All About Babies- Making Your Dream Nursery on a Budget
One of my favorite things to do when planning for a baby is decorating the nursery. I enjoy decorating in general, doing DIY projects and thrifting, so putting them all together for a project like this is all too fun for me. If you follow this blog regularly, you know all about our goal and process of becoming debt free. In order to do that, we have to weigh every purchase we make and do as much as possible to stretch every dollar we bring in. Moving to a new city and finding a new rental home, decorating was a fun, fun challenge. Coordinating a room that would home a boy and a girl, this room was fun to think through.
The beds for the kids were both found used. The crib was originally TJ's, that we got with a brand new mattress on the app Letgo for $75! It converts into a toddler bed, but once we got pregnant again, we figured we'd go ahead and move him into a toddler bed since he adjusted to sleeping out of a crib while we traveled in the spring. The toddler bed was both a lucky find and a bad find. Lucky because it matches the color and style of the crib perfectly, which I didn't think I'd ever find, but a bad find because the sellers were dishonest about the condition of the bed and there were a lot of knicks and scratches we didn't notice until we got home. The "barely used, still sealed" mattress it came with was mildewed too, which was a low blow, but at least we only spent $50. A few months from now, when we're ready to move Maya into her crib, we'll get a new baby mattress! We have decided to slowly replace the mattresses in our home with organic and non-toxic mattresses for our health, and have been keeping our eyes on a few brands to snag one when it's on sale.
The next biggest items in our nursery are the changing table and rocker. The table was originally a desk that we bought early in our marriage for $25 off of Craigslist when I got my first writing job working from home. I soon learned I did my best writing anywhere but at a desk, so we ended up saving it for our nursery, and recently painted it this lovely yellow to give it new life! The paint was $5 from the Habitat for Humanity Restore, which was a super lucky find because you don't always know what you'll find there! If you like home renovation projects, check and see if there's a Restore near you and get ready to save some big $$$!
The bentwood rocker was one of those lucky purchases I never thought I'd find. I'd always admired them on Pinterest but knew we couldn't afford it and didn't necessarily need it. Then, when shopping at the local CCA sale in the spring, I saw this beauty for $45! I couldn't pass it up, and now I'm so glad we have it because we use it every night and it'll last for decades.
The decor and details of the room (blankets, pillows, hampers, curtains and bow holder) are basically all from a thrift store, handmade, from Walmart or gifted! The only things that were bought independently or from our baby registries are the diaper pail, curtains, hampers, nightlight diffuser and the macrame wall hanging, all off of Amazon or from Walmart! Everything else was handmade or from the thrift store! I find about everything at the thrift store or on sale at craft stores, and so do many friends and family who gift us nursery decor. I love originality and uniqueness and finding things that are interchangable to fit in other rooms around the house if I get the itch to redecorate or rearrange anything. For example, the little walk hanging holding Maya's bows and pacifiers was made from scrap wood and extra hooks for an old project that Hunter made. Some of the decor are family heirlooms that belonged to me when I was little, like the butterfly kite and cowboy hat.
In total, over the two+ years we've made purchases for our nursery, we've spent out of pocket, roughly $230 to make this room a reality. It took saving over time and searching far and wide for what we were looking for, but it didn't take a lot! We also were incredibly blessed to have family and friends that helped contribute to putting our home together for our new babies. I hear from expecting parents or on media that you have to spend "hundreds" or only have choices of items that add up to the thousands, when that doesn't have to be the case at all. Granted, if you have the money that's great, no judgement here! But for an average family, there's no need to put yourselves into a predicament in order to enjoy your space for your littles. It's totally possibly to do it on a limited budget and make it look exactly like you want it to!Tune in next week to learn about how I search for baby gear and keep our costs as minimal as possible without compromising our children's health and safety! From diapers and strollers to baby slings and toys, I'm going to share it all!