The Great ScoutDoorsman Nursery Revealed!

It's a big day here on the blog.  Today's the day I show you what we've been working on since January. 

You all have been with us from the beginning, when we announced our next big project...

And when we shared with you that Baby Blough is a boy!

And now I am happy to announce that we are finished with the nursery well before our estimated construction deadline (and due date) of May 28th.

Remember where I was going with the plans for the nursery?  The Great ScoutDoorsman.

Well let's see how we did.

Here is where we started.  This room had functioned as our guest room/office.  It was not painted (just primed) and was left pretty much undecorated.

Because why decorate it when we were planning to convert it to a nursery as soon as the time came? 

And the time has come! (insert the I Love Lucy reference here)

You may notice that we switched up the artwork behind the crib.  A couple posts ago there was a world map hanging up there with the words "Adventure is Out There" painted on it.  I really liked it there until I started to hang the other artwork up.  Then the colors started to feel really off and the whole room just started to feel very word-heavy.  We had ordered these antique arrows from ebay months ago, figuring we could find a place to incorporate them into the room.  So when we took down the map, I tried to see if they would work in the space as either a mobile or as artwork.  The mobile didn't work out, but I love the way they look up on the wall.  Simple. and Boy. 


Speaking of Simple and Boy.  Check out the quilt.  My friend Emily made it for us!!!

It is absolutely one of my favorite things in the room.  Not only does it fit perf.ec.tly in the room, it means so much to us that it was made with love by someone that means so much to us.

 

The room's light is something that gave me a big headache.  I bought it at the Habitat ReStore.  I tried several different things to get it to feel right in the room.   I finally got it right when I started threading some twine through the wire in a herringbone pattern.

I wouldn't recommend that project unless you have lots of free time and are looking for a sore neck.

The curtain is the simplest curtain I have ever made! I'll tell you more about it sometime.


The swivel rocker was another element we agonized over.  Buy new? Buy off craigslist?  Well finally, after being failed by craigslist, we decided to invest in a swivel rocker from a local place.  We got to pick out the upholstery and everything #superfancy.  And for only a $30 upcharge, we had it coated with an upholstery protector #supernecessary.

 

Bonus: It's extremely comfortable. 

The wall light is IKEA -I wrapped the shade with more twine and spray painted the finish oil-rubbed bronze. 

Here's the very first thing we bought for the nursery.

I guess you'd call it a tool box of some kind, made with some tree branches.  It works perfectly for us to store burp cloths for now and books later on.

Turning counterclockwise in the room is the changing station.

My mom let us have an old hutch that was my grandma's.  We added some baskets below and on the sides for additional storage.  The top of the hutch was in a bit of rough shape, but nothing a burlap table runner couldn't fix.

We found this old butcher basket which worked out perfectly for the changing pad and other diaper changing necessities.

 

The artwork above is some vintage national parks posters that were available free online for printing.  So we printed them and hung them in IKEA frames. 

The box is his baby box, already storing memories - like the sign that I used to spill the beans to Michael when I found out I was pregnant!

And sitting on top of the box is something also very special.  Some of you know that Michael lost his dad when he was 7 years old.  Shortly after, a sweet lady took a couple of Michael's dad's shirts and made them into this little bear that they rightly named his "Daddy Bear."

Michael's mom offered the bear to us for the nursery and I didn't have to think long before saying yes!  It's so special (kiddo won't be allowed to play with it).  I love having something of our little guy's grandpa in the room.


On the opposite wall we hung the adorable little camp signs that were made for one of my showers by my Aunt Janet and Saint Steve. 

 

Is that not just the cutest rocking horse?  It is a locally-made piece gifted to us by my friend Kelly.  I just love it! And now Camp Blough can offer an equestrian program!  

The vintage picture is of a bunch of Boy Scouts taken in 1920.  We found it in our attic.  I love looking at all their serious little faces.  I also love how they are holding the American flag backwards in the picture. :-)

Finally, as you walk into the room you'll see that our bookcase is stocked and ready to go!

The baskets below will be great for storing extra blankets for now and toys in the the future.

 

Above, we have a nice selection of books thanks to so many wonderful friends!  And a couple other nick nacks I've collected.

This metal file drawer was another attic find and is now storing medicine and first aid supplies.  

That little car is actually Michael's dad's pinewood derby car from when he was a Boy Scout.

And a lot of the Boy Scout books were either Michael's or his dad's. 

I also found this printable that summarizes everything I'm feeling.  Every time I read it, there are tears.

Around the corner you remember the chalkboard that I painted and wrote out the Boy Scout Law.  And that canoe up top?... just something that my mom had.  Who just has stuff like that?!  

 I will show you how we organized the closet some other day. 

How about that adorable little felt campfire set that my sister gave us?! Also note the felt s'more and felt marshmallow on a stick.  How fun is that?! The twig stars were made by my Aunt Susie and Uncle Jace.  They used them to decorate their shower gift and I told them I knew I could find a spot for them in the nursery. 

We are thrilled with how everything has come together!  But here's the thing, what I love most about this room is the hand that others have played in getting it to this point.  I love that this room came together with the help of inherited furniture, family keepsakes and memories, and many many gifts (handmade and otherwise) from people that love us and love our little guy.  I look around and I see other people in this room and know this is just the first step in their part in his life.  What a lucky dude he is - to have so much love coming his way.

My heart is very thankful. 


Here's a source list from our nursery:

Crib: Wayfair (similar)
Rug: Home Decorators
Sheepskin Rug: Similar
Arrows: Ebay
Paint Color: Louisburg Green - Benjamin Moore
Light: Habitat ReStore, DIY'ed
Curtain: DIY'd from drop cloth bought at Lowe's
Swivel Rocker: Local - Larimer Furniture 
Ottoman: Wayfair
Large Changing Table Baskets: Target
Small Changing Table Baskets: Target
Changing Table Artwork: Free Vintage Posters.com
Frames: IKEA
Wall Light: IKEA
Book Shelf Fabric Bins: Amazon
Adventure Printable:  Oh So Lovely Blog
Quilt Inspiration: Pinterest
Felt Fire Pit: Similar on Etsy
Rocking Horse: Locally Made
Camping Signs: DIY'd
Planked Wall Tutorial
Crib Skirt Tutorial
Built In Bookshelf Tutorial
Chalkboard Tutorial


Linked to: Talented Tuesdays, May Pretty Preppy Party, Think & Make Thursday, June Before & After Party,

To see more about the nursery and how we organized it, click here. 

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April Showers, Thank You Notes, and Baby Books

Hi there! Remember me? This little gal who likes to blog and share about her adventures in life, love and the pursuit of a completely renovated home? Well I kinda took a little break this last month, mostly because, life got a little too busy! Between baby showers, work, hosting friends, and preparing for baby, I found it hard to sit down and find time to write up a post.  So sorry about that!

But I'm here to update you all on what's been going on this last month!

Lets start with the baby update! I'm still feeling good at 37 weeks and 4 days (other than it feels like someone is following me around with a space heater)!  So basically, baby Blough could come any day now ladies and gentleman! Crazy!!  The plan is to work up until he arrives, which could put us into the month of June.  We'll see! Then, I'm taking 12 weeks off work to get the hang of this whole mom thing.

The list of things we need before our baby boy gets here is narrowing.  And that is largely due to the fact that we were thrown three baby showers to help us stock our home for baby.  Each one wonderfully different from the next.

The first shower was thrown by my mom, sister and aunt.  They outdid themselves with decor to match the outdoorsman theme of the nursery.

Look they even stole our Teepee!!  And a felt play fire pit?.. please, kill me with cuteness.   Many of the things they used to decorate were gifts to us for the nursery.  How sweet is that!?!

The second shower was thrown by some very dear friends of mine and was a coming together of friends from high school, college, work and post college.  The nursery rhyme theme was adorable.

And each guest brought a book (instead of a card) to help Michael and I stock our little guy's bookcase that we built for him.


And finally the last shower, just a few weeks ago, was thrown by my mother-in-law and cousin-in-law.  These girls know me well and planned three games to play! I love games!! We got so many great items that we still needed in order to finish out our registry and I'm so thankful.  Not to mention, we got this sweet little diaper motorcycle that Michael's cousin made in honor of Michael's dad!

I love love love that!
I also loved these cupcakes they made! Adorable!

And many of you know... with many showers, comes many gifts (yay!) and with many gifts comes the writing of many thank you notes.  That has been my big task the last month.  I have really wanted to keep up with them and get them out as soon as I could.  For the thank you notes, I really wanted something that gave a nod to the nursery and our outdoorsy theme but I  didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on custom stationary.

So when I found a packet of 8 plain thank you notes at Michael's for $1.50, I wondered how I could customize them.  I found a cute little arrow stamp, bought some black ink and went to town.  Now I have completely customized stationary for a fraction of the cost.

Another little project that I am SUPER excited about is my baby book.  At the shower thrown by my family, they had a lot of my own baby memories laid out - including my baby book that my mom had diligently filled out (and that's saying something - being that I am the youngest of 3).

Going through that made me realize how important it is to write down and keep track of all the happenings of this little guy's early life.  I love reading what my mom had to say about me - her observations about me, what she found special, what she thought was funny.  I really want to do that for our kids as well.  But what I did not want to do was spend $60 on a baby book customized by somebody else - like what I was finding on Etsy!

I had a very specific idea about what I wanted in the baby book and what I didn't.  So when I saw that Young House Love shared their template for their own DIY custom baby book that you could tweek, I was all in.  And it was so easy!! (I didn't want to scrap book) I just wanted something simple, with fun prompts, and fun colors and patterns.  Voilà!

I am absolutely in love with it! I bought the 8x8 book, a pad of fun paper, some white cardstock, and extra pages - all for less than $25 total with coupons and sales.  I made little pockets on some pages and left space to add pictures and write stories on others.  So excited about it! My favorite page is an idea from YHL- it's a predictions page that Michael and I filled out about who we think our little guy will be.

I just couldn't love it more and I can't wait to add to it with each new milestone and memory.

And now, I think for today, I will leave you with all that.  The nursery is 95% finished and I look forward to being back soon with a complete reveal! Who knows...there could even be a baby in it!

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