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