A wee boy’s room
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I’m ready to share my son’s nursery with you! I decided to base the room around a selection of Warehouse Fabrics Inc. materials. The first thing I did was put together a few concepts that I liked and shared them with my husband. I wanted him to feel included, you know? Only, silly me, I forgot that he’s sort of the most stubborn man in the world. Or universe, maybe. So right away he chooses the one that was last on my list. And from there, there was no winning for me. |
| You see, I guess I was never informed that BOYS LOVE DINOSAURS. Yeah, I missed that somewhere. But after talking with numerous members of the male sex, I have found that it’s indeed a fact! BOYS LOVE DINOSAURS. My first instinct was to go with a very babyish nursery in orange, green, turquoise and yellow. But Dad vetoed that, because BOYS LOVE DINOSAURS!!
Luckily, it turned into something I really, really, really love. I’m so glad that we chose to do this. Or that he chose to do this and made me go along with it. It’s super cute, and I got to incorporate four fabrics that all flatter each other. |
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Supplies
(Click fabrics for direct links for purchase at Warehouse Fabrics Inc.)
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| The pattern I used was Vogue 7245. My experience with it wasn’t great, to be honest. The instructions were poor, and so were many of the techniques, which I ended up changing on my own. But I was still pleased with the end result. I made the crib sheet, bumpers, toy organizer, quilt and diaper holder. | |||
The room
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Step right in! I had the walls painted a light blue, which seems a bit stereotypical for a boy’s room, but because there were some darker colors in the fabric, I wanted to go with something lighter. Also, this room was a chocolate brown color before, and I was really tired of the darkness and the brown! |
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I had these cheap bookshelves in the room already. I had once thought it a good idea to paint them with a cream-colored latex paint. It didn’t work too well, but you can’t tell from a distance. I moved my books out of this room and used the shelves for baby books and toys. They could be better organized, but there’s no rush on that!
That bear on the top of the bookshelves? Oh, is it ever annoying. It sings Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler.” In a freaky, creepy kind of way. I think it might scare the baby. |
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The bedding I made from the fabrics listed above. The dust ruffle uses the polka dot and striped fabric (at the bottom), with the swirl fabric as piping. Unfortunately, the crib I chose makes it difficult to see.
I used the blue sheeting material to make fitted sheets, which were incredibly easy to make. The bumpers were made from the swirl fabric on one side and the dinosaur fabric on the other. |
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| I ordered this custom-made dinosaur mobile on etsy.com from seller Buggalove. It’s really cute. | |
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| The wall art was hand embroidered by yours truly. I stole found some “cheerful” dinosaur images online, printed them and used a transfer pencil to transfer them to the fabric. Then I hand embroidered in the colors of the room. I wish I had a third frame, but alas, I do not. | |
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| This toy organizer is quite cute. I used the polka dot and striped fabrics for this one. A few of the toys were mine from when I was a baby. A few of them are “organic,” because my mom is into that kind of thing. I hope nobody tells her that the rest of the baby’s stuff is, indeed, not organic. But it’s the thought that counts, Grandma! | |
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The bumpers are the retro swirl fabric on one side and the dinosaur fabric on the other. |
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The item hanging from the wall is a photo/paper organizer. You slip the photos under the ribbons that crisscross the dinosaur fabric.
The rocking chair was given to me by a co-worker, and I can’t wait till my son is big enough to play with it! |
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The valance was something I whipped up as an afterthought, and I made a tutorial here. |
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The pattern also included a baby quilt and a diaper holder. |
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| I used the dino fabric and striped fabric for the diaper holder. | |
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| I knit, but I didn’t feel like knitting these dinosaurs, since I tend to take a while to finish projects and was afraid I’d never complete them. So I custom ordered them from etsy.com seller jacksknits.
Are you familiar with the alchemy feature on etsy.com? It allows you to place a project up for bid, and artists/craftspeople can bid on the project. That’s how I got these two projects (the knitted dinos and the mobile above). |
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| This is the quilt. It was a pretty simplistic quilt, without much piecing. The fact that I used the dino fabric for the main section actually makes it look more pieced together than it is. But that’s just one big panel in the center. The backing is made from the striped fabric.
What I didn’t like about this pattern is that it doesn’t have you do much actual quilting on top. In other words, It just urges you to do a few diagonal, wide-spaced lines of stitching, but if that’s all you do, it will really not hold up well with washing. So I did quite a bit of extra quilting. The other other issue was with the binding. I couldn’t see doing the binding their way. If you have any quilting experience, just cut out your own binding and bind the normal way for a much nicer finish. That’s what I did. |
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Here’s a close-up of the bed skirt.
And that completes the tour! I really loved the little-boy room I created with these fabrics! It was a lot of work, what with being pregnant and having a couple of jobs, but I love that my son’s room is full of items that are handmade with love, most of them by his mama! |
