Even before we knew if our baby would be a boy or girl, we wanted to make a start on their room. Having only two bedrooms, it had to be a useable space for a baby/child, a calming bedroom to sleep in, a fun stimulating space to play, and also somewhere to home all the fun crafty things we could make for our new baby! We decided to find out the sex of the baby as soon as we could, so we could start preparing their new room.
While we didn’t have strict a budget, we were very aware that we were about to have a baby and didn’t want to go on a crazy spending spree. Second-hand, up-cycling, customising things we already had, or making from scratch were the order of the day.
Felix is now 7 months old and I often post photos of homemade/customised baby room projects on Instagram, tagging Punky Moms.
After some positive comments and interest in the pictures, Punky Moms invited me to share the anatomy of our son’s room for their first ever kids room tour. This is the first part of a two part series on how my husband and I created a stimulating, creative and fun baby room for Felix. I will go through the main items that make up the room, and fill you in on where they were sourced or how we made them.
(I’d like to thank Punkymoms for encouraging me to do this!)
We wanted to start with a blank canvas. As the room was originally our bedroom, we painted the original cream walls and ceiling, white. Then we freshened up the woodwork with a coat of white gloss; a simple but good way to see your space! We wallpapered one wall in cloud print paper and put an emerald green carpet down, which gave the room a bright, fresh and almost outdoor feel.
Here is a quick rundown of some of the things we have made, customised and bought:
1. Table lamp/ceiling light shade
2. Curtains/tie backs
3. Cot bumpers
4. Mobile
5. Chest of draws
6. Mirror
Lighting
A room’s lighting has a huge impact on its feel and, ultimately, whether you want to spend time in there, so the window’s curtains, table lamp and ceiling light are a good place to start.
This lamp was originally one of a pair of bedside lamps. The other was long since broken and this one was starting to look a bit tatty, so I spruced it up with a coat of red paint on the base. I added a plain white lampshade and stitched bunting for it, to match the tie backs of the curtains. The bunting is glued to the shade with a hot glue gun.
For the ceiling light, I painted a paper shade from Ikea with a red poster paint. We then added a string frame using hot glue (and a lot of patience).My husband made a basket out of the bottom of a chocolate box and string. I added fake sand bags and bunting to match the curtains and tie backs.
I seriously cheated with the curtains. The fabric is a now discontinued Ikea fabric, that’s actually meant to be coloured in with fabric pens, but I kinda liked it as is. I took the blackout curtains we originally had in the room, and covered them with the fabric, and, voila, blackout curtains. I added the bunting at the top, as I wanted a little colour. I used this bunting tutorial.
Sleeping Nook
I made cot bumpettes, rather than full length bumpers, using a modified version of this crib bumper tutorial and the same fabric as the curtains, with an emerald green bias tape edge.
The mobile is Felix’s favourite thing in the room. Every time we put him under it, he giggles and smiles. I had seen a similar mobile on Etsy and fallen in love with it. I couldn’t, however, justify the whopping £70 price tag, so I had a go at making my own. It is made up of two cross stitch hoops, covered in ribbon, and strung together with basic string. I then made multicoloured pompoms and attached them with string. I think it turned out pretty well.
Furnishings
The chest of drawers belonged to my great grandmother, and was originally a very dark wood.
We sanded and painted it white, then added gift wrap to the front of each drawer. The drawers are sealed with a clear non toxic varnish.
The mirror again was something I’d seen online and thought I would give it a go. The mirror and frame were literally the cheapest one I could find in a local charity shop. I knew I was going to spray paint it so I didn’t want to ruin a good one if it didn’t work. I also got some cheap toys from my local £1 store. I glued all the toys to the frame and primed and sprayed with a non toxic/toy safe spray. Most sprays will say on the label if they are toy safe.
In the second part of this series, I will go over Felix’s tepee, book shelves, knitted cot bunting and his wall art. Stay tuned.
*Editor Note
This is our first post in our new Kids Room Tours series. We know we have some talented crafty bitches out there and would LOVE to see what you have done with your kid’s rooms. Send us an email so we can get your room featured on the site.
Very impressive :) You and Ian are such cool parents,Felix is a lucky boy as he is going to be a cool kid even more than he is now as he grows up :) Some great idea’s and love updoing and second hand stuff plus bargains from Ikea :) Enjoy your time you have with your little man while you can :)