How to get a designer nursery look on a DIY budget

In this week’s baby bargainista column, you’re in for a treat as Rebecca Atkinson shares how she and her husband decorated the nursery.

One of the first things my husband and I thought about when we found out I was pregnant, was space. We had a room in the house which could be converted to a nursery, but it meant getting rid of our prized Foosball table, and also creating a new linen closet somewhere else if we wanted the baby to have somewhere to put her clothes.



After convincing hubby that we couldn’t just put the crib on top of the Foosball table (much like the old ping pong/billiards combos), the nursery renovation launched a giant project of our bedroom to create more storage so baby Atkinson could have her closet. We were forced to redo two rooms simultaneously, meaning our nursery budget shrank considerably.

Being big fans of the show Sarah’s House, and having recently watched the nursery episode we decided we wanted to recreate something similar (complete with two-colours and the alphabet on the wall), but on a DIY budget.

First stop was Michaels craft store, where I fell in love. I’m not normally a very crafty person, but it is full of so many cool things to get your creative juices flowing. First thing we looked for were letters. We found several options, but went with styrofoam ultimately because it was half the price ($1.50 per letter) of the same sized wooden letters.

We got very lucky with this project as my husband’s aunt was coming into town for a few days and she is one of the most creative people I know. We immediately asked her to come help show us the light so she gets a lot of credit for this post too.

Back at Michaels, we filled up our cart with several things: acrylic paint (because we learned this would go a long way, be easy to clean up and have virtually no fumes, meaning I could paint letters to my heart’s content). We also found the cutest vinyl wall art of safari animals which would be easy to remove without ruining the paint, should we decide to change the room down the road.

Having already found a bedding deal at Pottery Barn the colour scheme for the room was pretty much chosen for us; yellow and green. We then decided to add orange and light-blue accents. Although we’ve been told we’re having a girl, we also know you never know until the baby comes out. So we opted to still go as neutral as possible without making it gender specific – just in case.

As we were showing my husband’s aunt everything, she declared we’d found a theme – Alphabet Safari. This prompted Mark‘s next brilliant find, alphabet flash cards using animals. With all the fun stuff bought, it was off to buy the room paint and material for the plate rails so we could get started on this project.

We were excited to be able to recreate the designer’s look for less and to be able to say we did all of it ourselves (with help from said Aunt). Overall with paint and supplies (tape, brushes etc), we spent less than $350 on decorating (not including window coverings, furniture, shelving or accessories). You can see the finished look in my Flickr album and read our lessons learned below for some additional tips.

My next post I’ll tell you how we saved more money by reusing several pieces of hand-me-down furniture and updating them.

Lessons learned:
1. A trip through Wal-Mart later showed us many of the same items we picked up at Michaels for less (especially for paint and brushes), so when the budget is tight, make time to look around before buying everything at one store
2. If using Styrofoam, gently sand the letters as it will heanlp the paint stick better, and get rid of the cast lines.
3. Buying primed (MDF) which we did for the plate rails, doesn’t cost much more, but saves you a whole lot of time and fuss. And use a combination of industrial glue and nails to keep it on the wall. It’s also a lot cheaper than “real” wood options
4. Wallpaper paste can be used for so much more than wallpaper – and a little definitely goes a long way. It’s also not expensive and cleans up easily with water, too.
5. Allow plenty of drying time between coats – especially for letters; drying times suggested on paint are just that and depend on a whole lot of factors (including humidity).

It’s nearly Halloween – do you have your kids’ costumes ready?

In this week’s baby bargainista column, Jenny talks about Halloween costumes for little ones.

I have a confession. I find it almost painful spending a lot of money on Halloween costumes, especially for kids. Perhaps it’s a result of my upbringing; my mom sewed my costumes herself by adapting old clothes from her “scrap bag”, then after my brother was born and her time was shorter, she invited me to raid her closet and dress up as either a gypsy or a hippie. This was just fine with me and I would have been happy bringing up my little girl in the same low-key tradition.

But, I married into a family for whom Halloween is a major holiday, one of the tentpole events of the year. No expense is spared on décor, costumes, elaborate parties… They even buy different costumes every year for their cats as well as their kids. (I wish I were making this up.) When I suggested the hippie/gypsy option to my husband he recoiled in horror as if I’d just suggested we forgo gifts at Christmas.

So, I’ve learned to seek out inexpensive, yet impressive kids’ costumes. Happily, there are lots of sources, and the more last-minute your shopping, the better the bargains!

If your little ones aren’t too fussy about what they want to dress up as, and will be happy choosing from an assortment rather than seeking out a specific superhero or TV character, then I highly recommend a last-minute visit to Pottery Barn Kids. They offer a wide assortment of high-quality costumes, and the week before Halloween the prices are often slashed by half. Last year we picked up an elaborate dragon costume for our girl for $40, half the original price.

Another good option is Winners; the selection is a bit limited but the costumes available are generally very good quality (especially the adult ones, which come with their own zip-up garment bags) and you can’t beat the low prices. However, they only allow returns up until the 31st .

For a wider selection I recommend Wal-Mart – they have rows upon rows of costumes for adults and kids, plus accessories for DIYers. Be aware of sizes though – some of the costumes labeled size 2-4 are actually meant to fit a 1 or 2-year-old, and the adult costumes labeled “fits up to size 12” are snug on my size-4 sister-in-law. Also be aware that if anything doesn’t fit or suit, they also only allow returns up until the 31st.

As for me, I’ll be making my usual last-minute dash to Value Village. They have tons of Halloween costumes, both ready-made and ready to be built from what’s on offer. It’s amazing what you can cobble together from what’s on offer with no sewing required!

What about you -- any tips on where last-minute bargain-hunters can find Halloween inspiration?