Sports Themed Nursery
Our little guy is now three months old and I have decided to take time off from working to stay home for a couple years. While I'll still be busy, just in a different way, I hope to devote more time to my blog again. I have missed it!
To help me stay sane during the pregnancy, and stop obsessing over reading too many IUGR stories online, I worked on a lot of DIY projects. First, I created decor for our bee-themed gender reveal party. After finding out we were having a boy, I then began diving into all things nursery related. We quickly decided on a sports theme; my husband played baseball growing up and is an avid UK basketball fan. I wanted to incorporate family momentos, DIY projects, and personalized touches to make the room unique and not overly matchy-matchy.
The room transformation began with painting. I decided to go traditional with a blue room, but adding a striped wall behind the crib as an accent. The first hurdle was to commit to a shade of blue and white. We clearly struggle with decision making...
Just a few of the samples we looked at...from one store alone
After we decided on a shade and painted the room, it was time for the stripes. To be honest, I was not sure this was going to happen. My husband stayed holed up in the room for an entire evening trying to measure it out and dimension it properly before declaring it was not going to work. Thankfully he persevered and I think it turned out great!
His reward was yet another challenging task. I wanted letters above Lincoln's crib but I was a bit cautious about sticking any wooden letters on the wall. After searching around online, I found a vinyl sticker on Etsy. The varsity print matched the sports theme perfectly! The sticker had so many small slivers here and there that it was a more difficult task to adhere than I expected. But, my husband persevered once again and it turned out great. Just not sure he is going to be as quick to jump into my next project someday... Ha!
While my husband was hard at work on the walls, I focused on smaller DIY projects to tie in our theme. My goal was to add a personal touch and save some money. DIY projects can become costly, so I started early on looking for deals on paint and pieces.
First up were letters I painted with different sport themes. I found these at a local craft store on sale. I used painter's tape to help me make stripes and straight lines and a plastic cup to get the curved lines just right.
Another deal I found at a local craft store were these wooden round pallets. As soon as I saw them I thought they would make cute sports decor for the wall if painted to look like balls. The pic below also shows the mini baseball bats that our friends/family signed during our gender reveal party. These were free bats we got when we toured the Louisville Slugger Museum back when my husband and I were dating.
There are a few other projects in the room including a UK basketball themed stool I painted, a letter "L" I found in the clearance section of Michaels and painted, and Mason jars I painted with sports theme (baseball, basketball, and football).
The room is also filled with mementos both old and new including a baseball bank, UK basketball and Atlanta Braves memorabilia, sports light switch/outlet covers, a home-run ball of my husband's from when he played baseball, a couple sweet prints my sister made, and tons of books, toys, and stuffed animals we were graciously given!
Three pieces of furniture in the room have sentimental family meaning too. The dresser/changing table was actually in my husband's nursery when he was a baby! His parents painted it and added adorable baseball handles.
The rocking chair has been in my family and my mom and grandmother both held me in it when I was a baby. The small kid rocking chair belonged to my grandfather.
A few more pieces of furniture and baby essentials helped us finish out the room, we even found a cute basketball net trashcan! All in all we thought the room came together well and were so excited to bring Lincoln home! While he is not quite yet sleeping in his room, he loves listening to and watching his mobile. He has also started staring at the letters above the changing table when I change his diaper. His sweet smile makes all the hard work and stress during pregnancy worthwhile!
