cHobbs: Nursery make-over

Whenever we found out we were having a boy I began planning the nursery, so of course I began raiding Pinterest and finding tons of ideas on there. I knew I wanted the colors orange, brown, blue & lime green for sure. I put those colors in the search bar and my page was flooded with cute ideas! I found my "dream" wall, and after I saw it, I couldn't imagine the paint any way else! Once we figured that out, we looked for bedding! With Cayden, we spent loads of money on a decorative crib bedding set...but after having one child you learn lots of things - one being that the bedding gets pooped on, peed on, thrown up on, spit up on, etc etc, so this time around I was not going to spend $400 on a bedding set! I was going to buy something less expensive and make it look just as cute!

The "infamous" wall I found on pinterest:

My mom came to Austin a couple of months ago and we went to Target just "browsing" (you know when you go to Target to browse you're bound to come out with something)...we did! We found such cute bedding and began to imagine the room!

My nesting streak came on at about 30 weeks. I just couldn't stop cleaning and organizing (and if you know me, you know this is all pregnancy, I'm not usually like that!) But I couldn't touch Bennett's nursery! The little 9 month old I babysat for the semester slept in the crib for his naps, and he and Cayden just loved playing in the nursery and getting into all the empty drawers, etc., so I decided to wait to set it up until closer to the due date just so it would stay (semi) clean. But man was it hard! I was so tempted to start earlier...

Cayden and I took a two week trip to Chicago (blog to follow) and so Tyler began painting the nursery while we were gone to help prevent boredom (are you surprised he's bored without us two)?! I think I had showed Tyler the nursery I wanted to copy a million times by the time I left and I'm sure he got annoyed at how many times I went over all the details with him. I don't know why I was so nervous about the stripes in Bennett's nursery...the stripes Tyler did in Cayden's room were so much more difficult and Tyler perfected that (I realize I never blogged about Cayden's big boy room and so that one is coming as well)! While I was in Chicago, Tyler was able to get the room painted the base blue color. It needed a few coats because I decided to paint a wall navy blue last year. Needless to say, it was pretty difficult to cover up. Sorry Ty ;)

When I returned from Chicago I was almost 35 weeks. Now I know, the odds of me going into labor early are low. [TMI: Even though this baby feels like it's about to fall out due to pressure-they told me that's normal with your second, I still am expecting to go full term.] But I began to kind of freak out that we would be having the baby before the nursery was done! With Cayden we had everything ready so early...but I have to say, I think that contributed to us just sitting and waiting the last 4 weeks of the pregnancy with him. This time I have so much to do, I can't just sit and think about the fact that I'm still pregnant. I am definitely okay with that.

Tyler assured me it would be done in time...and it was ;) So last Thursday we began the stripes. When I say "we" it means Tyler did all of the work and I sat in the recliner and watched. We're seriously such a good team ;) The stripes took a lot of time, which we knew because of Cayden's room. All together, it took us about 4 days to finish. I am so happy with the end result and now it just waits for Bennett Elijah!!

Step 1: Tyler painted the whole room the light blue color. This is the condition of the room when I came home from Chicago...see why I was nervous?!

The bedding next to the light blue paint. I was thrilled how well it matched the elephant!

Step 2: Leveling, penciling, taping the five stripes (Big orange, white, brown,white, & blue).

Step 3: Painting the white stripes and then painting over the painters tape with the light blue so that the colors wouldn't bleed through the tape.

Step 4: Re-tape over the white stripes and paint white to prevent bleeding, and re-tape for the orange & brown stripes.---see why stripes are time consuming? They must be perfect...especially if you're married to Tyler who is a perfectionist.

I put the curtains next to the orange stripe and got super excited...it was all starting to come together!

Step 5: remove tape from the big stripes & re-tape in the white for the small stripes, paint over the tape to prevent bleeding, and then paint on the final two colors!!!

Step 6: Remove tape, touch up, & it's done!!!

I am so excited that it turned out okay and thankful for a husband that is patient and can put up with four days of painting...

Now I was ready to put the furniture in place, put on the bedding, and add the accessories! My mother in law came into town this weekend and we vacuumed, pledged the furniture, moved the furniture (it's not heavy for you worriers ;)), added the bedding, accessories, cleaned out/organized his closet, and put all of his clothes in the dresser! It took us a whole day but when it was finished we were so proud of it! My mother in law is amazing at crafts (she teaches me because I am not good at it) and we made a sign with Micah 6:8 on it...another pinterest find, and the verse I am specifically praying for Bennett.