(Almost) Wordless Wednesday AND DIY Project 5/1-5/7: Completed the Nursery!

After a few weeks of intense remodeling (including ripping walls out, replacing drywall, refinishing hardwood, new light fixture, paint and and installing all new trim), I am proud to present our nursery!

My cozy nursing corner! This rocking chair really needs to be reupholstered, but it's so comfortable! And the "Sweet Dreams" wall decals were a terrific giveaway win from Smile A Day Blog and Curly Cue Decals!

That dresser is something we picked up at a goodwill when I was pregnant with toddler. I handpainted my husband's and my tattoos onto each drawer. It's a very beloved dresser. The blanket on the sofa was made by my grandmother's friend. She made it for my mother, who passed it to me and now I'm using it with my girls! I love Holly Hobby!

This was my pet project! This closet started off bare and there were holes in the walls. I patched it, gave it a fresh coat of paint and installed the shelving. It also didn't have doors so hubby graciously installed those. I then turned the random awkward 3'x3' box at the right into a custom changing table complete with storage for my cloth diapers and changing pad. Tap lights give enough light at night for changes without waking baby!

Weekly Project 4/3-4/9: DIY Nursery Valances

I love recycling in the home. I can usually spruce up a room or change the way something looks without it costing a fortune and without throwing away perfectly good items!

This week's project is a simple set of Nursery Valences. Our nursery has 2 very large windows. I need 2 valances to cover the 2 separate 76 inch wide window spans. Sounds like a lot huh?

A girlfriend and I swap items occasionally. It's our way of clearing out things we no longer want or need without throwing it out. In this case, she had a random single panel navy curtain that I was definitely able to use. I forgot to snap a photo of it before tearing into it, but here's what it looked like in the beginning: 

To start, I took my seamripper to the curtain, quickly demolishing all the seams and removing the tabs from the top. After running it through the wash and ironing the kinks out, I had a full 76" x 57" piece of fabric to work with. Using my own pattern below, I cut the fabric into 4 pieces. 

 

I seamed together pieces 1&3 and 2&4, length-wise. I don't have a serger, so I had to roll the seams and stitch them down to get a good finish that wouldn't fray. I then rolled, ironed and seamed 1 long outer seam and the 2 short outer seams. This left the top seam which needed to accommodate the curtain rod. I double-rolled a 5/8" seam, then folded the edge over 2.5" to create a clean pocket. 

This left me with a 14" valance at just over 111" long. Which leaves me with a perfect mild gather when spanned over 76" windows! 

The fabric and thread cost me nothing, the simple (and cheap - may I emphasize simple again, I wasn't going for très chic) metal curtain rods from the local dollar store cost $3.50 apiece. So for a whopping 7 dollars, I was able to add the perfect window treatment to our nursery!