This is the first in a series of posts about the vintage nursery we put together for Jamie and Thad's new baby, and TODAY is the BIG DAY!! We will start in one corner of the nursery and work our way around the room.
We spent the last week getting a nursery finished up for Levi's Little Sis...what fun we had!
I think the most fun was finding the goodies. I had lots of help. Sisters and friends enjoyed finding stuff and either bringing it to me or telling me where to find it, because they knew the baby's nursery was going to be "vintage".
I just kind of let them know what kind of colors we thought we'd use, and they went to town.
Of course, I had some things already, I just had to go into the attic and pull them out.
This is an old expanding peg rack I paid a dollar for, and Jamie dressed it up with some satin spray paint; Krylon's "Ballet Slipper" in satin finish.
From it, we hung sweet things for baby girl, all of them are usable, yet they are just adorable waiting to be used out in the open where anyone in the nursery can appreciate them.
On the left hangs an vintage flannel baby bathrobe and nightie, bought for the nursery by Jamie's Aunt Pam. It has variegated trim hand crocheted on it in a delicate little stitch. Thanks Aunt Pam!
A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.
Next to that is a vintage "bed jacket" that is embroidered with tiny storks and has a scalloped trim. Jamie found it at the small thrift store in her town for half off and paid $1.
Ahem! When did our babies quit wearing flannel bathrobes and bed jackets? ;0)
Source info for this vintage-style wooden baby hanger: Go
here.
She has several colors to choose from.
To the right of that is a tiny pink frock made by Polly Flinders circa 1980's.
Above it is a tiny pair of little knitted booties in pink I picked up for a quarter at a garage sale. I hung them from satin ribbon and and used tiny safety pins to hold them to it.
Jamie wore dresses like this one when she was little!
$1 at a garage sale!
On the top rack on the left is a pair of tiny vintage baby rattles, hung from a ribbon.
In the center is a lace bonnet made for the baby by my mom, Jamie's grandmother. (She takes orders!) I can't wait to see Little Sis in that one!
Next to that is a tiny hand-embroidered handmade baby bib with crocheted trim. It features little yellow birds! I found it at an antique store in the tiny town full of antique stores where my sister, Pam, lives! (The same store where Levi got his tractor.)
The unique thing about decorating this room that posed a slight problem is that it must serve a dual purpose: it has to be a functioning guest room at the moment.
So we found a comforter on clearance at TJ Maxx that would work to blend with the nursery colors. To accommodate a spare mattress for her uncles when they come to stay, the guest bed was heightened off the floor using bed risers.
I custom made an extra long bed skirt to hide all this using a pristine eyelet-trimmed king-sized bed sheet from a garage sale that was $3.50.
The bed only shows on one side, so the eyelet trim piece from the top of the king sheet faces out and at the end of the bed. I pieced it using the trim off one pillowcase to finish the foot board end.
The king pillow cases that matched this sheet were $1.50 for the set and they are the exact perfect size to use for cradle mattress sheets! The extra one was washed and put into the stack of linens for baby.
The mattress can now be stored underneath the bed, and when it's used, we slide our luggage underneath and out of the way.
Jamie printed these sweet vintage prints to hang laundry-line style over the bed using ribbon on some, and on others, leftover spray paint -- makes for some sweet wooden clothespins.
In the center hangs an authentic vintage baby card sent to Jamie by her cousin Autumn. It is sO CuTe!
(Autumn is due with a little girl in December. She's doing a vintage-themed nursery, too!)
The dresser was found by my sister in her neighborhood one evening while she was walking during the week Jamie was home visiting this summer, she told Jamie about it so we went over and bought it for $50! It was just the sort of dresser she was looking for and is very similar to Levi's.
All we added to freshen it up was new milk glass blue pulls. Jamie spray painted a mirror she already had around with Krylon in Blue Ocean Breeze gloss finish.
The Bakelite vintage circle-stacking toy shown below was found for Jamie by her Aunt Pam. It's a welcome pop of color in the pastel room.
The vintage aqua Beatrix Potter books underneath the lamp were given to me for Jamie by my dear friend, Shelley. The full-page illustrations inside it could be scanned and framed if we wanted to, they're that cute.
Jamie found the little vintage train wind-up musical planter in excellent condition at her local thrift store for half off and only paid a couple dollars. The vintage baby prints she found online to print and frame.
Jamie found the lampshade at a Dollar General store in pink gingham and used it on a base she already had. I trimmed it using the pom-pom ball trim for a vintage look.
I just cut the trim to fit, stitched the ends together and put it over the lampshade, pulling it down to the edges, it's stretchy enough to fit without gluing or stitching to the lampshade itself. That way it can be taken off to toss into the wash if needed when it gets dusty.
I made this rug years ago, taught by my friend, Shelley, to match Jamie's Wizard of Oz room she had when she was single. It was already in the room and matched our theme perfectly!
In one corner, Jamie reused a barrister bookshelf she already had to store items needed for baby.
On the top is a framed sepia-print she made on photo paper, using one of Levi's foot photos from when he was a newborn. She matted it using scrapbook paper.
It says:
"Babies come to us to teach us
To be unselfish.
To love unconditionally.
And to sacrifice.
The payoff is immeasurable."
The chenille teddy was $1 and came from a garage sale. I tossed it into the dryer to sanitize it (the beans in its bottom didn't allow for washing), then cut off the plaid ribbon that was hunter green, and replaced it with aqua grosgrain.
In front of the framed print is a tiny little vintage baby planter that I bought--had to have it because it was aqua and pink!
Thad's aunt sent this gorgeous little hand-crocheted sweater with cheerful daisy buttons. It is worthy of its own little corner to shine, and it brightens up this one!
Aunt Pam found this little girl in aqua for Jamie in Grand Rapids, MI one day when she was there to drop one of her daughters off at college. Isn't she cute?
Since she's heading to school with her little red apple and her ABC book, we thought it would be perfect to put it next to the schoolroom style retro clock in aqua Jamie found on Amazon. Here is a link to this style clock.
The neat thing about all the furnishings in the room is that they will grow with the baby, and won't ever be too babyish to use.
A vintage "string style" baby quilt given to me by a friend a few years ago. PERFECT for this nursery, it has been used on my porch each summer since I received it!
A handmade "I SPY" baby quilt I bought for $1 years ago at a yard sale. I absolutely love it and of course being that it's been used, it is SO SOFT!
I bought this "Raw-edge circle quilt" years ago at a craft sale. It is made using many many reproduction quilt fabrics from the 1930's and 1940's. This was our inspiration piece for the room. Levi used it, too so it's broken in for Little Sis.
Most of her shoes are, of course new or like brand new and were purchased for little at garage sales. What fun! The black pair in center were a gift from Great Grandma and the pink cowboy boots on the right were a gift that came from Thad's Aunt Elaine.
Another cute print Jamie made and framed, in front of it is a tiny pair of hand-knit mittens I bought at a garage sale this spring for a quarter, never used.
I think Jamie should save these to hang on her Christmas tree once Little Sis is done with them, don't you?
In the center below, behind the wicker basket are more hand knit hats made by Thad's Aunt Elaine. Is there anything cuter than a little one in a hat? Anything more loving than handmade gifts?
These little wicker "cupcake baskets" were found at Dollar General on clearance, were already lined in pink gingham. Jamie is using them to store little barrettes, infant hats, and other small items that need to be readily available without pulling out a dresser drawer.
In the foreground is an adorable little hat hand-knitted by my sweet friend, Marsha, whose daughter graduated from high school with Jamie! How cute is this precious little thing? The day she asked me for Jamie's address to mail it to her, I had just bought the baby her first little coat for the winter, and it was pink! This is going to be so adorable on her little head! Thanks, Marsha!
All of these baby hats (and more! I gave some to Autumn, too!) were purchased at a garage sale for a quarter each. I can't wait to see that tiny little downy head fresh after a bath in one of these hats. They make the most adorable tiny prints for baby girls, it makes me giggle, it's so much FUN!!
This vintage baby dish was found for decorative purposes by Jamie's Aunt Pam, just how cute is this? It was a plate made so that a mom could put hot water in it order to keep baby's food warm! It also lends a nice bright splash in a soft pastel room.
Well, we made it about halfway around the room. I hope you enjoyed a peek into the nursery! I'll be back with more shortly. It was all too full of fun not to share all of the little details!
Have a great MONDAY!
=)
