Fun Stuff for the Kid's Room

So, things are happening way out of logical order for the kid's room - we bought a bunch of new furniture before the old stuff was even cleared out of the way. While we worked on prepping the walls and trim, we didn't want to stop shopping for other stuff, so we kept accumulating things for the room that couldn't actually go in the room until the floors were all done. Unlike the pure online shopping spree I last posted about, this time we're getting a little more creative and resourceful. Hopefully, this stuff is what will make the room unique and personal, and not just another cookie-cutter nursery.

1. Floor Pillows
We got two euro-sized pillows for our wedding, but never got the quilt and pillow covers for them, so the pillow inserts just sat around. I had a brilliant idea to make envelope pillow cases for them so that they could be floor pillows in the kid's room instead, recognizing that we're never going to buy the fancy quilt for ourselves that we originally planned on. So, following the same general envelope design that I described here, I made 2 big pillow cases using 2 different fabrics on each to contribute to the overall blue/grey color scheme we have going. Now, if you're at our house and want to play with the kid on the floor you've got a comfy place to sit! (you'll thank me later).

two new floor pillows

2. Hanging Thing
I wanted something to hang above the new glider chair to give the kid something to look at while eating, and provide a little light for bedtime stories. I originally pictured some sort of awesome hanging paper structure, possibly made of big poofy tissue-paper flowers - but spouso fell in love with this sailboat kite he saw on Houzz. Our compromise was to get the kite and let me cover it in fairy lights. It's all strung up now, and just waiting to get hung.

new hanging sailboat with lights

3. Wall Art
We definitely wanted to get some fun wall art for the room that would be kidish but not boring - so we turned to Etsy. We picked a bunch of smaller items that will be a grouping above the dresser, and then one big map to go above the crib. They all have sort of an animal/kidish theme, and are roughly blueish and greenish to coordinate, but they otherwise have a lot of variety, shouldn't look too matchy, and hopefully will keep the kid interested for years to come. Because they're all prints of original art, they are cheap and easily replaced if the kid grows out of them. I'm excited that they are all original art and coming from artists all over the world (Canada, US, England, France, Australia). We grabbed a couple cheap frames from Amazon, and poof! We have wall art. The etsy shops we picked are here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, but there were a bunch more we liked. Etsy is amazing.

some of the new wall art

Cheapie tip - getting art professionally framed looks great, but is way out of our budget. Instead, we buy cheap, standard-size frames from places like Target and Amazon. Usually I just use the white mats that come with the frames, but to fancy things up a bit, we swung by a framing shop to get a colored  mat cut to fit the map print and frame. It's cheap and makes the art look so much more professional. We're sticking with the white mats for the grouping of smaller prints so they look a bit more cohesive.

4. Mobile
Next, we needed an interesting mobile for over the crib. We wanted to get something that would move around and interest a baby, and be cool enough to interest an older kid (ie, no fluffy bunnies). Again, we turned to Etsy and found lots of really cool options. We ended up with one from this shop, which was made just for us, and is currently on its way from Croatia.

new mobile 

5. Side Table
Once we had a comfy chair and the footrest/pouf, I realized that if we were planning to spend a lot of time in said chair, we would need a place to put our beverages, books and whatnot. So, I ordered a cheapie little unfinished table from Amazon, and opted to paint it bright blue. It's functional but colorful - and easily repainted if the kid doesn't like it in the future. We chose a turquoisy/tealish shade that kind of matches the floor pillows, the mat for the map, and the mobile - and I guess is becoming the dominant color in the room. You really shouldn't pick paint based on its name, but we found a perfect shade called Mermaid's Treasure and couldn't resist.

cute little side table all painted and ready to go

So, we've got a whole bunch of furniture, fun accessories and decorations. There are a couple more small things to do, but this room is already way more finished and cooler than any other room in the house.  We are both very very anxious move things in and see how this all fits together.