Child’s Name: Sawyer

Child’s Age: 10 months

Location: Colorado

What was your inspiration for the room?

I wanted to do something different and I didn’t love any of the traditional boy bedding out there.  I tend to like more simple and clean styles.  I planned to find fabric I liked and design the room around that.  I think the colors of the nursery are unique and not something you see everyday and will transition well into toddlerhood.  I love the color of the walls. To me it’s the perfect blend of happy yet soothing.

Describe your decorating style.
I have an appreciation for all decor styles but my home is mostly traditional. Sawyer’s room is definitely more modern than the rest of my home so I was happy the way it turned out (being slightly out of my zone).

Give us all the details about your room! Don’t forget to share with us any money saving tips you might have learned along the way.

Paint: Spring Sky from Benjamin Moore.

Bedding:  Made by a custom crib bedding seamstress on Etsy, Fingers & Toes.  I just love the giraffe fabric on the inside of the bumper! She did such a great job.  I also had her make extra crib sheets.

Furniture: the crib, dresser, and bookcase were all from Land of Nod.  I love the clean lines and the quality is superb.

Crib: White Anderson Baby Crib from Land of Nod

Dresser: White Simple 2-Over-2 Dresser from Land of Nod

Bookcase: White Flat Top Bookcase from Land of Nod

Rocker & Ottoman: From JC Penney.  I love this rocker, Sawyer and I spend so much time here.  The price was great compared to similar rockers out there and the white piping was a unique touch. {We didn’t find it on the JC Penney site but found a similar one here}

Valances: These were handmade by my sister and I.  I wanted something simple that also coordinated.  These were super easy to make and were made for a total of $20.

Orange Blanket and Pillow: The orange throw was purchased from Pottery Barn {on sale} and I handmade the pillow.

Lighting: Overhead pendant was from Land of Nod and the lamp was from RH Baby and Child {on sale during their lighting sale event}.

Mobile: Also from RH Baby and Child {50% off}.

Artwork: Avalisa prints (orange giraffe and elephants) from Art.com {%20 off}.  You can always find online discount codes if you look around.

Wall Decals: The Tree is from Art Wall Project and the safari stack is from Single Stone Studios.

Favorite Items.

Probably boring but my favorite items are the more practical things that make our lives easier.  The orange and brown square baskets that I keep burp cloths, blankets, and toys in.  They are easy to get in and keep everything looking neat and tidy. I also have these hanging in his closet from Land of Nod, which I use to fold pants and store shoes when he gets older.

Advice.
If nothing out there catches your eye, don’t stress!  You don’t have to spend a fortune on a custom look for your little one.

Too busy to visit everyday day? Sign up for daily emails delivered right to your inbox! You can also become a fan on Facebook! Or Tweet with us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

This is Simply Yours: Custom Hoot Print {$125-$325, depending on the level of customization}, the print that put Hoot Design Co. on the map! This print is a “wonderful way to display the important people, places and things in your family’s life, as well a teaching tool as children begin to read and learn their alphabet.”

Also available is the Simply Baby Print {$22-$54, depending on the size of the print. Not customizable}. It’s a standard reproduction available in three color palettes, printed on very sturdy card stock and signed by the artist.

And did I mention Hoot Design Co. also offers Birth Announcements? You can get a set of 100 baby announcements for $150!

But Hoot Design Co.’s creativity isn’t limited to baby! Check out their selection of prints for Weddings, Correspondence and Limited Prints.

WIN IT!

Hoot Design Co. is giving away one (1) 16″x20″ Simply Baby Print in any of their three color palettes to one lucky Chic & Cheap Nursery™ reader! This giveaway will close at 11:59PM EST on 6/14/2010.

There is no mandatory entry but please visit Hoot Design Co.’s website and check out their incredibly beautiful designs. To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment letting us know you’d like to enter.

Extra Entries (please leave a separate comment for each entry in order for them to be counted).

- ‘Like’ Hoot Design Co. on Facebook

- ‘Like’ Chic & Cheap Nursery™ on Facebook

- Follow Hoot Design Co. on Twitter

- Follow Chic & Cheap Nursery™ on Twitter

- Tweet about this giveaway (1 per day)

#Win Hip & Unique 16×20 Simply Baby Print from @hootdesignco for your nursery! @ChicCheapNrsery ends 06/24/10 http://bit.ly/cy83xf PLS RT!

- Sign up for the Hoot Design Co. mailing list (top right corner on their website).

- Sign up for email updates from Chic & Cheap Nursery™.

- Sign up for the Chic & Cheap Nursery™ newsletter.

* Chic & Cheap Nursery was NOT compensated for hosting this giveaway. We genuinely love this product and we’re incredibly excited to host a giveaway and give one of our readers the opportunity to win a print!

Child’s Name: Ean

Child’s Age: 10 months

Location: Springfield, MO

What was your inspiration for the room?

I would have to say our biggest inspiration for the room was color. We knew we wanted a nursery that was vibrant and fun for our little guy. We spent lots of time looking online and in stores for inspiration then created a room that we are happy with.

Describe your decorating style.

Vintage meets modern.

Details About the Room:

Paint: Sherwin Williams Parakeet & Smokehouse. My husband and I created our own stencils for the circles.

Crib, Bookshelf, Changing Table and Armoire: Purchased from Wood You Furniture. We chose to purchase unfinished furniture because we loved the quality and the price! My husband and family friend (Dean Anderson) finished all of the pieces and we couldn’t be happier with them.

Chair: Storytime Swivel Glider from Babynews.

Bedding: Green Elephant 4 Piece Baby Crib Bedding Set by Carters

Curtains: Handmade by my mother-in-law. My husband and I found the fabric at a local discount fabric store. My mother in law is extremely talented with a sewing machine and wanted to make something for her first grandchild’s room.

Lanterns: From an online store, Asian Ideas. This website has a wide variety of shapes and colors and are inexpensive. I love using these instead of a mobile, less expensive and more aesthetically pleasing.

Green Storage Bins, Lamp and Receiving Blankets: Target.

Uglydoll: www.uglydolls.com

Ean’s letters: DIY

Favorite Items:

I love the little details in the room: the lanterns, the ugly dolls, storage bins etc. They really help tie things together. I also really love my glider. My husband, family and friends went together to surprise me for my birthday a few weeks before Ean arrived. It is so comfy!

Advice:

Enjoy every minute of getting your nursery ready for your little one, especially the time with your spouse. It is such a fun part of the process!

Child’s Name: Sofia Evoli de Souza

Child’s Age: Almost 2 months old

Location: Pompano Beach, Florida

What was your inspiration for the room?

I wanted to create a space for Sofia that was going to be serene and calming but beautiful at the same time. Something not too girly that could grow with her easily. I am very drawn to natural elements and Asian pieces that have some kind of meaning. It all began with a small little blue elephant and the subtle nature/animal theme evolved from there.

Describe your decorating style.

My style is very eclectic and varies with the situations, spaces & people. I love minimal design and contemporary design, but can also fall in love with a style like beachy, cottage chic.  I believe any room can look expensive & sophisticated without the expensive and sophisticated budget!

Give us all the details about your room! Don’t forget to share with us any money saving tips you might have learned along the way.

Custom Bedding: From Etsy store BabyDarling ($196). The first thing I purchased was the crib bedding. Since I couldn’t find anything I liked at local stores, I had it custom made (prices vary from store to store on ETSY).

Paint: The FreshAire Choice – nontoxic paint in Organic Garden. ($37)

Dresser, Crib and Storage: I knew I wanted all the large pieces of furniture to be white, simple and clean-lined. All from IKEA! Expedit Storage shelf: ($159); Hemnes 8 Drawer Dresser ($278) Replaced original pulls with some clear pulls from Wal-Mart. Looks 20 times better!; Gulliver Crib ($99) – This is the best deal ever!

Chair: Poang Chair ($149 chair, $70 footstool) Fabric – Tuna light blue-grey. I don’t love the look of the traditional poofy (& extremely expensive!) gliders and rocking chairs so I purchased a great chair from IKEA.

Rug: Hampen Rug from IKEA in white ($50)

Mirror: From Bombay Company. Original price was $350 but I bought it for $50 from a retail store that was going out of business.

Storage bins: By RiverRidge available at Target {$9.99 for a 2-pack}.

Chandelier: Capiz Chandelier from World Market (on sale $55)

Lamps: Re-used from our master bedroom, originally from JcPenney’s.

Name display: A small DIY project. Essentially, it’s white wooden letters, foam butterflies and laser cut paper backing.

Favorite Items.
My favorite item in the room is the mobile above the crib. I, unsuccessfully, searched and searched for a mobile until I finally gave up and made one myself! I spent about $25 on it. The butterflies were bought from a little boutique in St. Augustine, Forida while we were on a babymoon for $19. The white branches were from a centerpiece in our wedding reception.

Advice.

- Take your time. Start early. I gave myself about 3-4 months.

- Search for good deals.

- Use it as quality time with your partner/spouse (mine was a dream, he put together all the furniture and we made ALL decisions together!)

- If you can’t find something you like, don’t settle. MAKE IT YOURSELF! Be creative.

To learn more about Francisca de Souza, you can visit her website or her blog.

Child’s Name: “Baby Boy P” for now.

Child’s Age: Due March 17, 2010

Location: San Francisco, CA

What was your inspiration for the room?
The Amy Ruppel small bird artwork on wood (on the frame wall below) had been sitting on the desk in my home office for years. I have always loved it, but have never had the perfect place to hang it. When we found out we were expecting a baby, I took the piece into the future nursery and leaned it against a bookshelf. A lot of the colors in the room are pulled from this painting and more importantly the overall mood of the room was inspired by Amy’s art. I wanted something modern, but still warm, fun for a baby without being too cutesy and neutral enough to work for a boy or a girl.

Describe your decorating style.
I am an anti-hoarder in all areas of my life and my decorating style tends to reflect my love of all things orderly. I embrace minimalism, but also like being surrounded by a few special pieces of art and accessories that make me happy. I try to keep all furniture neutral and accent with my favorite colors.  I love greens, yellows and oranges and tried to create a space that will both grow with our son and fit into the style of the rest of the house.

Give us all the details about your room! Don’t forget to share with us any money saving tips you might have learned along the way.

Paint Color: Benjamin Moore “Gray Horse”. It was hard to find a gray that didn’t seem cold or clash with our already grayish carpet. We went with the low VOC Aura line of paint and it went on so easily, it almost made painting fun!

Crib: Oeuf Sparrow, purchased on Amazon.com (free shipping/delivery and no sales tax!) This was our one splurge, but I made sure to shop around for a good deal online.

Crib Bedding: The crib skirt is from Target’s DwellStudio which is very reasonably priced. The fitted sheet was purchased on sale at a local baby store.

Lighting: IKEA. The green lamp on the dresser has a beautiful soft glow when it’s lit and the gray and white glass front wall light is bright enough to light most of the room without being too harsh.

Pillows: Gray and orange pillows are from IKEA, Bird pillow from Urban Outfitters, kelly green pillow from Target’s DwellStudio (on sale from a few seasons ago).

Rug: Coqo Floral Rug from Anthropologie. This would have been another splurge, but I have a very nice boss who gave us each $200 gift cards as bonuses this year and I used mine for the rug.

Shelving on window seat: IKEA Expedit. I love the versatility, price and durability of the Expedit. Our windows have a really deep “seat” area that is too high for actually sitting but makes a great area to store all of the frequently used baby supplies (diapers, burp clothes, blankets, toys) as well as being the perfect height for diaper changes.

Dresser: Also IKEA Expedit shelving. This is the 2×2 Expedit and drawer inserts with IKEA Capita legs,  and drawer knobs from Anthropologie. The yellow dairy crates on the bottom (to be used as hampers) are from The Container Store. I was looking for a small modern dresser and couldn’t find anything that was both the right size and a decent price. The total cost of “making” this dresser was $150 and I love the final result.

Wall Decal: From Blik. There are hundreds of wall decals out there (Etsy.com is a good resource) but the quality of the Blik decals is top notch and almost everyone thinks that the design was painted onto the gray wall which is great!

Artwork: Small bird piece inside of blank frame is amyruppel.com. Animal collage is petitcollage.com. Decorative papers in other frames from Paper Source. Large collage on canvas was inspired by the petitcollage piece and I created it for $25. A lot of art stores have canvas sales so I waited for the sale at Pearl Art and picked up this large canvas for a great price. I already had the paints and used an old Antropologie catalog for the collage “bits”. I try to save my favorite catalogs for projects like this. The print on the dresser was downloaded (for free) and printed on thick card stock then mounted using photo corners.

Accessories: Vases, bowls and other accessories are all pieces I’ve had for years. I frequently walk around my house and move accessories from one room to another both to just freshen up the look and to keep me constantly thinking about new ways to arrange things. It’s a fun exercise and ends up saving me money when I’m having moments of feeling bored with any given room.

Favorite Items:

Aluminum Elephant. When we first found out we were going to be parents this summer, we were on an East Coast trip and while in DC we visited the Eastern Market and I saw a family selling animals made from recycled aluminum cans. My husband and I both love elephants and when I see this in the room I remember how exciting those first weeks of pregnancy were when it was just our little secret.

Ganesha Print: A Christmas gift from my sister-in-law. My husband is Indian and I love that we have something that both represents his culture and is fun and appropriate for a baby’s room. Print from gheehappy.com

Design Advice.

Before you start shopping, look around your house for furniture, art, accessories you aren’t really using or might want to try in a new space. If your decorating style is consistent for each room it’s usually easy to find at least a few things to re-purpose. I saved a lot of money by doing this and created more open space in the common areas which I’m sure will be useful once our baby is mobile.

Spray paint is your friend! Try to look at the shape of an item and not the color. The frames on my frame wall were all purchased very cheaply at Ross and then disassembled and spray painted. I’ve “saved” many an item with a few coats of spray paint.

It’s important that a nursery be functional for the baby, but that doesn’t mean the design needs to be overly childish. We will be spending a lot of time in the room also and I want to love it as much as the rest of the house.

Don’t get mentally trapped into using only blues for boys and pinks for girls unless you already love those colors. There are so many other options out there and try to stick to colors you really like and that will grow with your child.

A big thank you to Mindy for sharing all of her nursery design secrets with us! You can find Mindy online at minDIY.com and afterParis.com.