Remember Cakesie’s former room, which was painted in pastel green, lemon yellow, and lavender?
It’s now been transformed into DJ’s nursery:
My husband generously painted this room for me so that the fumes wouldn’t bother my asthma. For some reason, it’s really been acting up during this pregnancy.
(My husband is such a skilled painter that he doesn’t even have to mask off the ceiling. Can you believe it? If I did that, it would look like a preschooler’s paint job!)
The girls happily helped too, though I think Cakes painted more of herself than the wall.
As you know from my Debt Free Decorating post, I’m a big believer in rearranging and repurposing what I already have, before buying anything new. As a result, the cost of redoing this room was as follows:
1 gallon, high quality, Ace Hardware semi-gloss paint. Color – Rainy Lake: $25.99
2 decorative curtain rods: $23.92
Garage sale-purchased Target-brand shelf: $2.50
Consignment store-purchased Noah’s Ark print (80% off!): $3.00
Spool of red ribbon, (6) 9-inch name letters, 2 bottles of acrylic paint: $9.56 after gift card
Total: $64.97
When purchasing nursery items for the girls, we were always very practical. We stayed as gender neutral as possible – white crib and changing table, bedding in shades of blue and green, blue and green swing and carseat, etc. – so that DJ can use all of the same furniture that the girls used.
This is Bee’s old dresser. When we moved the girls in together (see The Girls’ Shared Room), we swapped it for Cakesie’s dresser because the finish matched their loft bed better, and it was large enough for them to share. I think this dresser is just right for a little boy’s room:
We bought this toy box at a garage sale several years ago for only $5. The colors are perfect:
My sweet and generous friend, Renee, contributed this set of shelves, and the giant Pooh bear was a garage sale freebie:
Remember the floor-length, white, tab-top curtains that we originally had in our bedroom? I used them because they were here when we bought the house, but I didn’t really like the tabs (I’m a rod-pocket curtain traditionalist, I guess), so I bought some Shabby Chic tie-up shades instead. I then moved the white curtains into the girls’ shared room, and made them look more girly with the addition of pastel ribbon bows:
Cakesie’s room had these lavender, gingham valances,
but obviously I couldn’t use them for DJ, so I looked into buying new curtains for him. However, I couldn’t find anything in the colors I wanted, and I would have to spend a minimum of $120 to get enough curtain panels to cover his windows. After much thought, I had a Paul-on-the-road-to-Damascus-type, light bulb moment. Bee and Cakes both have purple and white in their bedspreads, so I just moved the lavender valances into their room. They look great. My husband, who learned how to sew in his “bachelor survival” class in high school, shortened the white, tab-top curtains on our sewing machine (I feel that when curtains puddle on the floor, it looks a bit too frou-frou for a boy’s room:)
They look perfect, and we didn’t have to spend any money! YAY!
I swapped the green, gingham ribbons in my Salvation Army Thrift Store baskets for red and white craft ribbon. All of the adorable cloth diapers on the changing table came from my blog friend Angie. She’s such a sweetheart 
I found this shelf at a garage sale, and the cross and Jesus print were garage sale purchases from long ago. The cross was previously in Bee’s room, and the print was on Cakesie’s little shelf.
The cute picture frame is a present from another sweet blog friend. She also sent DJ some darling little outfits, and she sent lovely presents for the girls too (which they love!) She requested anonymity, so I will only say that I adore her, and wish that she was my next-door neighbor.
This is the Noah’s Ark print that I found at our local consignment store:
I’m willing to overlook the fact that it’s from Home Interiors (you know how I feel about that), because it’s cute, and it looks great with the colors in this room. It was also only $3, and you can’t beat that!
Michael’s still doesn’t have my “D,” but this is what DJ’s letters will look like, if I ever manage to get them painted!
They have mounting holes drilled in the back, which is good, because my husband doesn’t want me to use girly-style ribbons to hang them, as I did for the girls:
I chose True Red and Beachcomber Beige acrylic paints, because those colors really pop against the blue walls.
I’m so happy to have all of this done now, instead of waiting until I’m 8 months pregnant and miserable. It’s a good feeling. Now that his room is finished, I’m really anxious for DJ to get here! I saw a 6-week-old baby boy today when we were out doing errands, and it really made me long to meet my own baby boy. I hope he looks just like his Daddy, because in my opinion, my husband was the cutest little boy ever!
I don’t know about you, but I sure see a lot of Cakes in this photo
