Nursery News – Furniture Fun

I’ve talked alot about the nursery furniture.  A LOT.  Like when I put together the initial moodboard.  Or like when I changed the initial moodboard and decided on other furniture.  Or like when I posted about building the crib.

So it should come as no surprise that there is yet another post about furniture for the nursery.  I promise that this will be the last time.  I know.  I’m milkin this pregnancy (THAT WON’T END FOR THE LIFE OF ME!) for all it’s worth.  No pun intended.  Ya know.  About the milkin  

Anyhoo.  Back to the furniture.  We decided to splurge for a console/buffet/changing table from Walmart.  As you may remember, it matches our Craigslist crib and it can be transitioned into a new place (and function) once Will outgrows it.  The best part about shopping at Walmart is that they have free shipping to the store.  So all we had to do was select our nearest branch and have the Wallie World peeps deliver it to that local location (who gave us a ring to come pick it up when it came in!).  Easy peasy contraction squeezy.      

When we broke into the package and set out all the pieces, I went to work putting the drawers together while Jeremy put together the big pieces including the frame and the doors. 

Canopy invests a little more into their instructions than Ikea (whose directions include two stick figures making faces.  You think I am joking.  I am not.) so we were able to get this piece together in a jiffy.  

We did discover that the package was short on two ‘pins’ that were used to assemble the drawers.  First we called Walmart to see if there was a way to get extra pins.  They directed us to the customer service peeps at Canopy who said that if we were able to find a replacement (like getting a couple nails at our local home improvement store that would fit) then they would reimburse us up to $10.    

It’s nice to know that a company is willing to work out a good deal.  Because otherwise we would have had to disassemble the entire piece, pack it up, and return it to the store, then wait for a new one to be delivered, go pick it up and then assemble it all over again.  That would probably be as annoying as waiting for your uterus to expel your child.  THREE DAYS and counting people! 

Here is the completed piece.  We love the color and the versatility.  We don’t love the difficulty of opening the drawers (not pictured).  Since they are optional – as in, you can take em out and plop in a dvd player or a stack of dishes.  Obviously, since we are using this piece of furniture in the nursery, we wanted the drawers for the storage and since they are a little tough to slide out then we will be sure to place items in them that we don’t need to access everyday. 

After we assembled the console table, my boyfriend and I started talking about the layout once again.  As you may remember, we had previously decided that the wardrobe would go next to the closet and the console table would go next to the door and the rocker.   

But as we got closer to putting all the large furniture in the room, we both hated how the wardrobe was tall enough to block some of the light from the window (see photo below).  It just didn’t butter our muffins if you know what I mean. 

So we did a last minute switch.  We swapped out the console table for the wardrobe…and then scooted the rocker towards the door and catty-cornered the tall wardrobe. 

So much better…right??!   The console table next to the closet is still in front of the window but doesn’t block the light or obstruct the shades.  And we were able to pop an ikea mirror over it to reflect even more light from the opposing window and the texture from the accent wall.  

And since we moved the console table, we went to work placing the cabinet in the corner.  We wanted to save money by reusing the little white side table beside the (non-pictured) rocker.  The only problem was that we had an overwhelming amount of white-hued stuff on this wall…the cabinet, the side table and the soon-to-be-included rocker were all white.     

So to break up the albino-wall, I decided to bring a little color in.  I chose to spraypaint the little sidetable so that it would separate the white pieces and also add a little boyish personality to the space. 

Spraypaint was the easiest method to get a quick change.  I went with the only navy spraypaint available at our local Lowe’s…and it was a REALLY quick change (it only took me thirty minutes from start to finish!). 

Now onto the juiciest piece of this here furniture post…the chair. 

We scored a rocker off Craigslist for $30.  The seller was given the rocker by his grandparents for their own nursery (small world, huh?) and the soon-to-be-mom decided that the color wasn’t the right fit for their own scheme.  So we swooped in with our thirty bones to snag the lazyboy.

Check out that hottie carryin’ the chair like it weighs two-point-oh ounces (enter cat-call whistle here!)

Fortunately for us, the cost was super low, the quality and comfort was high and I had dabbled in a little re-upholstery before.  Unfortunately, I had only dabbled.  And I really wanted to make sure that the reupholstery included separate covers for the cushions so that we could remove them to wash off any airborne baby vomit. 

It only took me about fourty-seven straight hours to remove the existing upholstery and the three and a half gazillion staples, figure out a plan for the new upholstery, and actually finish the covering. 

When I got 95% completed, I was so excited to take the chair upstairs, it didn’t matter if the skirt was completed or not.  Just to see the rocker in place was thrilling.  And I am not too shamed to admit that I gave myself a high-five.  Swollen fingers and bruised hands and all.

You’ll be happy to know that now it is 100% finished…I got the skirt done the next day (high-tens all around!).  And after I put into place the side table, the rocker and the cabinet, it was easy to imagine the rest of the room complete.  In fact, it was amazingly simple to get the ball rollin’ after I got the chair rockin.  Yep – that’s right.  There is a lot more to come…like, say, um, the baby for one…but also the gallery wall I did above the changing station, the little shelf we installed, plus our storage solutions, lighting and all the other finishing touches that make this nursery fit for a little woodsy prince.

And now that you know what we did for all the big pieces, anyone else wanna chime in with how they tackled a room with a slew of various priced furniture?  I mean, we paid full price for our buffet/changing station, only $30 for the rocker and everything else was hand-me-downs (plus the cost of a can of spraypaint!).  I know I can’t be the only one out there that remakes rooms with a huge variety of different pieces and styles. Or maybe you just wanna comment on how content this baby is at living inside of me…yes…I might be the first ever gal to give birth to a two-year old.