Even though we were keeping the gender a surprise, we still wanted a fun, happy, youthful nursery.  Using inspiration from my favorite children’s book, Blueberries for Sal, we designed the room with plenty of black bears and blueberries.  With a limited budget we took the summer to DIY our nursery, doing everything from designing our own wallpaper, upcycling furniture, and repurposing finds to make everything match our needs.  Every part of the room has some form of our love and time in it making it so sweet and heartwarming.  Milk painting the dresser and decoupaging pages from the book gave it a unique, one-of-a-kind piece to the room, while setting up the old vintage crib from when I grew up was a walk down memory lane.  Seeing the hand-stamped blueberries on the wall reminds me of the time my husband and I spent getting everything ready for our own little blueberry.  We have lived with the room now for 6 months and my little one loves it!  The blueberries have been mesmerizing from the moment his little eyes started focusing and he still chats and coos to them when he is in his room.

My advice:

1. DIY can be therapeutic if you are into that type of thing. I battled anxiety through my pregnancy and having the fun of various DIY projects, helped me get excited over the baby and forget my worries.  It also was a great way for my husband and I to spend time together doing baby stuff that incorporated our creative sides.
2. Don’t cut Corners:  We made this mistake and paid for it.  Go with your gut and do things how you know is best.
3. Go All In:  I was worried about the DIY wallpaper, but we couldn’t afford fancy wallpaper so we gave it a go and I am so glad we did.
4. Let them be Little:  Kids grow up too fast and someday they will want the more boring tones.  So what if in 15 years you are repainting those youthful colors for something more mature.  You will have to repaint by then anyways because your sweet ball of joy is going to get who knows what on those walls!