DIY Nesting

michaela0704

Alright ... I know I'm not the only one that is either itching to get some projects done around the house or enjoys a good DIY project whether it be painting, sewing, art, organizing, or building something!

As we start getting into nesting mode let's have a thread to show our work... or use to have others help hold us accountable so we actually get it done!!

michaela0704

I'll start!  My goal this weekend is to actually finish up our hall bathroom that we mostly redid this summer but I was too cheap to pay for them to do the baseboards and paint... seriously they wanted over $1,000 for that and the bathroom is less than a 6' x 8' room!!  I'll add starting, progress, and hopefully my finished pics soon!!

mamaraffe

I got a silhouette machine for Christmas! I made a couple onesies 

awillis13

We need to figure out how we are adding baby to our space.  We have gone back and forth about finding a 3br place to rent, but I think it will be in our best interest to suck it up and share a room with baby for a few months and really crack down on saving $ to buy something.  I was going to attempt to do some rearranging this school vacation, but we all got the stomach bug, so that will have to be February vacation.  In the meantime, we are on the hunt for a dresser we can refinish and use as a dresser/changing area for baby.

kfry22

We need to empty out a spare bedroom to get it ready to paint for my sons toddler room. His current nursery is gender neutral themed (vintage farm and cowboy/girl) so I'm not changing anything to it, just adding a new baby. The toddler bedroom is going to be transportation themed and I found a ton of vintage metal road signs at an estate sale to use for wall decor. Really excited for it! 

Other than that, we have some minor home projects I want done. I would also love to make something for this baby. For my son who was born in November, I made a carseat canopy. If this one is a girl I think I'll do headbands and a quilt. If it's. boy I might do some onsies or something. 

Knottie42089123

We just started moving into our new home and need to remodel 2 bedrooms and a bathroom before baby is here! Will hire out for construction but I'll need to pick out colors,fixtures

LMMama

I feel like I'm at a nesting stand still right now. We just bought a new house and close on it Feb 28th. We plan to spend the month of March tearing down wallpaper, painting, refinishing floors and moving our things in. So right now I'm just waiting and throwing a lot of things away. I have so many baby ideas though!

caribbeanmama-2

Ashcicle said:

I got a silhouette machine for Christmas! I made a couple onesies 

I'd like to purchase the hello world onesie with a different name please!  (I don't even know what a silhouette machine is - I am clearly out of my league in this DIY!)

doodleoodle

Last night I reorganized the unfinished portion of the basement. I want to organize all of our closets, get a backsplash put in the kitchen, buy some things for the great room, and, if this baby is a boy, make DD's room gender neutral as they will eventually be sharing a room. Re-doing DD's room could technically wait but it'll be so much easier to get it done with only one baby to care for. I guess it's safe to say I'm in full blown nesting mode.

We moved into this house when I was 6 months pregnant with DD. I was working full time and just exhausted so I did the bare minimum to make it feel like a home and I'm paying for it now. Womp womp.

alm52386

I already want to rearrange everything to make room for baby stuff. I already reorganized the closet and emptied my dresser which will be the baby's dresser/changing table. We have a 1 bedroom apartment so it will be a tight squeeze! 

LAMCH1980

We're starting a major basement remodel on Monday. I was given permission to do wtf ever I want with a walk-in closet they are building and I'm turning it into clofiice/ craft/ storage room. It's going to be glorious. I've waited my whole life for somewhere to unpack this crap. They've included 8 shelves in the price so I'm trying to work some old cabinets into the design and turn shelves into a desk. The goal: stay under $300. I found these amazing Martha Stewart craft cart things on the yard sale site for a fraction of the price today. 

LAMCH1980

If any of you have a craft room/ office and want to share pics, please do!!! I'm searching for budget-friendly ideas. 

mamaraffe

@caribbeanmama I can make you one! Send me a message

keniialise

@Ashcicle I'm doing the same thing! Only I'm gonna do the "hello my name is" name tag onesie and leave the name blank until we know it's a boy or girl (I'll have to bring a craft iron to the hospital lol!)

mamaraffe

@keniialise so cute!!! 

anitamargarita_82

Has anyone found nice baby books yet?  I"m not really crafty otherwise I'd try and make one myself.  I looked on Etsy but they all look like something someone bought at Michael's and jazzed up a bit and listed it for sale.  

amberp1528

We went today to get a few paint samples to figure out which teal we wanted we do not know the gender yet but teal is the color I always wanted so it doesn't matter what gender lol

mamaraffe

Wearmi1 said:

Has anyone found nice baby books yet?  I"m not really crafty otherwise I'd try and make one myself.  I looked on Etsy but they all look like something someone bought at Michael's and jazzed up a bit and listed it for sale.  

I found some cute ones on spearmint. They are simple and I could probably complete one. We were gifted on for DS and it was so full of questions and stuff to fill out I let it fall behind! Ugh 

GoodWitchoftheNorth

@amberp1528 Have you seen "hazel" by Sherwin Williams? Gorgeous.

We are re-carpeting the playroom and turning it into a nursery. DS and I already started packing away old "baby" toys and just stuff that is broken/not worth holding onto (he's pretty ruthless...meanwhile I got all teary over throwing away his giant stuffed dino).

caribbeanmama-2

Ashcicle said:

@caribbeanmama I can make you one! Send me a message

Oh that's so sweet of you!

email2ash

We finally cleared out the nursery (it was being used as a storage room). DH insulated the door to the walk up attic in the bedroom so that the temperature isn't crazy. Otherwise we are waiting until Later this month to find out the sex.

zseirecarg

When we bought our house the two spare rooms were very much a girls room (pink blinds, pink carpet - named the raspberry room) and a boys room (blue carpet and blue blinds - named the blueberry room). I took the blinds down months ago and replaced with black out shades. Carpet is next, we will hire out for it. But we will do the rest of the nesting. Leaning towards a mountain theme for the nursery. Thinking i'll paint them on a wall using painters tape as my guide. Will update as I make progress. 1st step- get all the crap out of the previously 'raspberry' room. We don't know the sex yet but I plan on stinking pretty neutral with the more permanent stuff anyways. Happy nesting all

arrowmama

My 2.5 DS just got a twin bed for Christmas, so I've cleaned and re arranged his room really well and started clearing out our guest room which is now the new nursery. All that's left is to find new permanent home for the stuff in the closet. We'll probably need to add shelves to the garage!

Xath

We're planning to renovate our house when we get back to the states. It's currently rented and we're overseas, so all I can do right now is plan.  But I'm drafting floor plans and did an IKEA kitchen draft last night.  Kitchen and basement are our priorities, but I dream of adding a master bathroom to the top level.

BelhurstBride

Our upstairs bathroom is due for a total gut job and we're hoping to start that soon. 

I'm too nervous to start anything baby related until we start getting some more positive news. 

We pre emptively, like before I even POAS, moved DD1 into DD2's room. Our fourth bedroom is nowhere near the other three, at this point the girls are happier sharing than one of them being secluded. DD1's old room is currently just a collection of crap, waiting to be cleaned up and re decorated. 

jc_twomamas

Now that the holidays are over, I'm ready to board the "get baby shit done" train...

One side of the house has 3 rooms (master, nursery and playroom) and the other side has 2 guest rooms. Living room splits this set-up (sprawling ranch style home). 

We (luckily) have 5 bedrooms. DS is moving to one of our guest rooms which needs new carpet but has already been painted. This works out nicely to not move the playroom (it has nice built-ins). We're doing a dinosaur theme in his room and have bedding and some decor ready to go. 

New baby boy will move into DS nursery eventually. This room also needs a total update of carpet and painting (we purchased in a April) and didn't do anything but move his furniture in knowing it may be a new baby's room. This is going to be a rustic/airplane theme with a reclaimed wood wall. It's going to be adorable and I'm pumped! DH is super handy to the wood wall will go smoothly. I'll post some inspiration pictures soon. 

MotherofDragons

Is there a non-diy nesting option? Can someone do this for me? And for free? Too much to ask? I 

acrose0226

We need to figure out how to merge our guest room/spare bed into the bedroom that our home office is in, so that we can have the nursery in what's currently the guest room (we have a 3BR). To ease this transition, we have A LOT of organizing and purging to do. So starting this week I am totally on Mission: Organize...going to Home Goods and Home Depot to get lot of baskets, bins and shelving so that we can create a storage area in our basement.

We also have another room to finish in the basement, though hubby will have to be the main one doing that. And we're re-doing the closet in our MBR. 

For exterior...we need to get new garage doors, and in the spring we'll have a landscaper come do a bunch of planting in the back yard (if I'm going to be off for 4 months next year, I want a pretty back yard to sit in!!!). 

The list is never ending, but we're trying to prioritize the most important pre-baby projects.

MrsW524

@LAMCH1980 That sounds amazing.  I'm hoping that in our next house I'll get a little bit of my own space for crafting and maybe a place other than the garage for my treadmill.  

Our main project right now is cleaning and organizing.  We're in a 3BR with minimal storage space and a lot of music equipment.  We have to find a way to combine the two spare bedrooms into one, which means dealing with the massive amounts of stuff that's been stored in our guestroom and trying to combine what's left with the other spare room that I've been using as a study/craft room.  Combining the furniture is another challenge.  I so wish we had a basement where we could at least store some furniture and maybe some of the instruments and other large equipment.  I'd also like to paint the nursery, but none of the other rooms in our house are painted and I'm wondering if one room being painted will make it weird when we sell eventually.  Thoughts?

In spring, my FIL is supposed to come help with around the house projects because he's amazing at remodel work of all sorts.  I'm trying to compile a list that addresses my concerns without overloading him.

Otherwise it's all cleaning, organizing, and trying to make space.  I've also starting some of my knitting projects for little one, including some sweet little animals that will go with the nursery. I'm working the pattern for this little guy right now in my spare moments: 

delujm0

We are starting a major renovation (#2 for this house) next month involving turning over-the-garage space into a bedroom/bathroom/bonus room that we will use as a playroom.  it involves lifting up the roofline and a small addition as well, and a bunch of exterior work (siding, roof, windows and doors).  We bought the house two years ago and renovated the entire first floor (which is where the master bedroom and nursery are - DD is still in the nursery currently) before moving in.  I was 7 months pregnant with DD when it was finished.  I'll be lucky to still be pregnant when this round is done.  DD's Big Girl Bedroom is upstairs, and though we're only doing minor renovations there (new carpet and windows), we see no point in moving her up there until it's done.  I hope it doesn't go over by too much.  We really want it done by 5/31.

 

In the meantime, I bought a Latt kids table from Ikea that I'm going to paint and add a paper roll to and some hooks to hang buckets of chalk/crayons/markers from.  I think I'm going to paint the table grey with a chalkboard top and the chairs two different colors and put the girls' names on them. DH is refinishing a teak outdoor table that he got off of craigslist to use this summer.  That, and making selections for the renovation, is all we'll do ourselves...some things are better left to professionals (and not financial professionals, which is what we both are).  We are actually working with a designer for some of the outdoor color selections because there is a lot to coordinate and we have no idea what we're doing - but I think I have the inside under control at least.

caribbeanmama-2

@MrsW524 I say paint the nursery!  The one thing that really pulled our nursery together and gave it that finished look was that splash of paint.  I'm so glad I convinced my husband to do it.  (We only painted the nursery, our master, and one feature wall in the dining room).  You can always paint it over before selling if you have any concerns. I do love the knitted elephant design!!!  I got a bunch of elephant art from Etsy for the nursery the first time around.

bornmommy

I've been SUPER nesting via organizing and voiding toys.  I'll have to clean it up to get a picture but Target had these deals on organizer cubbies that I couldn't resist and decided that it was necessary.  I'm thinking about nursery things but since the baby won't have a nursery most likely, I'll just get a few small penguin things like pillows and blankets and leave it at that.  

lmc929

Wearmi1 I made my DS1's baby book using project life. Its crafty but the set comes with pre made little journal cards so if you want to be less crafty you can simply use those and pictures.

merrylea

We bought our house a little over a year ago, and completed a major first floor remodel this past year: total gut of kitchen, ripping out and changing direction of the stairs upstairs, and opened up between kitchen, dining room and living room. We've been staying in the first floor bedroom while the two bedrooms upstairs remain unfinished. (3 bedroom cape cod) Well, that needs to happen, the bathroom upstairs needs a total gut and remodel and then we'll move upstairs with the baby. I'm just exhausted thinking about it. We were so burned out over the first one. Luckily, my stepfather and his friend will hopefully be doing most of the work this time. So jealous of you ladies with the minimal nesting!!! 

ThePecks

MotherofDragons said:

Is there a non-diy nesting option? Can someone do this for me? And for free? Too much to ask? I 

You are my spirit animal. If only I could afford to hire someone for everything. Glad DH is awesome and on board getting our huge list done!

michaela0704

@merrylea I literally have to overhaul my entire main floor decorating wise (not 1 room is done, but we did the major work on the kitchen/open living space, flooring throughout, and all major structural/mechanical work in 2014 when I was watching too much HGTV and we bought this fixer upper) then we need to create a playroom in a portion of the unfinished basement... I'm overwhelmed just thinking about replacing all doors, repainting the whole house, redoing our botched master bathroom renovation, finishing the hall bathroom renovation, completing a nursery, giving my twins their big boy room, finishing the bunkbeds I started building, replacing all furniture/decorating open living space, oh - that basement... ugh... so much stuff!!!! 

ETA: I meant to also say, I feel your pain and hope your renovation work goes smoothly!!

merrylea

@michaela0704 Solidarity sistah!  Why oh why did we buy this fixer uppers. lol!!!

DewyK

@Ashcicle - I'm C&Ping the link to the baby book that is my absolute favorite. I got one when I was pregnant with our oldest and have ordered the exact same one to use with our other children, despite being gifted different ones. I just love the layout and content of this one. This is the yellow one but it also comes in pink and blue!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1841722928/ref=ya_st_dp_summary

Jendink

LAMCH1980 said:

If any of you have a craft room/ office and want to share pics, please do!!! I'm searching for budget-friendly ideas. 

I can't take a picture of mine right now. It's a diaster!  Lol. But my husband made the craft table using one of those 9 cube storage things and some type of wood for the top. It was fairly inexpensive... $65 tops to make