Child’s Name: Kynlee Jamison Child’s Age: 6 Months Location: Cincinnati, OH What was your inspiration for the room? I think there are almost too many inspirational rooms and photos out there, so it was hard for me to decide which direction I wanted to go with her room. I am really inspired by rooms that are light and bright but still feel warm and inviting. I love organic, natural items that are fun and trendy as well as functional. And who doesn’t love a good DIY project to make it very personal? I tried to make it a reflection of us while just having fun with it! I have no design training or history whatsoever and just did my best to create something unique and special for our little one.

Describe your decorating style. Eclectic, vintage modern Favorite items in the room. Pallet Shelves, Re-purposed dresser, Rustic Aqua Side Table and all of the special items that were made by my husband and I or passed down from family.

Any advice for mamas-to-be decorating a nursery? Make a plan and a budget! Even if you end up ignoring both it’s a great way to start and be on the same page with your spouse or significant other (or even just yourself). Don’t stress or put unrealistic expectations on yourself—just do what you can when you can. Also, try to find something special from a family member to add in to the room — something that will be unique to your child’s nursery. It’s a fun way to involve the family and to fill the nursery with heritage, instead of just stuff. And have fun!

Scroll down for more images and room resource list.

Room Resources.

Paint: Gray Morning by Valspar
Dresser: Craigslist score for $10! Re-painted white, added mustard knobs from Anthropologie
Chaise Lounge: IKEA EKTORP ($300)
Aqua Rustic Side Table: Hobby Lobby
Bird Print (above dresser): Etsy shop Paperklip
Moose Print (above dresser): Urban Outfitters
Curtains: Antoinette Damask Curtains ($29) from Urban Outfitters
Wallpaper (behind crib): Yellow Jacobean Floral from Allen & Roth (at Lowes)
Vintage Deer Hook: Urban Outfitters
Mirror: From my mom (used to hang in our house when I was a child!)
Pallet Shelves: Handmade by the papa-to-be. He didn’t even use a tutorial! I showed him a picture as inspiration and he just made them how he wanted!
Mini-Rocker Chair: This was my husband’s from when he was a child.
Mini-Crib: Target — I would not have picked this crib, to be honest, if it weren’t for the fact that it was the only mini-crib that would fit in the opening in the room. However, I am happy with the quality.
Crib Skirt: It’s actually a blanket from IKEA
Shelf: My husband got it from an old building from the 1800′s. It contained lead paint so we had to scrape it and cover it multiple times with polyurethane to meet regulations. Thankfully it’s out of reach of baby so it’s not something I worry about her touching or chewing on!

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Would you like to see your nursery  featured on Chic & Cheap Nursery? Shoot us an email with a few images of your room to contact [at] chiccheapnursery [dot] com.

If there is anything I love just as much as chevron, it’s hot air balloons. I don’t know if it’s the colors or the way they seem to float effortlessly through the air — but I find them quite fascinating! And I believe they can inspire many beautiful ideas. Check out these hot air balloon finds and let your imagination soar…

This lovely hot air balloon invitation is a special delivery, all the way from Australia. And this little darling is only a sneak peak of the whimsical birthday that followed — styled by Kiss Me Kate with party printables by Anders Ruff .

Here’s another room from Sweden to drool over! We featured two girls bedrooms from Sweden recently, that were simply amazing and now we found this. The hot air balloon curtains are heavenly!

There are lots of party planning ideas from weddings and bridal showers that you can borrow and incorporate into your baby shower or kids’ parties. We’re totally smitten with these hot air balloon centerpieces from a San Diego wedding.

Hold me! This whimsical hot air balloon cake is just too cute. This would make such a great cake inspiration for a first birthday — or any kiddie birthday!

Come fly with me! I’m head-over-heels in love with this hand screen-printed hot air balloon throw pillow cover ($38).

Excuse me while I channel my inner Janice (from Friends) and go: Oh My “Gawd”! This vintage hot air balloon baby shower is to die for!!! I love the soft color palette — and the hot air balloon cookie pops!

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Child’s Name: Still a secret!
Child’s Age: Due 11/1/11
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

What was your inspiration for the room?

Though we knew we were having a girl, I wanted to keep the room on the neutral side, so it could grow with her, and potentially be used for future kiddos as well. The grey walls and grey and white striped ceiling were the foundation of the room. I’m addicted to grey and stripes — especially combined! — and I hope to pass that neutral love on to my daughter! I also knew I wanted to incorporate a chalkboard wall somehow, and loved the idea of floor to ceiling book shelves. For the major items in the room, I kept to a simple color palette: white, grey and black, but then brightened everything up with a mix of primary pops and touches of pastel. I consider it a compliment when people don’t know if it’s a room for a little boy or girl- Hopefully it’s an inspiring space, but enough of a blank slate that our daughter can put her own personal stamp on it someday!

Favorite Items:

It’s so hard to say because I love it all! The ceiling was definitely an undertaking—picture 3 people, 2 ladders, 1 chair, a laser level and several rolls of painters tape!—but I could not be more thrilled with the results. My husband thought I was crazy to want to paint stripes on the ceiling—he apparently doesn’t read design blogs as much as I do!—but even he agrees that it’s part of what makes the entire room “pop”.

I also love the accent wall. It’s chalkboard, with a layer of magnetic paint underneath. We painted a collection of empty frames we already owned, and affixed them to the wall with velcro (so we can remove them later, but there’s no danger of little hands knocking them off the wall). I love that we can change up the entire look of the wall with a little bit of colored chalk — and eventually our little girl can create her own revolving art gallery!

The show-stopper of the room though, might be the book shelves. My husband (with the help of my dad and step-dad!) built custom ledges to store all of Baby B’s books. I love how they showcase the covers like art and add a ton of color to the room. The mixture of new and antique books reinforces the collected feel of the room, and the shelves are flexible enough that they could be used to display other items in the future.

Advice for other soon-to-be mamas designing a nursery?

I would say two things: make it your own and don’t settle. Designing this room was a long process, full of lots of projects, and several failures, but I’m so thankful we put so much effort into making it match our dream vision. We had to try three rounds of fabric, two lamps, and multiple rugs before we found the “winners”— but I’d rather go through that hassle if it means ending up with something I love. The projects too, while not easy, were definitely worth it. The dresser took more refurbishing than we thought, the curtain boxes weren’t exactly as simple as I hoped, and the glider was an all day struggle before it finally came out right. But again, all our mis-steps taught us something, and lead to a one of a kind room that got better with every try. Sure, it would be easier to go to a big-box store and buy a ready made themed set of baby items….But where is the fun in that! I say experiment! Cobble together free things with must-haves, and if you can’t find something you want? Make it!

DIY Projects:

Book Shelves: custom made with lumber and trim from Lowe’s. You can buy similar items from West Elm, or even Ikea, but making you know a handy man (or woman), making your own isn’t that hard, and is much cheaper.
Chair: My husband turned it into a rocker/glider using an old recliner base from a craigslist chair. Honey & Fitz has a great tutorial on how you can make your own. 
Pelmet boxes (window cornice): Made following a tutorial from Pearl Street Interiors
Crib skirt: Made using a similar method as this one from Urban Grace Interiors
Mobile: Handmade using a photo hanger from Urban Outfitters.
Rug: Assembled 6 small rugs from Urban Outfitters with rug tape. So easy, and ended up costing the same as a regular room-sized rug.

We ended up making or modifying a majority of the items in the room, which not only kept us to a really tight budget, but also resulted in a customized room with a ton of personal touches.

Room Resources:

Paint: Walls -Behr, made to match Disney’s Mickey’s Shadow; Ceiling stripes- Behr, a crazy mix of a few failed attempts of light grey, mixed with plain white ceiling paint until I liked it; Chalkboard wall- magnetic paint undercoat, with chalkboard topcoat- both Rusto-oleum.
Dresser: Free! A curbside find, refinished and painted in Citrus Zest
Crib: DaVinci Jenny Lind 3 in 1 Convertible Crib in White
Chair: repurposed Ikea Ektorp Tullsta armchair
Ottoman: slip-covered thrift store find
Giraffe rocker: Craigslist
Pillows: All repurposed from various rooms. Stripe – Urban Outfitters, Floral - Target, Bird-  etsy
(don’t worry… for safety, they’ll be taken out of the crib when baby arrives!)
Globe pillow: handmade by me!
Quilt: handmade gift from a friend
Window treatments and crib skirt: handmade, fabric from Fabric.com. 1001 Peeps Illusion in Orange/White (no longer available but this one is similar)
Rug: Urban Outfitters
Art above books: vintage scarves in album frames
Mobile: handmade, using Urban Outfitters‘ photo hanger.
Throw blanket: Meijer
Frames on chalkboard wall: repurposed Ikea frames, embroidery hoops and vintage finds; all painted white for consistency.
Mirror: repurposed from West Elm
Metal “I” and “U” letters: Urban Outfitters

Source: Courtney Bowden of Bowdenisms

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Would you like to see your nursery creation featured here, on Chic & Cheap Nursery? Shoot us an email with a few images of your room to contact [at] chiccheapnursery [dot] com.

How do you design a magazine-worthy nursery on a small budget? You take a cue from this new mama! Feast your eyes on this elegant little nursery — are you feeling the silver polka dots as much as me? — and get inspired to put together a dream baby room without breaking the bank. This darling nursery cost less than $1,000!

A muted gray and white color palette with a hint of yellow —to brighten the space— and silver —for a little glitz and glamor– make this the most darling little nursery. My favorite detail about this room has to be the silver polka dots on the wall. I thought they were decals but they’re actually a DIY project with contact paper — can you believe it?!

Many of the big ticket items were gifted to the new parents —like the crib— but the couple set out on a DIY mission. Almost everything in the room is handmade by them —or a loved one— or refurbished/repurposed.

Visit new mom Michelle’s blog, Our Dream Foreclosure, for more nursery details.

The story of Gus + Lula is one that tugs on all of my heart strings — and I’m so glad that this story has a happy ending! New mom of twins, Britt, wanted to start a family above all things. But after struggling to conceive for many years, Britt was blessed with the news that she would soon be the happy mama of Ethiopian twins — a boy and a girl!

I think we can honestly say that everything in this room is handmade, with lots of love, and that every detail in the nursery is stunning! Scroll down for details — and visit Gus + Lula to find out more about this labor of love.

Paint: Sparkling Lake by Valspar

Chandelier: Vintage. Thrift store find ($98)

Mobile: DIY. Wire photo mobile and handmade pinwheels.

Shelving: DIY gutter shelves {explained here}.

Artwork: DIY. Available at the Gus + Lula etsy shop.

Crib bedding and skirt: DIY {crib skirt tutorial here}

** A special thanks to Britt of Gus + Lula for allowing us to share her twin’s oasis on Chic & Cheap Nursery. **