Newborn Digs: Step 2

Now that I conquered softening up the pack and play and making it much more our style, I placed it where it was destined to go next to our bed.  However, there were a couple problems:

1) I had to create an area that would serve for the middle of the night feedings and changings, but wouldn't wake us all up completely.

2) The central air vent hit directly on where my newborn baby girl would be sleeping- obviously not ideal.

3) Figuring out where is the best place (easiest access) for supplies when you are half awake in the middle of the night trying to change the diaper on a hungry baby.  Why should I have to bend down to find everything when I could theoretically have everything right within my reach and enabling me to never take my eyes off of my daughter?

4) We need something special with our new daughter's name on it.                                                

5) Doing all of this and still trying to keep our room looking nice.

I was super inspired by a soft white starry look, so I began my projects:

- Small lamp with super soft light and easy to access to on switch
- Starry mobile to distract baby from crying during diaper changes
- Canopy to block the draft from the central air
- Shelf with supplies right next to changing station
- Basket with baby girl name on it
- White ribbon, silver and shimmer details will keep it perfect for a little girl, but still within our decor

Since I have already included my canopy How To in another post I'll spare the details, accept that we made another trip to ikea, got the same hardware I mentioned before, painted it white and attached it to the wall.  We added simple white curtains without blackout liner because it isn't necessary yet- the purpose is to block the draft.  We installed the baby cam and since we were happy with what we had, I was able to then judge what else do to with the amount of space left.

I tried getting some diaper organizers but they didn't look very nice and cheapened the look I was going for, which lead to the shelf and basket idea.  I went to Pier 1 thinking I could get a really nice basket and ended up walking out with the perfect lamp.

I had to get a pretty white shade on this beautiful lamp which has such an unfortunately ugly shade.  I even got it on sale in the store for only $20! Thank you to their daily deals coupon on facebook!

After a trip to Target we got this shelf, lamp shade and a basket- my vision was finally coming together: 

I wanted to hand make her a mobile that went with the look so I went to A.C. Moore and was able to find all the supplies I needed to make the mobile: Felt glitter stars, silver beads, and a loop.  At home I had silver paint and clear fishing wire so as soon as I got these things I got started. 

Unfortunately the only smaller stars they had that were paper or cloth and came in 2 sizes were white glittery felt stars which came in packs of 3 colors, so I had to get a couple to have enough stars.  I picked out the white ones and based on how many I had made piles of 3 and 4, and distributed the silver beads to match up.  We also started painting the loop silver since it would need a couple coats and it dried while I was stringing the stars. 

I threaded a needle with the fishing wire and tied a double knot at the end.  I put it through the center of the stars and added a bead after so as to weigh it down. I measured 6 inches between stars and created 10 strings with 3 stars (1 larger one, 2 smaller ones), 5 strings with 4 stars ( 2 larger ones, 2 smaller ones) and the center string with just 4 larger stars. 

We strung the now silver loop with the fishing wire and started tying the strings of stars to the mobile, obviously starting from the center one, and working out way out.  I was very careful to stagger them so that the middle one was longest. I originally wanted to use white ribbon to hang it up, but ended up using fishing wire because it looked nicer.

I moved on to painting her name in wooden letters in white, and adding a shimmery sparkle coat.  I used my trusty hot glue gun to glue the letters to the basket and added white ribbon bows to the ends. It was the perfect finishing touch for our newborns digs!  Here is the finished product:

Since I took the pictures with my phone (while storming outside) it doesn't really do it justice, but in reality it really gives off the perfect serene feeling you want to bring home your baby girl to.  If I have a chance to take some better pictures later I will surely post!