The Closet Makeover
Ready for baby!!!
The before.
As requested... here it is...finally! Most every regular reader knows at this point....we currently reside in a 1500 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom rent house. It's a long story, it's definitely a journey, and we are currently renovating. To get the scoop on that whole story......I'll leave the backtracking on here up to you. With 12 children and minimum square feet we have learned to utilize space to its absolute max. After a year of living here we finally gained landlord's approval to make changes to home and thus began the long list of home improvements.....what eventually turned into The Love Project. 15 months ago after the arrival of baby #11 our closet eventually transitioned into the only available baby space, as he co-shared the room with us for the first year, until he eventually moved up into the larger bunkroom. With permission finally granted to give a personal touch to the house, along with the numerous home improvement projects we currently have going, I decided to make a real nursery out of the closet crib space.
This post is an attempt to encourage others following a strict budget, with limited funds for frivolity, and/or limited space issues, that fun spaces can definitely be accomplished with a little creativity. This entire little project and space was completed for under 100.00 (not including crib or bedding which was given to us by a dear friend as a baby gift). Even with bedding not included I have searched the vast web and found many bedding sets for less that could easily be used and decorated amazingly.
When closet transitioned into needed baby space. This would be the painfully honest view of what it usually looked like.
And the beginning of needing to utilize it and organize it better than the chaos and catch-all that it had become.
The mini space saver crib that was baby's first gift from amazing friends. Purchase info and crib details can be found here. It is a miniature version of a traditional sized crib. We experimented and put 15 month old tubby man in it and he still fit incredibly well and was able to stretch out fully. So this crib, even in its smaller size, will sleep sweet baby until she is ready to transition up into a bigger bed in the bunkroom.
Top of the closet. At this point I was still in the process of coming up with storage solution ideas for baby girl's stuff.
The solution! 1.5 bushel laundry baskets available at Walmart for 2.79 each. MUCH cheaper than purchasing smaller, decorative, wicker fabric lined baskets.
My Baby Sam Aqua Pixie bedding, also a gift to accompany the bed. The beginning of organization and the inspiration that fueled the transformation from closet to girly little nursery space. This bedding can also be found at cheaper prices on Ebay and other lesser well known sites.
The beginning of decorating. What sells for 8.00-12.00 + additional shipping charges on Etsy was created for .99 in about 10 minutes. One yard of .99 tulle cut into 4-6 inch wide strips with the length of the yard left intact, Or you can buy a 25 yd roll of tulle already around 6 inches wide. Walmart or local craft stores sell them for around 3.00 or they can be found on The Ribbon Retreat's site for only 1.99 with an amazing color selection. I just chose the cheapest route since our budget is a bit unforgiving.
Spending shift nights making a late night party out of it with older kids......Lost, tulle pom poms, popcorn and sweet tea!
Despite everything on Pinterest, this is the method I found the easiest and quickest. I found that it helps to wrap it around a hardback book....soft covers bend and flex way too easily...and wrap the tulle tightly around. The tighter the wrap the poofier the ball will be.
Straight stripes taped off....finally!!! Ready for paint. Words of wisdom concerning taping off stripes........unless you're just gifted with a level and unsquare walls.....get your husband to do it. It'll save you about 90 man hours of doing it wrong, which eventually results in a torrent of tears and an absolute meltdown.
Pink for little baby girl! Since they seem to only come about every 4-6 years around here we decided to girly it up as much as we could. Valspar "Sweet Pea" pink available at Lowe's. Personally, I'm just kinda liking the Diet Dr Pepper in the background. Yep...I drank it while I was pregnant.
And 1 qt of blue-ish aqua for the cotton candy effect. Valspar "Sea Kiss" also available at Lowe's.
When the color goes up! I originally wanted strictly pink and white stripes to make it as girly as possible but husband soon had every kid in the house on his side about cotton candy striping. So...multiple colored stripes it is! And I have to say....after it was all said and done I was quite in love. He has good taste.
In daylight when true color comes out and crib is back in place.
Creating the fun stuff. 3.50!
.99 - 6 in grapevine wreath
2.00 - two .99 stems of white flowers
.99 bird on sale for .49.
.99 birdhouses purchased at local craft store and painted with paint we already had on hand and everything we had leftover from painting walls. This one painted with lots of care, time, and a vast amount of love by her oldest sister.
Getting to the top! THis had to be the most fun of it all. Well....maybe this and the birdhouses. Round "spouncer" sponge was found in Walmart's sewing/craft section. It was created to screw onto the top of a craft paint bottle but I just dipped it into the paint we already had.
After searching the world over for reasonably priced fabric I could find nothing that matched what I saw in my head and of the fabrics I did find one was 11.00 a yd and the other 8.00 a yd, not including shipping. I needed 1 1/3 yd to sew a liner for each basket. That quickly totaled around 45.00 with shipping. Not possible for the budget. Instead I changed directions and went with this! 2 yds of 2.44 stiff plain cotton and created the print I wanted with leftover wall paint. Painting fabric was just as easy as painting walls. For the stripes I just taped them off like I attempted to tape walls. My fabric attempt went much better! Total fabric purchaase....4.88 as opposed to 45.00+. Fabric was cut into 11 1/4 in wide strips that went the length of the 2 yds.
The art of striping fabric! Yes...there was method to my madness.
Instead of a basket liner I Mod Podged fabric to basket. Tutorial link below in pic. I made a pattern of my own to fit dimensions of basket and cut into 4 manageable pieces since I found working with the whole strip was a bit.....maddening.
Since the basket has funky angles, was far from perfectly square, and I wanted mine to wrap around to underside I folded it at corners like tucking in sheets around bed corners. There wasn't a lot of excess so it made corners easy to work with. Due to Mod Podge not adhering on the underside like the cement I needed it to be I added....duck tape!! Who can resist hunter orange??? It also protects both the wear of the fabric along with any peeling due to excessive use of scooting baskets in and out of shelf.
Done and in their space! I was quite proud of this little creation. 2.87 p/ basket and 4.88 for fabric.
What I wanted and almost ordered....but they had no blue that matched her little space. Along with the fact it's 33.00.
The shelf is 48.00 and I really loved the hanging letters of the one above yet the shelf aspect of this one.
So......the happy medium that became the inspiration for what was created! 52.00 on Etsy.
5.00 shutter find! Love craigslist.
Creating my own name shelf for her! 3x4 unfinished wood tiles bought at local craft store for .39 each. Unfinished wooden letters..... .49 each.
It's really dark pink and light pink despite how red lighting makes it appear.
My 5.00 shutter. Repainted pink! Unfinished wooden knobs leftover from kitchen renovation painted white. I searched the world over for prettier shelf brackets but failed to come up with any and quickly began running out of time. So I got the super cheap utilitarian ones until old discarded pretty ones can be found to replace the metal.
When it all goes up! Letters hung with white organza ribbon we had on hand in our ribbon stash. To keep from taking the time to drill holes in thin wooden tiles to run ribbon through for hanging purposes I just hot glued ribbon to back of tiles and hot glued little bows to front. It works!
The inspiration frame. 16.50
Frame made with love by....her momma. Frame we already had on hand from leftover school art projects. Once again....I utilized leftover paint and ribbon we already had on hand.
Pink and white frame...still waiting on bow for top before it can be hung on side wall.
Tulle canopy with centerpiece pom poms and all of her little homemade creations!
When it all comes together. I'll eventually paint some cardstock and wrap it around closet rod....as the heavy duty metal one is just kinda ugly. But, for now, the tulle hides it pretty well.
And lastly.....lighting!! Instead of using the 2 strands of clear Christmas lights we already had on hand and stapling up under tulle and around ceiling we resorted to using a 16 ft, low heat output, LED rope light to keep it from becoming a fire hazard up against the tulle. Another one was run around edge of closet ceiling.
And everything we waited on and spent so much time dreaming about.....
Personally I like the Coleman headlamp to the right of her. I already cropped out a toy dirt bike and John Deere tractor. Oh the love gifts when you're loved so much by a ton of brothers. Picture quality leaves much to be desired....but she's till just pretty cute!
When it was worth it all. This would be the way she spends most her time in her crib....absolutely mesmerized by the colors of it all. Her favorites seem to be studying the bedding, the walls, and the pom poms and birdhouse dangling above.
3 of her many bodyguards adoring our little closet baby. One of my all time favorite pics.
Total cost breakdown of closet makeover....109.37!
There was a ton of material and paint leftover from some of of the stuff we did so this could easily apply to creating an entire nursery. My goal was to keep the entire project under 100.00 but due to the unanticipated cost of the rope lights we went over by 9.37. As stated before...the plan had been to repurpose 2 strands of clear Christmas lights we already had on hand...but due to the fire hazard issue we opted to go with the safer option of the low heat emittance of LED rope lights.
6 in flower wreath - 3.50
- .99 grapevine garland bound up like wreath
- (2) springs white flowers .99 x 2 = 2.00
- fake little bird 1/2 price .49
Shutter shelf: 13.07
- 5.00 shutter
- knobs from leftover home projects
- spray paint 2.79
- 4x3 wooden squares .39 x 6 = 2.34
- wooden letters .49 x 6 = 2.94
Birdhouses 5.00
- birdhouse .99 x 3 = 3.00
- candlestick base .99 x 2 = 2.00
Baby Baskets: 13.25
- 1.5 bushel laundry baskets - 2.79 x 3 =
- fabric 2.44 x 2 yrds = 4.88
- already had Mod Podge from past projects
Paint: 23.00
- entire gallon of Valspar "Sweet Pea" pink 5.00 (they messed up and mixed a gallon rather than the qt I asked for so we were given the gallon for 5.00 instead of the 18.00 cost of a qt)
- qt of Valspar "Sea Kiss" blue - 18.00
Tulle: 25 yards total - 20.00
- 20 yards .99 x 20 = 20.00
- 5 1/2 yards leftover form previous projects
Rope Lights: 25.76
- (2) 16 ft strands 12.88 x 2 = 25.76
Spouncer (package of 6 in different sizes) for polka dots: 5.79
Polka dot frames: FREE! ...we had the unfinished wooden frames left over from other art school projects If you don't happen to have little wooden frames laying around and have to purchase...
- frames .99 x 2 = 2.00!
- leftover wall paint
Had I bought everything I wanted to decorate: 266.00
- tulle pom poms: 64.00 + shipping at the cheapest I could find
- lined wicker baskets: 78.00 at the cheapest I found (example provided in link) or fabric to make liners: 45.00 + shipping
- frames 16.50 x 2 = 33.00
- shelf 52.00
- birdhouses 27.00 for set of 3 (could've ordered for color theme we chose)
- wreath 15.00 or this one. She also said she could personalize and create for any color theme: 35.00
Next up....the rest of the bedroom!
1 comments:
Beautiful! You did a great job.
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