The Homemade Nursery: The Final Reveal

As you may remember from my post about my Nurture Hope quilt, I am quite fortunate to be pregnant.  My husband and I had been holding off on doing much in terms of preparation for the baby until we took holidays back in November.  Then we got started and have been plugging away every since.  I'm going to share individual projects we embarked on over the past few months, and then a final blog post with the big reveal of the whole room. 

The time has come for the Final Reveal of the baby's Homemade Nursery!  I am just in love with this space, and if the baby doesn't like it, I will quite gladly switch rooms!  So, let's take a tour, shall we?

Since we don't know the gender of the baby, we decided to keep the room fairly neutral.  As usual, I took to Pinterest to help generate ideas, and eventually we settled on a mountain forest theme, mostly because I saw an excellent geometric mountain mural I wanted to attempt.  This was our first project: paint the room, and try to become artists.  I must say that I am pleased with how it turned out!

You can see a mobile hanging above the crib; I made this with feathers from my friend's chicken coop (don't worry, I cleaned them), and shellacked oak branches foraged from the park near my house.  

On the wooden crib, you can see a collection of pillows: a mountain pillow that I made, and a gorgeous woodblock printed bear that was made-to-order from Laura Frisk's etsy shop especially for this baby. 

Laura hand carves the stamp from wood, and uses it to print the bear on the fabric..... simply amazing!

 There is also a sheepskin, the knitted leaf blankie I made, and an oh-so-perfect birch swaddler from Little Unicorn.  

So many great textures in this picture

Next, we have a nice little rocking chair area.  The rocking chair was a gift from my dad to my mom from when they were early in their relationship - the same rocking chair that she used to rock me and my sisters when we were babies.  I used a nice, thick sheepskin to cover the back, and replaced the floral seat cushion with a new oatmeal coloured one.

  I found the most perfect footstool handcarved from a teak tree stump.  

Beside the rocking chair is a side table that my dad had made many years ago from my grandparent's old dining room table.  On top, a lamp and a polar bear coin bank from my sister.  

Above, is a mountain shelf that my dad made with a few woodland knicknacks, including a tiny deer, a pinecone, a potted foraged pine branch, and an owl.  

I finished the shelf with beeswax.... it leaves the wood looking natural, but with a nice satin seal

Behind the rocking chair is a growth chart a friend made for the baby: she included a fox and a Charley Harper inspired pair of birds.

On the other side of the rocking chair are the bookshelves.  

We hung IKEA photo ledges on the wall to show off the covers of the children's books.  The illustrations of picture books are so beautiful and engaging, so this is the perfect way to store and display them. 

 Above the books are the antlers, in a featured place (due to their sheer size!).  

Looking up, the wood light fixture.  It took a little searching to find lighting that suited the room.  I wanted something made from natural materials, as opposed to a typical silver and glass fixture.  

Next is the dresser area.  

This refinished dresser really reflects the feel of the room.  It is modernized vintage, natural materials, and homemade(ish).  

Inside, I made drawer dividers to help keep baby's tiny things organized.  

Above the dresser I curated a gallery wall featuring art from local artists, myself, my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and some of my favourite artists (Including Dani of Begoodnatured, Jahna Vashti, Helen Ahpornsiri, Charley Harper, Teagan White and more).  I selected art that reflected a forest theme, so animals and trees that would be found in a mountain forest. 

Including: Charley Harper, local artists, Helen Ahpornsiri.  The diamond is a suncatcher I backed with fabric.

Including: Jahna Vashti, Teagan White, Marisa Redondo

Including: Teagan White, me, local artists, my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, Dani from Begoodnatured 

The details in Dani from Begoodnatured's work are phenomenal.  No photo does her work justice.  The texture, the colours, the details.  I (and the baby) am so lucky to have one of her pieces on this wall.  

The nest and birds are part of a decoration from my bridal shower, and the "egg" is a stone that my dad found years ago in a stream that was naturally polished to almost perfectly round.  I have had it since childhood, and have always adored it. 

We splurged and bought an autheticated Charley Harper print.  Lucky baby.

This fabulous cross stitch owl is the work of my mother-in-law.  

My vision for the room was a lot about the "feel".  I really wanted to focus on bringing together lots of natural elements and textures, like fur, feathers, wood, and wool.  I wanted to keep the colour palette pretty neutral as well.  I love the whole vibe of the room; it is very cozy and I am very excited to share the room with the baby.  I asked my husband if he thinks the baby will like the room, and he says the baby won't notice until he/she is older, and by then they will want a Spiderman or Frozen themed room.  I told him that the baby will have to move to a new room then, because I love this one so much! 

So baby, we are ready for you!  We can't wait to welcome you into this world!

Bronson loves the room, too, and is very excited about his new baby,

Other Homemade Nursery baby-related craftiness:

One-of-a-kind Diaper Bag
Baby Hat (with free knit pattern)
Baby Mittens (with another free knit pattern)
Baby quilts: Alternate Universe MALE
Baby quilts: Alternate Universe FEMALE
So much Small Sewing

The Homemade Nursery: So much small sewing

As you may remember from my post about my Nurture Hope quilt, I am quite fortunate to be pregnant.  My husband and I had been holding off on doing much in terms of preparation for the baby until we took holidays back in November.  Then we got started and have been plugging away every since.  I'm going to share individual projects we embarked on over the past few months, and then a final blog post with the big reveal of the whole room. 

In between other larger projects, I have been working on a few small sewing projects for baby as well.  

I made a pair of newborn baby hats using my serger.  This was the first time I threaded and used it, so I am happy that it all went well!  I found this fabric at Hobby Lobby a few years ago, and it is just perfect for the baby.  

I also made a good stack of burp cloths out of some flannel I had bought when we first started trying to get pregnant.  It is such nice, soft flannel, and the prints are so cute!

I made a mountain shaped pillow to decorate the nursery.  This I made from some scraps of flannel and fleece.  I think the tall peak looks a little like a champagne bottle, but it gets the idea across.  

I used my serger to make myself a little something, too.  Nursing pads are apparently an essential, and I was interested in trying wool pads, as I have read that they are very absorbant, don't get smelly like disposable or cotton reusable pads, and are nice and soothing to sore nipples, as they can be lanolized.  I purchased a half yard of wool interlock, felted it, and using a CD as a template, cut out many circles.  I made a triple layer set for at night, three double layer sets (two plain and one with darts for better contouring), and a single layer set for light times.  

I had enough left over to make a couple sets for a friend, too! 

I have plans to make some toys, bibs, and a doll later on, but I will wait until baby arrives for those.  I would like to use more gendered fabrics for those, so I will need to know the gender!  I will share those as they get made, but it may not be for a little while.  Not sure how much sewing time I will be able to get at first!

The Homemade Nursery: Alternate Universe FEMALE

As you may remember from my post about my Nurture Hope quilt, I am quite fortunate to be pregnant.  My husband and I had been holding off on doing much in terms of preparation for the baby until we took holidays back in November.  Then we got started and have been plugging away every since.  I'm going to share individual projects we embarked on over the past few months, and then a final blog post with the big reveal of the whole room. 

You've seen the Boy quilt, now let's talk girl quilt!  Like I said before, I wanted to have similar design elements for both quilts, just different actual pattern and fabric (and quilting, because I find that the pattern influences the quilting).  Selecting the fabric was easy.... Heather Ross had recently released a new fabric collection called Tiger Lily! With the cats, ballerinas and sweet florals, this is a perfect line for a girly quilt.  

Selecting the pattern took a little more thought.  I wanted something that can utilize a white background, and was similar to the pluses of the boy quilt, but different enough that the two quilts weren't just copies of each other.  On Instagram, I was inspired to make wonky star blocks with the fabrics to combine into the quilt.  I joined a quilt-along that required making one block a week until finished, and it was a great way to stay on track.  

I backed this quilt with a pink rosette minky, and bound it with white satin blanket binding.  I quilted it using a little echo quilting around each star, and stitching along either side of the seam lines between blocks.  

I am very excited to see which of the quilts gets put into use.  Not very long to wait!!

Boy quilt or girl quilt..... which will it be?!

The Homemade Nursery: Alternate Universe MALE

As you may remember from my post about my Nurture Hope quilt, I am quite fortunate to be pregnant.  My husband and I had been holding off on doing much in terms of preparation for the baby until we took holidays back in November.  Then we got started and have been plugging away every since.  I'm going to share individual projects we embarked on over the past few months, and then a final blog post with the big reveal of the whole room. 

My husband and I made the decision to resist the temptation to find out the gender beforehand, and keep that for a birthday surprise.  There are so few actual surprises as an adult, so it is really nice to preserve that.  Also, it is so delightfully torturous having to wait!  Another part of the reason we like this plan is because it is fun for kids to imagine how their lives would be different had they been born in the alternate universe of the other gender.  I always found it so fascinating to imaging what my life would have been like had I been born a boy name Daniel (my parent's choice of boy name for me).  

Another part of the fun of not knowing, is that I decided to make two different quilts, a boy quilt and a girl quilt.  They are similar in their elements, but different designs, fabrics, and quilting.  

First I made the boy quilt.  I had recently purchased the Natural History collection from Lizzy House (those dinos!), and knew it would be perfect for a little boy.  Bugs, gems, dinosaurs, constellations, whales?!  What's not to love?

I took my time deciding just what I wanted to do with the fabrics, but was eventually inspired to make a plus quilt using the blue and green colourways from the fabric line.  This was a very easy, straightforward pattern to follow and make, and I think the results are very nice.  I used a white background for the pluses to allow the fabrics to really be featured.  

I backed the quilt with a soft rosette minky in blue, and quilted with a diagonal checkerboard pattern.  I bound the quilt with satin blanket binding because it is my husband's favourite, as he had a blankie as a child with the same binding.  

Up next: the girl quilt!  For now, the quilts are stacked in the closet, just waiting to see which one will be put to use!

The Homemade Nursery: the Essential Antlers

As you may remember from my post about my Nurture Hope quilt, I am quite fortunate to be pregnant.  My husband and I had been holding off on doing much in terms of preparation for the baby until we took holidays back in November.  Then we got started and have been plugging away every since.  I'm going to share individual projects we embarked on over the past few months, and then a final blog post with the big reveal of the whole room. 

I wanted to create a gallery wall with a mixture of art and other structures in the baby's room.  One thing I wanted to include on the gallery wall was a set of antlers.  Little did I know (what a city girl), antlers are huge!!  

My husband had a set of mounted antlers in his room as a child, and they since moved into his parent's garage.  They are a pretty impressive set (to my eyes, anyway), but they were a little dated looking, because of the red velvet setting they rested on.  They needed an update.

Before

I took all the screws out of the back of the plaque in order to remove the mount and the antlers. The velvet was held in place with staples, so I carefully pulled each one in order to remove the fabric from the mount.  Once that was off, I used it as a pattern for the replacement fabric.  I wanted to find something with a knit texture, preferably with a fair isle pattern..... and I stumbled on the perfect thing in the sock aisle at Superstore!  It took a little cutting and creative sewing to turn the two socks into one piece of usable fabric, but it was worth it.  After cutting it to size, it easily stretched back over the antler mount, and I stapled it into place the same way as the velvet had been.  I reattached the mount to the plaque, and it was ready to hang on the wall!  

After

I decided to re-evaluate the plan to include it in the gallery wall due to the sheer size of the things.  So it took a featured place over the bookshelves instead. 

In situ: among excellent book company

 I was given a little grief about including antlers in a nursery, but I think it works really well!

The Homemade Nursery: Baby mittens (Another free knitting pattern!)

As you may remember from my post about my Nurture Hope quilt, I am quite fortunate to be pregnant.  My husband and I had been holding off on doing much in terms of preparation for the baby until we took holidays back in November.  Then we got started and have been plugging away every since.  I'm going to share individual projects we embarked on over the past few months, and then a final blog post with the big reveal of the whole room. 

After the success of the Baby hat, I decided to make matching mittens as well, since I had so much yarn left.  These took a lot more trial and error than the hat.  At first, I tried to follow an owl pattern I found on Pinterest, but that went terribly wrong.  There is nothing wrong with the pattern, I'm sure.  It was the choice of colour and yarn that just didn't work.  

That's supposed to be a tiny owl.  They can't all be winners.

So, new plan.  Figuring out a hat pattern went well, so why not a mitten pattern?  Again, it took a couple false starts to figure out how many stitches to cast on to achieve the desired size with this bulky of a yarn and larger needle size, but eventually I figured it out.  If you'd like to make a pair for yourself, here is the pattern! If you make the mittens, leave a comment or tag me on Instagram (@_LT_Smash), I'd love to see it!

Yarn: Bulky (5) Bamboospun in Dark Sky and Seablue. I used way less than a ball of each. 

Needles: Set of 4 double pointed size 10 needles

kfb: knit into front and back of the stitch
ssk: slip two stitches, then knit them together

Cast on 16 stitches using a stretchy cast on (I used the long tail cast on) in your stripe colour. 

Spread the stitches evenly over 3 needles (5, 5, and 6 stitches per needle) and join without twisting to knit in the round.  

Row 1-10: K1P1 across entire row (16 stitches on needles)

Row 11: Switch to main colour.  (kfb, K1, kfb, K2, kfb, K1, kfb) x2 (24 stitches on needles)

Row 12-26: Knit all stitches
Row 27: (K2tog, K10, ssk) x2 (20 stitches on needles)
Row 28: (K2tog, K9, ssk) x2 (16 stitches on needles)
Row 29: (K2tog, K16, ssk) x2 (12 stitches on needles)

Use Kitchener stitch to close off the end of the mittens. Weave in the tail, and any other yarn ends. Make two (obviously!)

Hats and mitts.... oh my!

I think these are really cute newborn mittens, and will hopefully keep our baby's little fingers nice and toasty in the first few (freezing) months of life.  

The Homemade Nursery: Baby hat (A free knitting pattern!)

As you may remember from my post about my Nurture Hope quilt, I am quite fortunate to be pregnant.  My husband and I had been holding off on doing much in terms of preparation for the baby until we took holidays back in November.  Then we got started and have been plugging away every since.  I'm going to share individual projects we embarked on over the past few months, and then a final blog post with the big reveal of the whole room. 

I wanted to knit a warm, soft toque and mittens for our baby to wear after birth, because the due date is in February, which is the coldest month around here.

I had the perfect yarn in my stash that I had bought from Hobby Lobby a couple years ago. It is Bamboospun, and it's super soft and luxurious. I had it in two perfectly gender neutral colours, so I did a soft blue stripe along the bottom with the rest in grey. 

If you'd like to make one for yourself, here is the pattern! It took me about 2.5 hours total, but that includes ripping and restarting, and frogging the crown to try again. A little trial and error never hurt anyone! If you make the hat, leave a comment or tag me on Instagram (@_LT_Smash), I'd love to see it!

Yarn: Bulky (5) Bamboospun in Dark Sky and Seablue. I used way less than a ball of each. 

Needles: Set of 4 double pointed size 10 needles

Cast on 36 stitches using a stretchy cast on (I used the long tail cast on) in your stripe colour. 

Spread the stitches evenly over 3 needles (12 stitches per needle) and join without twisting to knit in the round.  

Row 1: knit all stitches

Row 2: K1P1 across entire row

Row 3: P1K1 across entire row

Row 4: Switch to main colour and knit all stitches

Continue knitting all rows until the hat measures 3" from the cast on edge. 

Begin crown:

Row 1: (K4, K2tog) repeat for entire row

Row 2: knit all stitches

Row 3: (K3, K2tog) repeat for entire row

Row 4: knit all stitches

Row 5: (K2, K2tog) repeat for entire row

Row 6: knit all stitches

Row 7: (K1, K2tog) repeat for entire row

Row 8: knit all stitches

Row 9: K2tog across entire row

You should have 2 stitches on each needle, for a total of 6 stitches. Cut the tail of your yarn and using a tapestry needle, draw the tail through all 6 stitches and pull the stitches tight. Weave in the tail, and any other yarn ends. 

This is a great project that takes just a little bit of yarn, so it is a great way to use up scraps of bulky yarn you have in your stash. I'm very happy with the hat, and think it is just perfectly soft and warm for a fresh baby's head.  Up next: matching mittens!