Felix’s Mid-Century Space Race Sputnik Nursery

Description

My husband and I spent a few weekends creating this room for our new son.  Not only do we absolutely love how it turned out, we are proud that we did it all for less than $500 out of pocket.  We bargain hunted on craigslist, and we did everything we could ourselves.  We painted walls and furniture, and made the curtains, mobile, crib skirt, and robot artwork ourselves.

Design Inspiration

The light fixture was already in the room, and it set the tone for the rest of the theme.  Once we found the Sputnik rug on overstock.com, we added in space and robot accessories.

Decorating Style

Normally, my style is pretty minimalist with some eclectic touches.  I usually don't have "this much" going on in one room, but it was fun to fill the baby's room with lots of fun and colorful pieces!  Most of the rooms in our house are subdued, so it was great to kind of "let go" in this room.

Project Details

Dresser: craigslist

Dresser hardware:  saved from another project and painted silver

Changing table top: craigslist

Curtain fabric:  clearance at Hancock's Fabrics

Green valances:  already had and wasn't using anywhere

Curtain rods: Lowe's

Floor lamp: Lowe's

Starburst clock: TJ Maxx (my favorite store!)

Starburst night light:  craigslist

Crib:  gift

Chair:  craiglist

Chair pillow:  TJ Maxx

Crib Bumper and sheet:  Target (bumper on clearance)

Robot iPod holder (really a desk organizer for post-its, etc.):  Target clearance

Lego robot on shelf:  husband's big boy toy that he already had

Astronaut stuffed animals:  gift from cousin who works at NASA

Canvas above crib:  from local sale site similar to craigslist

Little kid's chair:  antique market

Robot pictures:  handmade from garage sale canvases, clip art, modge podge, and furniture stain

"F" hook:  Hobby Lobby clearance

Robot and astronaut onesies:  Goodwill

Wall decals:  gift

Rug:  Overstock.com

Buckets on shelves:  Dollar Tree

Retro Space Mountain poster:  ebay

Poster frame:  Amazon

Favorite Items

I love the mobile that I made from a Dollar Tree gift bag!  I cut out the space ships and glued the fronts and back together.  I had the silver wire left over from another craft, and I tried to make it look like "orbits."  The planets are styrofoam that a co-worker painted to use as a decoration at a baby shower she threw for us.

I also reused a frame I already had and collected baby pictures of all of Felix's grandparents.  I feel that adds a personal touch to the room!

Advice

My advice is to be flexible!  I originally had a completely different nursery in mind.  I was going to do a serene gray, white, and yellow nursery based on a geometric patterened rug I fell in love with online.  I was going to change out the 1950's light fixture and not do a theme at all.  When the original rug arrived, I ended up hating it!  It wasn't good quality at all, and it had a chemical smell to it.  I sent it right back, and started looking for a similar but better rug online.  In the meantime, I saw the 100% wool Sputnik rug on overstock.com, and I showed it jokingly to my husband since it mimicked our light fixture.  I never thought we would actually go that route for the nursery, but we both looked at each other and said, "Let's do it!"  It turned out better than Plan A because we were able to use so many things we already had, like the light fixture, onesies, stuffed animals, Lego robot, etc.