Monday, November 29, 2010

Toddler Garden Room

Little G's room was desperate for a makeover. I made the mistake of decorating her nursery far too...babyish (I'm sure you know what I mean) so I started planning a new, more big girl room for her. If you're pregnant and planning a nursery my #1 advice is to not decorate the room for an infant. Newborn goes to toddler in a blink of an eye so try and make the room a place that baby can grow into.

I took inspiration from the Pottery Barn catalogs I've received over the past few months and from HGTVs Rate My Space site to create this space for my precious 2 year old.

She LOVES birds so I knew I had to incorporate them somehow. I had a very small budget so several of the projects are DIY and pretty much everything new was either on clearance or bought with a coupon.

Here's how it turned out....




She still likes to be rocked every night so I had to keep her glider in her room - but waiting in the garage is the most adorable desk! I found it on craigslist for $20 and I cannot wait to paint it and put it in her room with an adorable little chair.

The mirror was a great deal at Marshall's. It had a few scratches on it so I asked for a discount and they gave me 20% off. I painted it an antique white and added shimmery ribbon. Total cost less than $20.

The pillow on the glider was purchased on clearance at Ross for $5. I glued a .50 flower from Michael's on it.

The vinyl wall tree was the only splurge in the room re-do. I custom ordered it online.

The wall paint is from Home Depot - a soft green.



These little shelves were $2 at Michael's. I just coated them with leftover spray paint from the blue bird cage. My dad gave me the mini tea set when he got back from a deployment when I was about 8 years old. I love it in her room. The top shelf has ornaments that Little G picked out - a ballerina, a lace bird, and ballet slippers.


The shelves before:

The bird cages are my (and Little G's) favorite part of the room. It wasn't easy convincing Mr. G to drill holes in the ceiling but he finally gave in.

Read the Tutorial Post on how to hang your own bird cages.


I made the wall letters when I was pregnant with her. They are just paper mache letters from Michael's. I got cheap construction paper, cut and glued it on then used thumb tacks on the back to hold the ribbon in place.


I found two of the bird cages at antique stores and the tall one at Ross. Including spray paint and hanging supplies it cost around $35 to complete. Don't be afraid to name your price at antique stores. The square cage was listed for $22 and I got it for $8. The little one was only $6.
Here's what they looked like when I brought them home:

I couldn't wait to spray paint them!


The curtains were a very lucky purchase. I've been eyeballing them at Target for months and one day I found them on an end cap with a clearance sticker! Someone had brought them back so they were marked down for repackaging. Originally $30 each I got them for $17 each and used a gift card.



This bench was purchased at Michael's with a half off coupon. I primed it, spray painted it and glued on this little wooden embellishment (I also painted).

Then I added a cushion. The cute paisley print fabric was 3 bucks at JoAnn's. I had Mr. G cut out a spare piece of wood to fit the top of the bench and I cut out a piece of leftover foam and wrapped the fabric around it. Several shots from the staple gun and it was done!

Here's what it looked like before:


The mirror before paint and ribbon.

See Noah's Nautical Nursery HERE

6 comments:

  1. oh my goodness! this room turned out adorable! you are so craft and creative and way to go on the diy and saving money on the project. love all of it! and can't wait to see your little baby boy's nursery... :)

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  2. I am so impressed with how everything turned out! I don't normally see the potential in unfinished items, but I think this post will help me see things in a different way from now on. :)

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  3. That's great Katie! Get your DIY on, girl!

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  4. Thanks Jennifer - you always have the nicest things to say :)

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  5. Would you like to come do Alora's room? I could use the Harry Potter posters gone lol this is so pretty! I would be afraid to walk on the floor and just look lol... Its so pretty and my clumsiness lol it is really beautiful!

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