real progress

I took a half-day off of work yesterday to work in solitude on New Baby's nursery. When we first found out I was pregnant, I fully intended to use all of the same bedding and decor from Natalie's room. That was part of the reason we went gender neutral in the first place. Natalie's room turned out great. I loved it. I still love it.


But my mommy guilt got the best of me. I want my kids to know they are both special to me. New Baby will have lots of hand-me-down toys and maybe clothes. So why not give New Baby his or her own space to grow?

Since we, like most parents, find ourselves shorter on cash now than we did before kids, the challenge was to put together a cute room for less money. Especially considering none of it was going to be "showered" on us.

We bought new furniture and painted, and that was a good start. But we had nothing on the walls. Everything I found online was either not to my taste or expensive or out of stock or gender-specific. I splurged on a wall decal (below) that was too cute to pass up and a baby's first year collage frame that matches Natalie's. Those two things came to about $55. I bought a couple of other small things new ($8.50 on clearance). Then I pieced the rest of the decor together using stuff I had on hand or purchased from a thrift store ($5.71).Decor: $69.21
Curtains: $15.50
Bedding: $45
Giving New Baby his/her own space: priceless (or $129.71)

It's got a totally different vibe from Natalie's room, but I really like it. I plan to showcase the projects here once I've got them on the walls. Check back!