Sitting Pretty

It is all about the mom when it comes to the cozy spot of the nursery.

Every mother needs a comfortable area to hold their new little one in their nursery. Let's face it, the nursery is for us moms more than the baby. You want to be in a room that makes you happy. The baby will not remember and will not care about any of it, but it will make you happy sitting in a room surrounded by special things as you snuggle your new little one. Especially on the nights that your little is not sleeping, you want to pull your hair out, you are crying, babies crying, etc., you will want to be in a space that gives you peace.

The nursery does that for me. I walk in there and I just feel happy. I sit in the chair where I have nursed all my little ones and feel so calm and rested there. Every project was worth the effort to me.

Today, I am sharing some of my decorative additions that brighten up my space. Again, they are pretty straight forward, but I think each add just the right touch to the room.

Tulip wall hanging
Sometimes deciding what will go in the room is actually already there. These candle wall hangings have been on the wall since basically Bob and I moved in 8 years ago. We have plaster walls and covering up holes is one of the biggest pains to my husband and I, so if something works, we leave it.

These wall hangings matched my "bird nesting" theme, but they need a girl face lift.

I spray painted the bases with 2 coats of silver glitter spray paint. Then, I took the candle holders and painted the insides of each a shade of purple. Then added just some fake white and purple tulips into each cup (real would be nice, but who has time to keep real flowers with 3 under 3 running around).

Easy project requiring little effort and no new wall holes, definitely is the right project for this mom.

Step stool
Sitting the glider is comfortable, but you need to have some where to rest your feet a little off the ground. Since we are tight on space an ottoman is out of the question, so finishing a wood stool worked out perfectly for the space.

I just bought a small unfinished wood stool that you can find at any craft store and painted it a dark purple. I painted a glossy finish to just the top of the stool. I then found these three birds at Michael's in the wood section. The birds are meant to be covered with paper or fabric. I cut scraps larger than the birds and their wings and I Mod Podged them down. After the fabric dried, I took my sharp small sewing scissors and trimmed away the extra fabric. Finally I hot-glued each bird into place.

Bird lampshade
With all the tutorials out there for lampshades, who wants a just plain white one to look at? I went back and forth with how I wanted to decorated the lamp that I bought at Target. I thought maybe fabric flowers, but decided to create a bird scene instead.

This was a time consuming project, but an easy one. It requited fabric scraps, Heat-n-Bond interfacing, templates, scissors, an iron, and a rolled-up hand towel.

First, I adhered Heat-n-Bond to several decent size fabric scraps. Then I took my bird, tree, and leaf templates that I found in "Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby" and traced my patterns to the fabric. I cut out each shape and organized them on my kitchen counter into a scene that would work on the shade's space.

After figuring out what I wanted and if I needed anything more cut out to make it work, I started adding the shapes to the lampshade. To do this, I rolled up a hand towel and held that on the inside of the shade for pressure against the iron. I followed the directions of the Heat-n-Bond on how to adhere the fabric in place. Remember to turn off the steam when using Heat-n-Bond.

I slowly worked my way around the shade. Placing and ironing and placing and ironing until I was done.

To finish the shade off, I hot-glued purple ribbon around the top and bottom of the shade.

These 3 simple projects, really add a personal touch to our nursery that are one-of-a-kind for our little girl.

I can't wait to finish this space. It is still missing 2 important things. A purple knit blanket that my mom is finishing for our little one and newborn photo to be hung behind the chair once she is here. Both will really make this spot so cozy and calming for those rough nights when no one is getting sleep.