During the past few weeks, I’ve felt like I’ve been growing two things—the baby, of course, as well the nursery. It’s been so much fun decorating the space and daydreaming about the experiences my family and I will have in this room.
In case you’ve missed my last few posts about The
Blueprint Baby Challenge, I’ll fill you in: I was given $2000 from Chase to makeover my nursery, as well as participating in a competition with 2 other expecting bloggers to win additional prizes of at least $500. Hopefully you’ll love what I’ve done with the room, and
vote for mine as your favorite.
Now that the room is complete, I find myself frequently reflecting on what I’ve accomplished, and enjoying how visually pleasing the space is. I know I’ll relish much of my time in here, nursing, changing diapers, and tending to an infant again, at least during those rare moments when I’m not running on lack of sleep and stuck in the fog of new motherhood.
While it’s been great reveling in the finished room, I also really enjoyed the process of transforming it. From choosing and paying for the furnishings using my Slate card with Blueprint, to painting the room with my brother and sister-in-law, to the fun times hanging wallpaper with my husband, the journey of creating a space for the newest member of my family has been memorable. Rather than continue to wax poetic, I’ll give you a run-down of the transformation.
Here are the goals I focused on while creating the nursery:
- Eco-friendly, with both green and repurposed items (like the crib)
- Funky, handmade touches
- Furniture that would grow with my child
- Gender neutral
- Not matchy-matchy
- Modern and not too cluttered
- Plenty of storage for our closet-less room
Overall, I think I did quite well with meeting my objectives. The furniture, area rug, wall paper and paint are all eco-friendly, and I added many handmade accents throughout the room, starting with artwork from independent artists and sprinkling in items of my own making.
My sewing machine definitely got a workout these past few weeks with the creation of a quilted wall hanging, a coordinating pillow, and a liner for the room’s toy basket.
I also enjoyed covering a roller shade with fabric as well as making a felted mobile, which I think is the cherry on top of this whimsical room. I hope my baby enjoys watching its gentle swaying as he is falling asleep.
And did you notice the monogrammed artwork above the crib? Can you guess what the letter is made from? If you said “broken crayons” you’re right. I arranged and glued them into a "J" for Jude onto colored paper and tucked the artwork into a shadow box frame.
The focal point of the space is the fanciful swallow and cloud wallpaper, which I fell in love with when first scouring the internet for nursery ideas. Despite never having hung wallpaper before, it was actually a memorable afternoon with my husband, trying to hang it evenly and smooth out bubbles.
I love how it looks behind the crib, with the birds sprinkling sweet dreams over a sleeping babe. Cheesy,yes, but I can’t help but like that image.
The amount of storage that the furniture provides in the room will be very helpful with all the baby clothes, gear, diapers and other things.
Since our 100+ year old home lacks closet space, the dresser and armoire will keep us organized while still being pieces that will transcend our baby’s childhood.
Rather than decking out the crib with fussy bedding, something I never found to be practical with my eldest child, I just bought a few funky crib sheets. I think they add just enough interest to the crib area without being too confining.
Throughout this entire project, my Slate card with Blueprint has made the shopping process simple. I bought all the items for the nursery, both those online and in brick-and-mortar stores, using my Slate card and was able to easily view and manage purchases with the free Blueprint features.
One of my largest purchases was my $700 dresser. The great thing about the Split Plan is you can set a goal date -like three months from now -to pay off your purchases. In my case I wanted to pay off my large furniture by the time my baby arrived. It’s great that we can track our payment progress at any time by logging onto
Chase.com/Blueprint and make changes to our plan without penalty or charge, like increasing the amount we’d like to pay on the furniture for each month.
I can see the Split option being extremely helpful in the future, say when a major appliance breaks on us and we aren’t able to pay for it up front with cash. Blueprint helps us to pay off purchases faster and save money on interest, and we can log on to Blueprint to check our progress at any time and change our plan, whether to reduce the number of payments or change the monthly payment amount. And Blueprint does all the calculating for us, which is really helpful for the months when our minds are occupied with the daily chaos of family life with two small children.
I’ve had such a wonderful time participating in the
Blueprint Baby Challenge and using the Blueprint features to help me through the often overwhelming experience of transforming a nursery. I’m anticipating many wonderful memories in this room, and will reflect fondly on this time in my life, preparing and dreaming about our newest arrival.
As a reminder, the
Blueprint Baby Challenge is also a contest, running from 7/15 through 8/15, so head on over to the website and please
vote for my room as your favorite! You can vote once per day, and you can also win weekly prizes just for voting.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Chase. All opinions are my own.
