Westin's Nursery + Ikea Crib HAck

The Nursery

I can’t beleive my baby will be 2 in two months! (brb crying) I decorated Westin’s nursery waaaaay before I started my blog and thought it would be cool to share about it before I give him a big boy bed.

When designing his nursery I knew I wanted things to be simple, clean and neutral. I fell in love with the highland cow picture and kinda just went from there- in fact, it was my very first purchase for the room. When designing a bedroom I always suggest picking out the bedding before you pick out the rug or anything else. It is much easier to find a rug to match bedding than settling for bedding that you don’t really like just so that it will match your rug.

The crib, dresser and chair are all from Ikea. I will get into the dresser and crib in a little bit, but I want to rave about this chair for just a sec. First of all, I love the minimalist design and that it’s not big and bulky. It’s not technically a rocking chair, but it’s more of a boucer/rocker. By using your feet, you can bouce the chair back and fourth. It’s so comfortable and hugs the curve of your back just perfectly. It’s easy to get out of and it is inexpensive. Another reason I did not want a rocking chair or a glider is, when you are done nursing then you have no use for it. You have to sell it or donate it. This chair can easily be incorporated into a living room or office.

I will provide links bellow for all of the bedding, furniture and decor.

The Crib

When looking at cribs I was looking for a mid-centry modern style crib, but never found anything that fit into my budget. And you know I’m always searching for an Ikea hack, but never found one for this particular crib. So, I brainstormed and I think I came up with a pretty cool design for the Ikea Sniglar Crib.

You guys, this is sooooo easy!

Supplies:

1 – 1QT can of Rust-oleum Flat Black paint ($10 at Home Depot)
2-4 small sponge paint brushes
drop cloth
1 inch painters tape

To start, I just took 1 inch painters tape and taped off the top and bottom of each railing. I placed my drop cloth on the counter and gave my paint a good stir. Don’t be alarmed, the paint will look blue in the can, but it does dry a flat black. I laid each railing down flat and started painting one side of each railing and just worked my way down until all the rails were painted on one side. While waiting for that side to dry I painted another one of the 4 railing pannels. Then, when they were all dry I flipped them over and painted the other side. I let the paint dry for a few hours and pulled the tape off. My husband then assembled the crib and BOOM! We were done!

The dresser

Ohhhh the Ikea Tarva Dresser- it is hands down the best dresser (for the price) out there! You can do so many things with this dresser and the possibilites are endless! It is very well made, it is REAL WOOD and the drawers are sturdy and are easy to open. This dresser is pretty long, so make sure you measure the space!

Supplies:

The leftover Rust-oleum Flat Black Paint used for the crib (one can should be enough for both)
a small roller brush and rolling pan
2-4 large sponge paint brushes
2 smaller sponge brushes for the tighter areas
drop cloth

i am not going to sugar coat anything with this and I want to be 100% honest, this dresser is a pain to put together! BUT, if you are handy and have patience, it is sooooo worth it. I had my husband take over this for me because I am not handy and he is definitely the Chip to my Joanna….he’s just not as funny or as willing to help me with my projects. LOL

To start we gave all of the wood a light sanding and then brushed it off to get rid of any dust. We then categorized all of the pieces to determine where they went. I wanted the drawers to be left raw wood and the sides, top and bottom to be flat black.

After laying down the drop cloth we painted each side of wood that was going to be seen from the outside and then painted the legs of the dresser. I was much faster to paint the top and sides of the dresser with the small roller and then the smaller edges with the sponge brushes. It is my personal reccomendation to use sponge brushes just so that you do not see any brush strokes in the paint.

After the paint was dry he watched a few YouTube videos on how to assemble the dresser and got to it. With minimal complaining it only took him a few hours.

Lastly, we added the metal knobs in the pre-drilled holes where the wooden knobs were supposed to go. I have seen people just paint the wooden knobs and they look ok, but I prefer the look of the metal ones. I also have this same dresser in our bedroom and we used different hardware and we just filled the holes in before we stained it and then measured and drilled new holes.

We did not add any stain to the front of the drawers but if I could suggest anything, it would be to use a butcher block seal. You can find that at Home Depot in the wood stain section.

The Decor

My biggest piece of advice when it comes to decorating is, come up with a plan. Meaning, don’t just buy things you like and hope that it will all come together. You will end up with a bunch of stuff that doesn’t go together and you will have to take half of it back. I’ve found that it best to pick out furniture, then bedding, then a rug, then wall decor. Decide what colors or theme you want to go with and then just build from there.

That’s it, folks!

I have provided links to all of the decor bellow!

xoxo

Les