
Nursery Window Treatments, Part 1

Guest Post: Neighbor Jami & Her Nursery Details
Jami’s back today to show us the rest of her nursery details!
This chandelier is another DI score…$2 whole dollars! I added some cream spray paint and these amazing magnetic pink crystals I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby and, voila! A dainty little chandelier!
It is screaming for some little lamp shades. I have been visiting Hobby Lobby weekly and buying them out of lampshades similar to these self adhesive, cover–it-yourself lampshades. Apparently they only stock 2 at a time?
This lamp is another DI find:
The lamp post was cute, so I spray painted it cream but the shade that came with it was pretty beat up, so I bought a “cover-it-yourself” lamp shade from Hobby Lobby and came up with this.
And of course, the name art.
Char actually did most of the work on this. (Char interruption: That is not true. Jami was the mastermind, I was just the man power.) I LOVE the way it turned out. Here is a better picture, minus the frilly iron decor above it.
The room is small and there wasn’t really room for a traditional changing table. My fabulous neighbor Decorator Wendy came up with this solution:
Handy to have a laundry basket underneath for all those newborn blowouts, right?
And then I hung the diapers and wipes bins on the wall above it.
Who wants to tell the cat her days of hanging out in here are numbered?
-Jami
Most of the curtains are done, I just need to finish the valance portion. Look forward to that project next week!
-Char
Crib Bumpers
***I realize that some people have strong feelings about crib bumpers. The comments on this post are not the place to share those feelings, K?***
Jami picked up a damaged Pottery Barn Kids bumper at our local Down East Home store for $10 (cheaper than buying new batting, right?) and I recovered it. It was all one really, really long piece and stuffing it inside the new cover would have been a nightmare, so I cut it into 4 pieces (one for each side). I measured each piece and added 1′’ for seam allowances. I’m not giving you specific measurements for this because your bumper may be a different height and/or thickness. The top and bottom ruffles are 3” strips pressed in half and then ruffled with my ruffler foot.
I put large ties (5” strips, sewed RST into a tube and angled on the end) on the corners and a small tie on the top and bottom centers of each long side.
The bumper fabrics and the yellow for the ties are all Amy Butler fabrics.
The green ruffles are Heather Bailey.
The houndstooth on the sheet is Free Spirit. I used Dana’s tutorial for the crib sheet.
And someone remind me to head over to Jami’s to photograph her nursery in the afternoon next time because no pregnant woman should ever have to do this to help you get a good picture:
Or maybe I should just finish the window treatments next…
Guest Post: Neighbor Jami & Her Nursery Furniture
As far as Lucy’s furniture went, I had none…at least none I wanted to use. My existing crib was way too bulky and masculine for a dainty little girl’s room, and I had given all my other baby stuff away.
So I put the word out via Facebook that I was in need of a crib and would be willing to take one off someone’s hands if they were needing to get rid of one. Within 2 hours I had landed one from my pal Mindy.
Next, I bought a solid wood dresser at the Bountiful DI for $25.00. Have I mentioned I love the DI? I do.

My Rocking chair:
Hopefully the next installment will feature Char actually having sewed some bedding. If not, we might have to break up!
-Char
And, one more thing. Apparently Valspar has changed the name of the spray paint color in question. It is not longer called “Pistachio”. It’s something like “Leaf Green”, but the paint guys assured Jami it’s the exact same color. I’ll updated with the official name after my next trip to Lowe’s!
Guest Post: Meet Neighbor Jami & Her Nursery Walls
Ahhh the blessed nursery. Within 2 days of finding out it was indeed a girl, my mind already conjured up brilliant plans for baby Lucy’s nursery. It has become quite the undertaking, but I must admit I love it! And of course I would never be able to produce my desired outcome without some major help from my talented friends and loved ones.
First, my amazing (and dead sexy) husband, James. He is my go to guy. I find I start a “simple” project that ends up being way more work than I had anticipated and then he lovingly steps in and finishes it for me. He is also amazing at building things I think of, that don’t exist, and “jimmy-rigging” thrift store finds so they are workable again. Besides all of these amazing things…he is a great husband and dad. I love him.
My husband, James (told ya he was dead-sexy)
Next, my pal, Char. Oh where would I be without this girl in my life? For how many times I call her for advice, opinions, directions, instructions, and to borrow just about everything, including her amazing input on craft ideas, I feel like I should be paying her a monthly fee! She has become my crafting comrade. Not only is she talented in all crafting areas, but she also provides some great comic relief to any scenario. We have had our fair share of fun crafting adventures, and fun “non-crafting” adventures. (Like the time we packed my van full of 6 boys all under the age of 6 so that I could double check a faulty pregnancy test with my doctor. But, hey…that is another story for another time).
She has been kind enough to help me out with Lucy’s nursery by helping me with some decor and also by taking on the huge project of sewing all her bedding and window dressings. I can’t wait to see them all finished and adorning Lucy’s room. It will be great!
Char and me, I feel, make a pretty good team. I feel confident enough to say that I can conjure up some pretty crafty ideas, but then to back it with brains… I am pretty much screwed.
Enter, Char.
The woman can figure anything out. Half the time she is explaining things to me I just have to nod my head and pretend to understand what she is saying just so I don’t look like a complete fool. What can I say? I am blonde, and I am a hairdresser, not a brilliant person like, Char. (no offense to hairdressers) we have our place in this world too. After all, we make people pretty! Can you imagine what an ugly place this world would be without us?
Okay, moving on…
I decided to use Jett’s old room for the nursery, because it already had bead board hanging on the lower half of the walls. I chose to re-paint the bead board using paint by Valspar called, “Craft-White”. Next, I rubbed a glaze in the creases to accent them using a tintable glaze by, Valspar. I cannot remember the color of paint I used to tint the glaze. I bought a light tan in a sample can that you can get for around $3.00 at Lowe’s.
You can kind of see the bead board in this picture
Next came the upper half of the walls. I originally wanted this wallpaper by Amy Butler, since I love everything Amy Butler (I’d probably lick her toe jam, I love her so much) but then realized this was not going to be very practical considering the price! I’ll let you research that yourself, I don’t want to have you pass out in the middle of my post!
Bummed about the wallpaper, I called, Char and she mentioned these cool stencils. I liked the damask one myself, and I almost bought it even though it was a bit more than I’d like to spend. Then, on an outing to Hobby Lobby, I came across some wall stencils there and found a worthy comparison for only $16.99!!! I could handle that! So, I bought it. We primed and painted the upper wall using, “Baby Blush” by Valspar and then began stenciling, once the pink had dried.
For the stenciling, I wanted it very subtle, because it was a “busy” design. So I took the left over pink (1/4 gallon, give or take a few) and added the left over, “Craft-White” paint (1/2 gallon, give or take a few) to lighten it up. Next we followed the directions on the stencil and painted away. Over all the stenciling wasn’t too hard to do, just some prep work, and a lot of time, but fairly easy.
The stenciled wall. Remember, it is subtle, so look closely.
And here’s a digitally enhanced version of the same pic. The color is not that crazy in real life, I just wanted you to see the detail.
-Jami
Name Art + March Silhouette Promo
You’ve heard me talk about my insane neighbor Jami before, right? Hint: The Smelly Barn Adventure™. After 3 boys, Jami’s expecting her first girl, and I’m lucky enough to be sewing the bedding and helping her execute the awesome ideas she comes up with. (We joke that we’re going to buy land with a barn in the country and have sleep over craft retreats. She’ll come up with the ideas because she’s WAY more creative than me and I’ll figure out how to make them happen.)
Do you see that freaking amazing wall treatment? We’ll talk about that in a few days. After I posted the preview of this project on Facebook, I received several emails asking about how she painted the furniture. We’ll talk about that, too. Be patient. Today’s just the name art.
Jami picked up a framed picture at the DI (thrift store) for a couple of dollars. She picked it based on the fact that the shape was good for spelling out a name. We pried the print out of the frame using butter knives and then flipped it over so that you couldn’t see the print through our white on white backing fabric. If your frame doesn’t have a print in it, you could cut some foam core or cardboard and accomplish the same thing. We applied the fabric to the print using spray adhesive.
We figured out what size we wanted our letters and cut a test run with the Silhouette on notebook paper. You could ABSOLUTELY do this project without a Silhouette, you’d just have to cut the letters by hand. And unless you named your kids something long (like Charlotte…thanks mom), it won’t take long.
Because I know people will ask, the fonts are:
L – Big Top
U – Mixed Up, it’s the capital U
C – Oliver
Y – BoyzRGross
Once we were happy with the size, we got out Silhouette’s new fabric interfacing. We used the clean cut (stronger adhesive, not machine sew-able) because this project isn’t going to need to be washed or handled and we wanted the stronger adhesive.
We applied it following the package directions and got cutting.
We had the Silhouette double cut the letters, just to be safe. Look how nicely it cut!
After we had all the letters cut, we positioned them on the backing fabric
and ironed them in place.
Then we folded the edges of the backing fabric around to the back and secured them in place (more spray adhesive).
Jami hot glued some jumbo ric rac along the groove in the frame.
And…
Then she called me back to say she’d hung it, so I went back for a couple more pictures.
(Thanks to our other fabulous neighbor, Decorator Wendy, this is where it’ll stay.)
MARCH SILHOUETTE PROMOTION:
Silhouette SD, one of each fabric interfacing (clean cut & sewable) and a roll of white flocked heat transfer material for $229.
If you already have a Silhouette and want to try out the interfacing, you can get 25% off.
The March promotion will run from the 21st through the 27th.
Code “CRAP” will let you take advantage of either of the deals.
