Baby on a Budget: Crib Edition

Since I just shared the arrival of our little Juniper Kate, it is about time I shared her room.

I had intended on blogging a big reveal for you, but since June just turned 3 months old and the room is still not finished, I figured I’d better hop to it. Most of the room was done before she was born, but I am no longer going to let the desire for perfection stop me. This reveal is as big as it is going to get, baby.

The whole point of this blog is to show organization does not have to be perfect and your home should be celebrated regardless of whether it’s “magazine (or blog) perfect.” I have to remind myself often that I want a wonderfully lived in home, not a model home.

So without any further chit chat let’s remember what this room last looked like. The “box room” as I affectionately called it for months, since all unpacked boxes lived here just waiting for attention.

Luckily we had 6 months after we moved in before the scheduled arrival of baby June.

It all started with a used crib. I didn’t have many things left from my other two girls. My youngest is 5 and the 3rd baby was never a for sure thing in our minds.

When I’m working with organizing clients the question of, “What if I need this someday?” comes up quite often. I’m perhaps a bit overzealous with my own organizing purge sessions, but in general I recommend only keeping what you have space for and what is currently functioning for you.

I had a client who was saving up empty oatmeal containers for when she eventually, maybe, started teaching elementary school. She could envision a clear purpose for them, but at the present time she just didn’t have the space for them and she wasn’t really sure when she was going to use them.

When it came time to pack for a move, those empty containers were the first to go. Don’t worry, she gave me the go ahead to share that bit of our purging session.

Before you save that item “just in case”, take a moment to ask yourself if you have the space and need for it. Also, ask yourself if you did get rid of it, what would be the worst thing that would happen? Could you easily replace it?

But I digress, back to the nursery. Even though I did need a crib again, I am happy I didn’t try and store my old one for 5 years!

My mom picked up a crib and changing table at a garage sale for $30 total. Both needed some tlc, but I was happy to dive into a fun little furniture makeover. I hadn’t had a chance to look for one on craigslist yet, so this gift was a happy and welcome surprise.

As enthusiastic as I was for a little diy’ing the house project list was already overloaded with tasks. The last thing I needed was another one. I told myself over and over again that I wasn’t going to paint it. I could work with the blonde wood, right? Repeat, I am not going to paint it.

Not surprisingly, it only took one quick Pinterest search of painted cribs to seal its fate as my next makeover project.

I actually enjoyed the process and thanks to my fabulous friend Natalie, the painting didn’t take long.

First I sanded all the shellac clear coat off the crib and changing table with a coarse grit sand paper. I use 80-grit because the crib was so heavily coated. Next, I sanded the whole thing again with a fine grit sand paper (250-grit) to smooth all the edges and get it ready for paint.

I primed both crib and table with Zinsser Bulls eye Primer which I have used to paint furniture before with great success. This time, however, I used the spray paint version. This was a real splurged at almost $8 a can, but with all the steps in this project I jumped on the chance to make one step a little easier. I blame it on the big baby bump. Less bending over made it worth the price.

Some tutorials I read suggested that if you used primer you could skip the initial sanding step. But since it is a crib that will take quite a beating in the next 2 years, I decide to both sand and prime. I wanted to give the paint the most staying power by thoroughly prepping the surface.

I tried a few different tester pots of teal/turquoise colors but I finally went with Teal Zeal by Behr. The color was shamelessly stolen from this painted crib from the Picked & Painted Blog.

The final step was 2-3 coats of polyurethane to protect the finish and just in case this baby turns out to be my 1st and only crib biter.

All the steps to turn the blonde wood into a teal-tastic winner were so worth it.

There is still work to be done in here like hanging curtains, adding fan blades and maybe putting the closet doors back on. For now though let’s take a look at where the room started from in the very beginning. Ahh, much better. What this picture doesn’t show is that is use to smell in there and my girls were afraid to go in there. Not any more! It has become a little playroom especially when you need some room to spread out.

Next I’ll be sharing more details about the DIY projects that kept money in my pocket plus the big budget breakdown.

Are you painting any furniture lately? Or thinking I should have kept that wood planked wall? Any items you are holding onto “just in case?”