...The Nursery!

It wasn't until after we found out we we're having a boy that I got excited about shopping and decorating. While going to different stores and looking at baby clothes, I noticed I would tend to enjoy anything with monkies on it. I even bought Josiah a little sleeper with monkies on it. About a month and a half ago people began asking me how I was going to decorate the nursery. Good question...I hadn't really thought about it, but thought I might end up sticking with the monkey theme. However, the more time that passed, the less it appealed to me...

Finally, after much thought, I decided on a theme....primitive american (or early, colonial america). The more I thought about it, the more I fell in love with the idea! I shared my thoughts with Anthony and he was on board as well! I started searching online for crib bedding sets, and that's when I realized that this theme was going to be more difficult then I had imagined...

After many hours of searching and marking off the option of paying someone an arm and a leg to make crib bedding/curtains, I decided to attempt to sew the curtains and crib skirt myself. I found some awesome fabric at Hobby Lobby that will work perfect. I had gone to a few antique stores to look for a few decorations and had almost given up hope until one weekend back in October.

Anthony and I decided to head to Monroe because we had heard they have a few awesome antique stores! Come to find out the Saturday we chose to go was also when Monroe had their fall festival, so we killed a few birds with one stone. We got up early Saturday and headed to our church rummage sale for missions. They had a TON of stuff, but nothing we were really looking for..they ended up making over $3,000 for missions!! God is GOOD!!! After the rummage sale, we headed to downtown Monroe and stopped to walk around for the festival. There was SO much going on, and perfect for families! We actually ran into Anthony's cousin Will, his wife Kristin, and their little girl Jayden. They told us about the old cotton mill antique store and we decided to check that one out first.

WOW...talk about an antique store! Anthony has mentioned a few times since we've been there, that that was the best antique store he's been to so far. It was HUGE and we ended up finding 2 things to put in Josiah's room. We came across a really old 1776 American flag framed, but opted not to pay almost $600 for it..haha! Before we left we came across a vendor that had tea-stained flags!! They came in all sizes and were incredibly affordable. We picked out a 13 star flag that was 17X28, and we also bought a metal barn star for only 8 bucks! I ended up puting the 13 star flag in a frame I found at Hobby Lobby. I also backed it with burlap to make it look even more primitive.

The first thing I actually made for Josiah's room was a decorative piece that spelled out Josiah's name to hang above his bed. It turned out decent, but I am having to re-glue the letters with wood glue (they don't want to stick with the hot glue I used). After framing the flag, I decided it was time to start on the curtains. I found a simple pattern online for a valance, some fabric from Hobby Lobby, and went from there. It didn't turn out too bad for my first "big" sewing project. I also found some cheap pannels at Anna's that matched pretty well with the valance. I didn't like how they were made to hang, so I ended up cutting the tops off and sewing a pocket for the curtain rod to go through.

Anthony hanging the finished piece!

You can kind of see the crib skirt here...

It took me and entire Saturday to make the valance and fix the curtain pannels, so it took me a few weeks to get in the mood to try and attempt the crib skirt! Finally, a couple Saturdays I decided it was time to get it over with. Again, I found a simple pattern online to use. It took me 2 days to get this project done! I wouldn't say either of these things were hard to make, just time consuming!! I'm sure it wouldn't have taken a more experienced sewer nearly that long =)

Overall I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out. It has definitely helped pull everything together and make the room look more finished. We also bought a 9 hole cubby organizer thing from Target. We also have one in the "dining room" that we use for books and Anthony's cans of tuna...haha, don't ask, just know we go through many cans of tuna in the Barfield household! And, storing them in a basket in the bookcase is a perfect place since we don't have room in the pantry.

Definitely adds some storage!

This was my rocking chair when I was little,
and it matches his furniture! 

The only other thing I plan on doing to Josiah's room is possibly add some shelves and picture frames to the empty wall in his room, but that can come later. Now all we need is a baby to put in the crib =)