so i didn’t change them.
Here’s a little look at the before and after of my rocker. Like an insane women high on hormones, i obviously tackled this project when i was hugely pregnant with Birdie. Because hand sanding and staining an entire rocking chair totally makes sense with a huge belly hehehe.
But all in all, it was a really enjoyable project with Buddy by my side being my assistant.
But i think my favourite part of Birdie’s room is her feature wall.
Back when Bunny and Buddy were babies we lived in a much bigger house, and had the plan of the keeping the nursery quite neutral (see here) – but now that we are quite settled here in Perth, we decided to give each childs room an individual personality and more permanence. Which of course meant i let myself go nuts painting a feature wall when i was pregnant hahaha. Am i the only woman who goes crazy doing DIY projects when pregnant?
I absolutely fell in love with this feature wall and wanted to recreate something similar in pink. I really loved how the stripes weren’t perfectly spaced or symmetrical. They remind me of feathers!
I started by painting the wall rose pink – which hilariously was not the initial colour i intended, as i misremembered the colour at the hardware store and ended up with a much darker shade than i had planned. But you know what? I love it more now! Then i planned out my stripes using painters tape. I did the vertical stripes first then angled ones. I went pretty slowly doing a little bit here and there, but it really wasn’t a very hard project at all. It’s actually the thing people comment on the most in our home, so i feel pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Other things i made were the tissue paper pom poms hanging from the ceiling. I really love them, and used this super simple tutorial from Martha Stewart.
And because i just can’t say no to pom poms i added some pom pom trim to Birdie’s curtains which you can just faintly see. I really need to fix the gathers at the top of her curtains because they are just too messy and it drives me crazy hehe.
I also made the little cloud and raindrop wall hanging – which as inspired by this one that was no longer available.
A little garland made from some of my favourite fabric scraps. Though i’m starting to dislike it a bit and am thinking about substituting it with this lovely Zilvi garland.
The shadow box is just the wooden box from a Melissa and Doug music set hehe – i really want to replace it with one of these gorgeous house shadow boxes at one point.
The rope bowls are still one of my favourite makes, you can read about it here if you like.
Other things in Birdie’s nursery that i adore:
- This fox art print by Sweet Reverie on Society6.
- Her Decoylab Fawn clock which is even more gorgeous in real life (please don’t buy the knock off version from Kmart, the design has been stolen and the designer has really suffered)
- Heico gold toadstool nightlight. We loved Bunny’s rabbit nightlight so much that we got this one for Birdie too – i love it, but unfortunately it’s a bit too bright. I think the plastic must be a bit thinner than the rabbit or something? Regardless, it’s really beautiful – hand made and painted in Germany.
- The rocking doll crib is a thrift store find from when we lived in Iowa. It needs a paint refresh, but i kind of like the scuffed appearance!
- The vintage kitchen cupboard. I should have taken a close up photo because i adore it. It was my Ouma’s and it’s now been through four generations of women in my family!
- The walking girl picture (also should have taken a close up!) is a painted and embroidered piece that my Granny made. I have two pieces from her that she made for me when i was a child, and i’ve given one to each of my girls.
- The Oxfam fairtrade collapsible baskets for her toys.
I still really want to find her a nice rug, but i think i’m going to wait a bit until inspiration hits! It’s always so sad to see your babies grow out of their nurseries, and though i’ve loved her room like this, i’m really excited about changing it up into a more toddler friendly (child proofed!) space for playing in.
