red dirt revival: photography by Chelsea Ahlgrim

I’m extremely happy with the way Vesper’s nursery turned out! I knew I wanted to base the room off of a vintage Mexican dress that I have, as well as center the room around a really bright, vintage crib. The result? A mix of vintage, new, and handmade pieces created a fantastically fun space for Vesper to grow, rest, and play!

The gallery wall was the main feature inspired by the Mexican dress. I had several of these beautiful vintage, embroidered wall hangings sitting around our house and I knew they would be perfect. I mixed in a few little odds and ends to give the arrangement more depth and interest. The photo above also shows the paint color in the truest light. It’s a very light, airy grey (Glidden “Silver Birch”).

We got really lucky and scored a vintage Jenny Lind crib at a garage sale for twenty-five bones. Don’t worry, the mechanisms have been fixed and are safe for little V.

We sprayed the crib a bright yellow (Olympic- “Acorn Squash”). Over the crib, I hung vintage chinese paper lanterns and made a pennant banner out of some vintage sheets I had laying around.  The blue “window” frame was also a piece we had sitting in a closet.

vintage pieces, musical posters, baby shoes, and even a vintage baby doll dress made great artwork for the walls!

We also wanted to keep a little bit of our own legacy in the room for Vess to enjoy. The stool was made for Ryan by his grandfather when Ryan was little, and the yellow chair (in a previous picture) and baby shoes were mine!

I also got to use a few pieces I’ve been dying to display. Scored these curtains two years ago at a thrift store and haven’t had the right space for them. Now they’re PERFECT for letting just enough light into the room!

I should also mention that I couldn’t find a rug that I liked, so I made one. I used rag rugs and wove them together using strips of sheet fabric. I really love the striped effect! It took me about two hours total and only cost about $20 to make a room-size rug! I call that a score.

So here’s the breakdown:

Paint: approximately $80 Grey- Glidden "Silver Birch"; Yellow (crib)- Olympic"Acorn Squash"; White (trim and crown moulding)- Valspar "Du Jour" (all at Lowes)

Crown Moulding- $100; DIY installation and paint, Lowe's

Vintage Jenny Lind crib- $25 (including mattress!) at a garage sale (DIY refinishing and paint job)

Dresser- $100; thrift store find

Hardware- $60 at Lowe's

Side tables- $0; extras “borrowed” from other rooms and storage

Glider- $0; (gifted from my mother) (purchased from Target)

Lamp- $0; on-hand around the house (originally purchased on clearance at Gordmans)

Rug- $20; Six 2x3 mats, at $3 a pop, woven together to form one large area rug = about $20 (and only took me about an hour total!) purchased from Walmart)

Artwork- $2; We already had all of the artwork on-hand (including the large blue “window” frame) except for the "Before I formed you..." print- (a gift from my mother in-law), and the DIY vintage doll dress, which I made myself. The only cost was the frame which was a whopping $2 at Target!

Pennant Banner- $0; DIY no-sew project from vintage sheet scraps

Vintage Chinese Paper Lanterns- $10; vintage purchase from Etsy

Curtains- $0; already had them in the house and begging for an excuse to use them!

Light fixture- $11 at Walmart

Wire “changing station” baskets- $1/ ea at the thrift store

Bumper- $2 vintage find at the thrift store

Misc (electrical outlets and plates, 3M command hooks, velcro, painters tape, etc) approx $30

Grand total: about $450!

Did your jaw just drop? Mine too.

I hope you enjoyed a little peek into our baby girl’s nursery!

xo,

Chels