Budget friendly baby nursery ideas

I love to design nurseries! When I was asked to help design a gender-neutral nursery for some close friends, I was excited to see what we could do with their small but charming space. Our goal was to add character and warmth without it feeling too cluttered. Using some creative tactics we fashioned a high-end look without a big budget. Here are a few of my favorite secrets from this nursery.
Re-purpose what you already have
The family had an old black dresser that had been unused for years. It was the right size to fit a baby-changing pad on top and would be a great way to add some storage to the room. We wanted to breathe new life into the old dresser by painting it a bold shade of aqua to match a side table that I had picked up for $15 at a thrift store. In order to get a perfect color match between the table and dresser we solicited a local painter. We also updated the hardware with some acrylic pulls from Home Depot. For less than $100 they got a custom changing table that matched their side table and added storage to the room.

Be inspired by items that may be out of your budget
I found this beautiful Trellis Linen pendant shade on the Shades of Light website for $179. Even though lighting was a focal point of the room design, $179 was too much to spend. So I found the same exact lamp shade for $84 on the same website. With a $5 cord kit from Ikea, we were able to cut the plug off of the cord, measure the cord to our hanging length, and wire the pendant.

Now if you aren’t familiar with electric work make sure you consult a professional, but this quick fix saved us $100!

 

Pick a fabric you love
When I was pregnant with my son I started looking for crib bedding and was astonished by pricing. A three piece set can easily run you over $300. So I prefer
to mix and match bedding for a more affordable option. I wanted to make a custom bedskirt for this nursery so I found a fabric for less than $10/yard on one of my favorite online resources, Hawthorne Threads. I made the bedskirt without using a sewing machine and instead used Stitch Witch to hem the edges and then attached it the crib using velcro. To finish the bedding we picked a plain bumper and sheet that you can find for $10-$20 at any big box baby store.

Give your room a custom feel
Another benefit to selecting a custom fabric is that you can incorporate multiple hits of it throughout the room. We found a great glider for the nursery and instead of purchasing its matching ottoman, we had our local painter paint and upholster a custom ottoman with the leftover fabric from the bedskirt. This gave us a custom look while saving a few hundred dollars and space in our small room.

Maximize your wall space
In a small space it’s not necessary to fill every wall with decor and graphic. In this case the dad wanted to install wainscoting in the room and the mom wanted stripes. So we were able to use both ideas by installing wainscoting on all the walls and stripes on two focal walls. To finish the look I found some great prints on Zulily, a daily deal site for baby gear. Custom artwork is another item that can get expensive but I selected three prints for $10 each. We gave them a finished look with frames and matting from Target for about $10 each as well. Adding some texture and creativity to the walls brought the room to life without overwhelming the small space.

The formula for a good nursery is simple: full it with color and life!

By: Jenna