Tess' nursery

I thought I'd give a tour of Tessie's nursery for this post.  We chose a The Jungle Book theme. We wanted to design the room not around the Disney movie but rather the collection of short stories written by Rudyard Kipling in 1894.  I was inspired by this image from a Restoration Hardware catalog: 

But of course, all this stuff from Restoration Hardware is insanely expensive and the nursery would have cost probably $10,000 to outfit.  Those pencil drawings are $800 each!  Yikes. 

I actually do have a seldom used artistic talent - I was really into my art growing up and even started college with the idea that I might major in studio art. Then I took a neuroscience class, and well... I guess I just really went the other way on that one...  So I thought I'd try to do my own drawings for Tess' room.  Here is what I came up with:

This is just a verse from one of the stories from The Jungle Book - "Maxims of Baloo"

Tiger

Alphabet with a drawing of an animal found in India that starts with each letter. 

Here are some closeups:

These I did with pencil by the way. All the other drawings are with charcoal.

Langur monkeys - and bookcase.

Indian elephants

 The frames I got at Michaels for $40 each.  They are all 32"x 24". The drawings themselves were of course free since I did them... well I guess the charcoals and pencils cost probably $10 and the paper was about $5.  I hung them on the wall with these security wall mounts that are used for hanging frames in museums and in hospital lobbies and stuff - they are earthquake proof and hold up to 70 lbs.  I was paranoid about them falling off the wall onto the crib or something so I went overboard on the safety precautions!

The dresser is actually from our old bedroom set (so it was free essentially, can't remember what we originally paid for it), and the elephant and mini globe are from Home Goods.  The elephant was $15 and the globe was $25.  

The ceiling fan I bought online from amazon, I think it was $125.  The blades are leaves, and the light itself looks like a lantern.  

The crib was an amazingly generous gift from my mom and sister Steph.  Its a Baby Europa Palisades collection, that we got at Baby Depot for $270!  Elsewhere its usually closer to $400.  Its the highest rated crib according to consumer reports.  I used consumer reports to decide on all my baby purchases.  Its the most amazing resource. Anyway, isn't it beautiful???  I can't wait until we actually start to use it! Tess is sleeping in a bassinet for now.  

Next to the crib is some old timey looking luggage I bought at Michaels - I think they were 3 for $10 or something ridiculous.  We thought they went with the whole "Englishman in colonial India" thing. The crib has bedding from Pottery Barn Kids that has grey elephants on it.  Last night though, our amazing friends Jim and Beth Richardson gave us a BEAUTIFUL animal print bedding set that is currently hanging to dry after washing it!  It was even MADE in India! Its perfect.  I will put up another photo when its dry and on the crib.

The lanterns were the only thing we actually purchased from Restoration Hardware, were on sale, and weren't even meant for the nursery at first. But we really liked how they looked so here they are.  I won't admit how much they were but they are nearly the most expensive thing in the room. Yeah... Restoration Hardware ain't cheap.  

The baskets are filled with stuffed animals like elephants, a snake, a bear, hippo... Twicky thinks they are for her though.

The floor lamp was from Ikea, probably around $15? I can't remember.  The changing table was from Target, $85 I think.  The boxes in the changing table hold our diaper stuff - also from Ikea.  These were maybe $8?

The curtains were also from Ikea.  A pair was around $60 I think. I don't know if you've ever bought curtains from Ikea but they are SUPER long, like 94" or something, and you are supposed to hem them yourself. Of course because its Ikea they make it easy - you don't actually have to know how to sew (which is good because I don't!)  They come with an iron-on hemming set.  

So here's a great story to finish up.  I had ordered these amazing wooden/leather light switch and outlet covers from Home Depot that went with the room so well.  The outlet covers came, there were 5 in the room, and they looked perfect!  I was psyched.  I was still waiting for the light switch covers to come, but went ahead and put the outlet covers on.  They looked fantastic.  

Then finally the light switch covers arrived but they were Buzz Lightyear plastic light switch covers.  What the hell?  I called homedepot.com and told them that they sent the wrong item, they were very apologetic, told me they'd send the right ones immediately but would have to charge me again and I would have to go to a Home Depot store to get my refund for the incorrect covers that they sent me.  Ug.  I was pretty irritated since I had to A) pay twice and B) make a trip to go to Home Depot to get my money back.  But whatever, I wanted my outlet covers. 

I went to Home Depot to get my money back, but they tried to reimburse me for the cost of the cheapy plastic Buzz Lightyear light switch covers since that's what I was bringing back to the store. But I needed to be reimbursed for the expensive wooden and leather ones I ordered and paid for but did not receive.  It took me about 30 minutes and spoke to 4 different people to explain the situation and get my refund, but it worked.  SO I returned home to await my beautiful light switch covers.  

A few days later a package arrived containing 2 Buzz Lightyear light switch covers!  Are you f'ing KIDDING me???  I couldn't believe it.  Someone was really trying to send me a message that I should have had a Toy Story theme to this nursery.  Again I called homedepot.com, explained to them how angry I was about this and tried to find out what was going on.  They said that these covers were from some other company that homedepot.com was selling on their behalf and there was a breakdown in communication somewhere. Oh, you think? So they said they would order me two new light switch covers, but again I would have to pay again and go to a Home Depot store to get my money back.  I REALLY wanted these light switch covers, not only because they would look good but because I already had 5 outlet covers installed in the room that matched them perfectly.  And they were $6 each!  

Back to Home Depot I went, repeated the entire process of explaining to a bunch of different people how I needed to be refunded the money for the expensive light switches I ordered, paid for but did not receive NOT the cheap Buzz Lightyear ones I was returning.  I was beginning to really hate Buzz Lightyear at this point. Not to mention homedepot.com.  I got my refund and again went home to await the arrival of my beautiful $6 light switch covers.  

Again, a few days later a package arrived.  I excitedly tore open the packaging to reveal 2 bright, shiny BUZZFUCKINGLIGHTYEAR light switch covers!!!  I could NOT believe my eyes.  Now they're just screwing with me, I thought.  This time I skipped the phone call and went straight to Home Depot to talk to a manager. I explained to him the whole story and the fact that I had $30 worth of outlet covers hanging in my nursery that I did not want if I could not get the matching light switch covers.  I also explained to him that I was 7 months pregnant and RAPIDLY losing patience.  The manager was very nice and very apologetic and called homedepot.com for me.  I kid you not, he was on the phone with them for 45 MINUTES!!! I actually had to go back out to the car to wait while he was on the phone because I was a fat pregnant lady and my feet were killing me.  The poor manager was fuming with homedepot.com but assured me he worked it all out, and I would be receiving my light switch covers in the mail in a few days.  I took my refund and high tailed it out of there, hoping to never return.  

A few days later a package arrived in the mail.  This time?  Can you guess?  That sonofabitch Buzz once again.  At this point my fuming outward rage was gone and I was left with a stone cold fury.  I couldn't even talk I was so angry.  I went straight to the toolbox, grabbed a screwdriver, pulled those outlet covers from the wall, drove back to Home Depot and told them I wanted to get not only my money back for the two light switch covers but also for the 5 outlet covers despite not having a receipt nor any packaging.  I think I scared them because they asked no questions and just gave me all my money back.  Even now retelling this story I am getting hot under the collar.  It was traumatic.  Some day Tess is going to want to see Toy Story and I will start twitching and mumbling “Lightyear that rotten bastard…” and refuse to let her see it.  Don’t get me started on if she wants a Toy Story themed bedroom someday…

So it was good of Home Depot to give me my money back, but after weeks of hardwork I still did not have any outlet or lightswitch covers. And I could not find anything I liked in stores or online.  But then Andy actually came up with a brilliant idea – to use the leftover fabric from hemming the curtains and make my own covers.  I loved the idea not only because my light switch covers would match my outlet covers would match my curtains, but because making them myself would be really sticking it to "the man" - the corporate bastards who couldn't get my light switch covers right.  

Here's what I made:

 I used the old plastic covers that were originally in the room, then cut out a piece of fabric just slightly larger than them.  I used fabric glue to affix the fabric to the plastic and folded the fabric over the edges and glued it to the backside of the plastic covers - and I actually had to use two layers of fabric since the fabric was thin and you could see through it.  I cut an X for where the light switch would come through, then folded back the triangles of fabric and again glued them to the back side of the cover.  I did the same for the holes for the outlets.  The fabric glue took a few days to dry completely - I also did this outside and used latex gloves since I was pregnant and didn't want to breathe those fumes or touch the stuff.    Finally I coated them in a flame retardant fabric spray just in case there were ever any sparks from the electrical outlet or whatever.  This I had Andy do since I thought that stuff would be super toxic.  Have I mentioned I'm paranoid?

So that's the nursery, and how I was able to re-create a damn expensive Restoration Hardware nursery from Michael's, Home Goods, Ikea, Amazon, and Baby Depot.  Its definitely not as fancy but I like it.  And I hope Tess does someday too. Even if she doesn't, though, at least I didn't spend 10grand on it!!! 

And because I can't do a post without ANY pictures of my little monchichi... Here are a few shots: