DIY Crib Bedding - A Sneak Peek

We had a pretty good Mother's Day in these parts. Even though I'm not officially a mother yet, I still received a lot of well wishes from others, and my mom even got me a little gift (a nice cardigan for summer).

Oh, and for all of the mothers out there... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

We treated my mom to lunch, then took a drive to a large Joann Fabrics store together. I've been wanting to go shop for fabric for the baby's bedding, but haven't yet, since I've been needing my mom's help! She's the sewing expert in the family, and also has an eye for this stuff. I'd like to think I have an eye for it, too, but I can also be indecisive, so I needed a second opinion. Michael was a good sport and came along, and it was nice to have him weigh in as well. Too boy, too girl... we needed to strike a balance.

As a team, we picked out a bunch of different fabrics that we thought might work, then laid them out and put together several combinations until we came up with "the one." It's hard to make decisions like this, because I've had so many different ideas floating around in my head for so long that it feels a little strange to finally pick just one. We actually ended up with something a little different than I was originally picturing, but I love it!

Here are the fabrics we'll be using for the bumper (don't worry, we're not going to use it for the first several months, since we're well aware it's an increased SIDS risk) and the crib skirt. For the crib sheets, we'll be picking out coordinating solid colors from Babies 'R' Us. As previously discussed, we plan to paint the walls a shade of aqua blue. It's funny, because after originally trying to stay away from green and yellow, we came back to green and yellow. But we came back to it in a way that I think is different than what is traditional, bringing in the aqua blue as well.

Also, the nursery furniture is in already! Holy crap, JCPenney is FAST! Now the only problem is that I'm super excited to get started on everything, but we're not ready to give up our den yet. :( So, I'll have to hold back until at least Memorial Day weekend before I set myself loose. We figure it's probably a good idea to put together the crib and double-check the measurements before making the bedding, even though we have a pattern we can use. I don't want to spend all of that time only to find out our crib is a little different, you know?

My mom and I are going to schedule a day to get together to crank out the bedding. I'll make sure to take a bunch of pictures of the process and eventually post about it, but I'm not sure I'll do it until after the big, finished nursery reveal. Until then... this sneak peek may be all that you get! :)

P.S. After two weeks of being behind and trying to catch up on my blog, I am FINALLY caught up!

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Nursery Furniture - Check!

We ordered our nursery furniture tonight!

We weren't planning to order until June, but when I just so happened to go onto the JCPenney website to take another look at things (I've been researching this stuff for two months!), I saw that not only was the furniture on sale, but I could get free shipping, too. Considering free shipping saves us another $150+, it was a good deal.

We thought we were pretty settled on the Grayson Collection, but I kept having my doubts. There was something that just didn't seem quite "right" to me, but it was still really beautiful, so I thought we were good to go. Then, upon seeing the measurements, it occurred to me to grab the tape measure and check things. As it turned out, the Grayson dresser is only 31" high--which is SUPER short when you're planning to use the thing as a changing table, too! That right there pretty much eliminated Grayson from the running.

So, back to the drawing board on the JCPenney site, I began to explore other options. There are so many pretty cribs that it's hard to choose! But in some cases, we didn't like the style of the dressers, so that helped narrow things down.

Finally, I came upon the Hartford Collection. I had admired it previously, and found myself coming back to it with interest. But then, a different debate began--the Hartford crib comes in both straight back and curved styles. Decisions, decisions.

After going back and forth, comparing them side by side, looking at my inspiration photos, and polling a bunch of people for their opinions, we came to the decision to go with the straight back crib. And tonight, we placed the order. It'll likely be here very soon!

It's just another one of those things that helps make this so much more real. We ordered nursery furniture. Oh my, we're having a baby!

The crib and dresser (we ordered both in the coffee color):

I'm so excited (yet so overwhelmed) to start on the nursery! A big project to start in June...

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