Nursery Part 3 of 3

For the final part of the nursery I’m going to show you the dresser we converted into a changing table, a lamp makeover project, a small closet organization trick, and a planter used as a book shelf.

UPDATE: To see his new “Big Boy Room” click here

Here is a picture of the dresser/changing table…

The dresser, as I said in Part 1, is Munire and matches the crib. It’s part of the Chesapeake Collection in Light Gray. I did not want to have to buy a “changing table” and then another piece of furniture to replace the changing table once the baby grew out of diapers, so we just added a changing pad to the top of the dresser and some non-slip fabric underneath. The changing pad and washable cover are from RH Baby & Child. The mirror above the dresser is from Hobby Lobby. It was originally a turquoise color and I painted it with ASCP in French Linen. The tray on top of the dresser is actually a mirror from Paul Michael Company that is suppose to hang on the wall but I just decided to lay it flat and use it as a tray to hold lotions and creams…

We use Renew Lotion by Melaleuca all over the baby’s body to treat Eczema. It works great and makes his skin incredibly soft! Renew is 7 times more moisturizing than the leading lotion on the market (Eucerin) and has been clinically proven to treat Eczema, Psoriasis, & Rosacea. I love it most of all because it does not contain any harmful toxins, preservatives, or carcinogens. We also use Melagel by Melaleuca for diaper rash!  It does not burn when applied and offers a soothing/cooling property right away.

The lamp was a hand-me-down from my in laws.  It was given to them in the 80’s!!!  I liked the thick wicker base so I painted it with a very thin layer of Annie Sloan’s French Linen and changed the shade to a faux linen drum shade from Target.

Not a good “before” picture!  It’s from 1998 and this is the best crop job I could do!

After delivery, we did not know what the status of my vertigo was going to be,  if I was going to be able to take care of the baby, and/or if I was going to need another ear surgery !?!  Knowing that we would need a lot of help and would probably have new people in our house to help with the baby, I wanted to make sure that we were super prepared and that everything was organized and easily accessible.

The entire time I was pregnant, all I thought and dreamed about was nesting and organizing! One night I thought up the idea to put labels in the closet and drawers to separate the baby’s clothes by size so that whoever was doing the laundry or shopping would know where to put the clothes, burp cloths, diapers, etc. away and what size clothes we needed to buy.  Mrs. S and Margo helped make this dream become a reality!  Mrs. S. helped me divide all of the baby’s pajamas into groups by size. Then, I made labels for each of the sizes with my label maker to put on the edge of the drawers. Margo got me some Dream Drawer organizers from Target to separate the clothes.  Here are some pictures of the organized and labeled drawers…

To organize the closet, Margo made some labels for me that I had envisioned to divide the hanging clothes/daytime clothes by size.  She started with a 12×12 piece of black cardstock from Hobby Lobby and folded it in half.  Then she cut a sliver in the top to create a hole for the hanger. She then slipped the hanger inside the folded paper and pulled the hook of the hanger through the hole on the top fold. Then she glued the edges together with a glue stick. After the glue dried, she wrote the sizes on them with a white marker.  Here are a few pictures of what they look like in the closet now…

Behind this “6-9 sign” are all of the baby’s 6-9 month size clothes

Behind this “9-12 sign” are all of the baby’s 9-12 month size clothes

Behind the “12+ sign” are all of the baby’s 12 month and up size clothes

Last, and most recently, I added a book shelf in the corner right next to the crib and the closet.  After retrieving all of the books from my classroom that I had collected over the years, I needed a shelf to display a collection of cute Dr. Seuss books!  During one of the last trips I made to Paul Michael Company, I found this adorable plant shelf that I thought would be perfect for books!  Here is a picture of it on the wall in the nursery…