When my husband and I found out in March of 2014 that we were going to be having a second child we were cautiously excited! After several early miscarriages, a new pregnancy was met with some serious trepidation. So needless to say, once we successfully passed the 12 week threshold, we were able to breathe a tiny sigh of relief and I was keen to start to transform what I had dubbed “The Sad Room,” into a new baby nursery!

As we did with our son, we planned to keep the gender of the baby a surprise. The way we see it, there are so few GOOD surprises at this point in life, and after our struggles, we could honestly say we didn’t care what we got, as long as it was a baby! The only reason I half considered finding out the baby’s gender,  was to plan how I would decorate the nursery. But that wasn’t really reason enough, so my challenge was to make something gender neutral that could be tweaked afterwards to suit a baby girl or a baby boy on a limited budget!

The one thing I knew for sure, was that I wanted a reclaimed wood accent wall, so this naturally steered me towards a woodland’ esque theme. My biggest priority for this project was to keep the actual cost of the project low since we had purchased our home within the year and taken on a relatively pricey renovation shortly thereafter. So, my mission was to create a beautiful gender neutral budget friendly woodland themed baby nursery!

Step one was creating the reclaimed wood accent wall. After much research, I figured the cheapest (and easiest) way to do this would be with wallpaper. Wallpaper can be pretty pricey, but I was able to find a fantastic deal from all4wallswallpaper.com For less than 100$. The nice thing about this wallpaper, is that it is apparently easy to remove, and honestly, it was quite easy to put up. My husband and I were actually able to do it in one evening and with zero arguments!

I decided to decorate the wall with various pictures I had collected. My colour scheme  before the baby arrived, consisted of natural woods, golds, whites and a touch of mint green. I figured if we had a boy we could play the room up with more gray and green and if it was a girl, could add some pink into the mix. The latter is obviously what I did once we knew Lola was a girl!

The bulk of the frames in the room and mirror on the wall were purchased at various thrift stores. The picture of Ernie and Bert is actually a needle point I purchased from a thrift store auction, which I thought was super cute, even if the colours didn’t necessarily fit into the rooms colour scheme. The ledge below the mirror and the ledge above the change table were both purchased on clearance from target Canada (RIP) for 7$ a piece. The mug on the ledge was mine, purchased from chapters, but thought it fit into the room well, and was a great little storage cup for soothers, and the cream faux flowers were purchase from Homesense for $12.99.

The crib (Sears) we had from when my son was baby as well as the dresser (Ikea), which doubled as change table. I really wanted the Pottery Barn cream furniture look without the price tag. The pink crib sheet as well as the pink change pad cover, are both Aden & Anais, and were purchased from Winners. After scouring multiple stores, I was lucky enough to find matching colours, and both for a fraction of the normal retail price.

The mobile above the bed I had purchased on etsy for my son when he was a baby. I had seen a very similar one at Pottery Barn at the time, but unfortunately when I tried to buy it, I was told they were discontinued. I then turned to etsy and was able to source one that was quite comparable, and for a lot less than the pottery barn original.

The moose canvas above the crib was actually made by me using a blank canvas, a little mod podge, some gold paint and a free printable i found on Pinterest.

I followed instructions for the project and I must say, it turned out quite well!

The hanging “Lola” name sign behind the crib is one of my favourite pieces in the room. The stick is actually a piece of driftwood that my mother found in front of our family cottage in New Brunswick. When i saw it, i knew i wanted to incorporate it somehow into the nursery. I found some really pretty card stock on sale at winners and thought the colours blended perfectly with the nursery. I figured if i could find the letters for her name I could easily mod podge the card stock onto each letter using the same technique as the moose canvas, which is exactly what I did. I was able to find light weight letters at Michaels for a few dollars each that worked perfectly. Once the letters were complete, I used a glue gun and some string that i found hanging around the house to secure the letters onto the stick. Because i planned on hanging the stick above her crib, I had my father in law come over to properly drill it to the wall so there wouldn’t be any fear of it falling. Safe to say that thing may never come out!

The dresser we purchased from Ikea when we had our son. It is the perfect size and height for a change table and provides the added bonus of deep storage drawers for diapers, clothes etc. For my daughters room, I updated the dresser a tad by switching out the original black knobs for gold ones which I also purchased from Ikea. I found them in the kitchen department of the store and I think all 6 may have cost me roughly $12. The ledge above, as mentioned was purchased on clearance from Target Canada as were the faux flowers. The little gold frame i picked up from the salvation army thrift  store and the picture within the frame was actually a card given to Lola from my good friend Catherine. I thought it was so pretty and fit in well with our woodland theme. The gold sconce above actually came from my childhood home. My mother had given me a few brass sconces as well as a brass chandelier and i thought one would be perfect in the room since there is no actual ceiling light. My father in law installed it, added a dimmer and voila! it was perfect! and free i might add!

The corner shelf I had purchased from Kijiji for my son’s nursery years before. I had considered painting it in the past, but am extremely happy I didn’t, as it fit in perfectly, size and colour, with Lola’s nursery. The gold frame on the top of the shelf was purchased on clearance for 2$ from Homesense, because it was missing the glass part of the frame. This really didn’t concern me, as I loved the colour and size. When I came across the “you, me, oui!’ picture from Chapters, I knew it would be perfect with its soft pink, cream and gold colours. The clock below is from Birks and was owned and passed down to us from my husbands Nona. I really loved being able to include this, as I love all things old and family related. below that, are a couple of elephant statues that I bought on clearance from Homesense and have used as bookends. I’m not totally sure that this was what they were intended to be since I found them in different sections of the store, but all the same, they work perfectly as that. The gold bowl below is Beaver Canoe and was purchased on clearance from Target. I thought it would be perfect to store hair accessories etc. Its currently used for shoes until Lola starts growing some actual hair. Lastly, is a picture of Lola and I the day she was born which I placed in a  white frame from Ikea kicking around the house.

The brass log holder I also found at a thrift store for $2.99. I thought it would be perfect for storing and displaying pretty swaddle blankets. The glider was purchased from Target in the US after MUCH researching. I adore the Monte gliders, but the price point was too steep, so after countless hours on the internet, I decided on the Charleston glider from Target. I am so happy I did this, as it is a beautiful chair and very comfortable as well. The side table to the left of the glider is perhaps the best deal out of the entire room. It was purchased from Target Canada for a total of $3.96! It was originally tagged for $60 i believe and then was suppose to be marking down to $39, however it was tagged incorrectly at $3.96, which they agreed to honour. Major score. The lamp on top was purchased from target on clearance for $14 as well as the poof I am using as an ottoman for $49. The rug I also scored at Target during a cross border shopping trip with friends for a total of $19!! It fit perfectly in the room as far as decor and size.

One thing i struggled with was what i would do for window treatments. I decided to wait until after we knew if she was a girl or a boy to put anything up aside from the blackout blinds. Once she arrived, i started looking into fabrics and different window treatment styles. I had a vision of a rectangular valance from the beginning, but my sewing abilities were limited, so I wasn’t sure how i was going to pull it off. I ended up finding some cute fabric on fabric.com which was pale pink with gold birds which i loved. The same fabric can be found on etsy. I also found a great pin on Pinterest, which showed you how to make a valance out of insulation board and with new sewing required. score! So i purchased my fabric, insulation board and a string of white pom poms to attach to the base of the valance. Now the process was a bit tedious, cutting the insulation board (what a mess) attaching the insulation board with a staple gun (had to add pins for extra security bc the staples kept falling out) and then hanging the valance on nails and having it not fall off (ended up adding some double sided tape between the valance & the wall) but in the end, it did work, and i was happy with it. Its not perfect by any means, but it covers the ugliness of the black out blinds when they are rolled up and the overall look was exactly what i was going for.

The ledge between the crib and glider was something I already had, and thought it would be perfect for displaying books. I loved the book  ‘Charlotte’s Web,’ as a kid, so I was really excited when I came across this larger sized copy in an antique shop for $4.

The crate below the shelf is an actual pop crate from the Soda Pop company my father’s family owned for over 100 years. I really wanted to incorporate it into the room for sentimental purposes, and the fact that it matched my reclaimed wood wallpaper was the icing on the cake. It is a perfect size to store stuffed animals and other baby toys.

The final touch on the room was the sign on her door. I purchased a gray and gold lined bulletin board from Target right before they closed their doors for good and then found a gold letter “L” at Micheals and glued it on the front.