Making Room for Baby

Earlier in the summer (before the heat wave kicked in, and we still had the motivation for doing projects), Tom and I started getting Sly's room ready for the new baby.  While our house technically has four bedrooms, it really makes the most sense to just put the two kids (whoa!  We're gonna have two kids!) in the same room.  For one, it's the largest room in the house.  Also, it's connected to our bedroom, which is convenient for meeting any nighttime needs.  The other two bedrooms are one floor below, and Sly's still too young to be sleeping on a different floor at night.  Plus - and maybe this is a bigger factor than I'm willing to admit - we just aren't ready to sacrifice the luxury of being able to use those rooms as an "office" and a "library" yet!

 The first step was freeing up the crib.  We found a toddler bed on Craig's List for $30.  Sly does really well with it, and the transition was not difficult at all (don't be jealous!).  Next to the bed is a hamper my mom picked up at Burlington Coat Factory.  We spray-painted it green, and use it for extra toy storage.

 The bookshelf was moved to the corner with the rocking chair to make a cozy little reading nook.

 We picked up this bookshelf at Goodwill for $10.  It was pretty ugly, so we painted it white with green at the backs of the shelves.  Too bad all the toys mostly disguise our effort at making it a little fancier!

 The crib, waiting for the baby to come (a little more patiently than we are, I'm sure).

I spotted this dresser sitting out on the curb as trash, and snagged it right away.  It's obviously very old, and had been sitting in a garage or basement for years.  It's had at least three prior coats of paint, but we gave it one more - white with blue for the drawers.  And we moved the cute ceramic Peter Rabbit knobs from Sly's dresser.  The painting hanging above of the girl feeding bunnies used to be over my bed when I was a little girl.

Sorry - neither me nor my camera are great at taking clear or artsy photos of things.  Here's a close-up of the knobs, though, and the details on the dresser.  I'd say it was a good find!

The best part is, the drawers are already stocked with little girl clothes!  Newborn size in the top, 0-3 months in the middle, and 3-6 months in the bottom.  This is thanks to the generosity of two ladies who each offered us a box of hand-me-down girl clothes.  A little too much pink in there for my taste (if I was buying things new, I'd avoid as much pink as possible), but hey, they were free!