To Do: Finish the Nursery

I realized today that I never showed you the final results of our nursery project.  Leave it to us to make it a little more challenging...though, honestly, the challenge was fun!  

Sure we could have just went to Babies R Us and picked out a coordinating set of crib bedding, wall decor, etc.  But nope.  We like to be unique.  And thanks to the introduction of Pinterest into my life this summer when I wasn't working, I stole someone else's amazing idea.  And thus began the collection, or should I say scavenger hunt, for all 26 letters of the alphabet.  

Not only were letters more difficult to find than I expected, you have to understand that both Matt and I are a little bit of perfectionist.  We not only wanted a variety of colors, but also sizes, textures, and depths.  And I have to say, that I am so pleased with the result!  Ready...

Trust me--it looks better in person!  The room isn't very big so it's hard to get a good picture.  Most of the letters we picked up when we visited the antique show on our Texas trip. (And those 13 letters had to be flown back with us!) Our favorite find there was probably the "w" whistle sign.  I admit, I was a little worried about it, but Matt's eye was right of course.  Matt cut out the A and the Y.  He also constructed the I from orange and blue crayons (Go Illini!).  We covered the V in multi-colored buttons but later spray painted it a dark purple, as it was too contrasting with the Z.  I also wrapped the concrete N with yarn to give it some color and texture.  For the X, I used modge podge to add map paper, making sure to include all the towns we have lived in (see, perfectionist!)

Thanks to my neighbor Lindsay's mom, we were given the awesome letter Z.  Her mom works with a teacher who paints letters in her free time.  I sent her with the comforter and told her to use her best judgement to make the Z match.  Isn't it amazing??  It turned out so much better than I could ever have imagined.

I'm really very lucky to have a handy husband!  He may have grumbled a bit when I showed him yet another Pinterest project that I wanted him to replicate, but in the end, the ruler growth chart is his pride and joy.  Best part is, we can take it with us wherever we go :)

After having no luck finding a lamp that I liked, I had a brain fart to use alphabet blocks.  Again, the husband came in handy, turning the jar into the lamp.  And you may notice that Parker already has a CAT dump truck on that shelf.  Brainwashing starts early!

Hopefully Parker loves his new room.  He always seems to be looking at the letters when we change his diaper.  I bet he is already memorizing the alphabet.  So smart that boy!  And if he doesn't like it, well too bad, he can change it when he turns 16!