Under the Sea: A (Budget) Baby/Toddler Room Makeover

under the sea - a baby room makeover

We recently turned my son Kaleb’s room into a world of aquatic goodness. Poor Kaleb spent his first six months or so in what was previously my home office. We finally moved the boxes, desk, and computers out to give him his own space. But he was left with shoddy red walls (leftover from a very inexperienced paint job from when we first bought our home six years ago,) and a room that didn’t fit him or his personality.

While the Zanzibar decor we originally bought for his nursery was certainly cute, it began to feel unfitting and a little too “babyish” for a spunky toddler who thinks he’s one-going-on-four.

So with both toddlers at their grandparents’ for the weekend (thanks, Mom and Dad!), we embarked on an adventure that resulted in quite a transformation.

red wallsFirst things first, we had to rid of the red and redo the walls, which included among other challenges, removing two shelves that the previous owners were apparently very set on securing. Screws, nails, glue and layers of paint came down along with them, so that set us back a while on prep time. What didn’t set us back was the absence of taping, since we decided to include the trim, doors and window in the “ocean” that we painted. No tape = happy Hubby.

I use Behr Premium Plus paint almost exclusively. I have nothing against other paints in particular. I just happen to like this brand and have had nothing but good experience with it. The colors I chose for the room were Cerulean (dark blue) and Jamaican Sea (light blue/aqua).

painting the topWe painted the ceiling first with Jamaican Sea and rolled down about two feet or so onto the wall. My meticulous nature really had me questioning “our” decision not to tape, or at least mark, the space to which the first color should go “down” to. But for once, I decided to throw caution to the wind and do something a little more freehand (much at Hubby’s urging.) By the way, yes that is the Hubby painting, and if I don’t say it enough elsewhere, while The Fix Chicks is geared toward the female of the house, we welcome fix dudes as well. Teamwork is not gender-specific! ;)

painting the top 2With the top color dry (1 coat on the previously-white ceiling and 2 coats on the walls), we then painted the Cerulean color, making sure that the two colors overlapped just a bit - and again, somewhat haphazardly. (I was still nervous about all that at the time.)

paintings the wavesThen came the fun part! After a lot of “are you sure I should not use some sort of template?” discussion, I went in with an artist’s brush (I am supposedly an artist, after all) and the Cerulean paint to make some waves. And waves, I made. I’m really glad I took Hubby’s advice and chose to freehand the waves. Ocean waves are not perfect, and neither should my waves be!

When our painting was done (at 2:00 am), I was dying to load the room, but other parts of me were dying to go to bed, so we got to work on decorating the next morning.

I’m a firm believer in “do the best with what you’ve got”, (plus, I’m a broke, stay-at-home mom) so we used furnishings we already had. We moved in a few things from another room and had The Great Toy Divide of 2006 (a divying up of toys between the rooms of our two kids.) I had some items I had purchased new but never used and some items I purchased new (I LOVE THE IKEA!), specifically for this room. All in all, our total cost was about $200! (If you’re wondering, that does include the cost of paint… we already had rollers, trays, and that sort of stuff.)

Kaleb’s reaction to his new space was priceless, and we were lucky to get it on video. The room has been redone for a week now, and he still gasps, points and smiles each time he enters it!

Here’s the “after” pics and the low-down on the new digs:

IMG_3578.jpg

IKEA Korall Fisk rug - I plan to add another one in the other color selection they have available (red/pink stripes) $4.99

IKEA Korall Bubblor bedding (quilt cover & pillowcase) $9.99

Turtle with a fancy name, also from IKEA - $5.99

By the way, that crib is probably the single most expensive piece of baby gear that we’ve ever bought. My daughter Kaya used it her first year before we got her a new one and handed this one down to Kaleb. It’s sturdy, fine and has held up well, but honestly I cannot believe now that we spent so much money on it when there are perfectly good alternatives for a third of the price or less! Chalk that one up to inexperience and baby anxiety.

Here’s a Kaleb’s-eye-view of his favorite corner of the room.

IMG_3570.jpg

The “net” - IKEA KORALL STJÄRNA - comes in a variety of colors. I also got a two-tone blue one that is not shown. $1.99 each

Lounging in the net are a beach ball, a funny crab hat and an octopus with another of those fancy swedish names which was $5.99.

The dresser came from Target and was also hand-me-down from big sister. On the dresser are two lamps that you might not be able to see. One of them is a very cool aqua-colored glass globe that serves as Kaleb’s night light. Both lamps are from, you guessed it, IKEA. The rectangular lamp is a Grono (smaller of the two pictured at that link) and was $4.99. The glass globe ($4.99) I mentioned is lit by a Block accent light which was $9.99.

The cute, orange crab chair cover ($3.99) is on a Mammut stool that we already had ($6.99). We also already had the Glis storage table, which is sadly no longer offered in the cool color combination we have.

The small fish and other sea creatures (affixed to the wall) were a whopping 49 cents each. I suspect we may get more of those.

See the accessories photo and details below for information on the barely-seen-here seahorse wall light.

IMG_3564.jpg

Stuffed animals, balls and other small toys are hanging out in IKEA Fangst and Minifangst hanging storage thingies. They look like strange sea creatures.

IMG_3565.jpgThis really cool shelf (now over the changing table), IKEA’s Lack wall shelf, comes in various colors (we chose blue, of course) and was super-easy to install. No brackets or hardware are visible, which I really like! $12.99

The big tiki is one from my bobblehead collection, and who knows where the surf dude came from? I don’t. Diapers and such are shown here in a cheap plastic container which I have since replaced with a cooler-looking basket.

The new light fixture is an IKEA Santir - $5.99

And here are a few of the accessories:

accessories.jpg

Patrick and the frog are sitting atop a toy storage chest (soft-sided) that I cannot locate at IKEA’s website, but I believe it was $12.99.

The orange seahorse wall light ($14.99) can be found here, and there is a cool sea shell light that we may add later. Or maybe we already have enough on the walls? I was going to add some bubbles, but I don’t want to end up with ocean overload.

I have my eye on a rug, and as I mentioned I’m still working on the window treatment, so hopefully I’ll post about that soon.

230 Responses to “Under the Sea: A (Budget) Baby/Toddler Room Makeover”

  1. Josh says:

    This is the perfect website for anyone who would like to find out about this topic. You understand a whole lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa). You certainly put a fresh spin on a topic that’s been written about for a long time. Excellent stuff, just excellent!

  2. Zachery says:

    It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d definitely donate to this outstanding blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to
    my Google account. I look forward to new updates
    and will talk about this website with my Facebook group.
    Talk soon!

  3. Savannah Tye says:

    Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it, you can be a great author.I will always bookmark your blog and may come back from now on. I want to encourage continue your great writing, have a nice weekend!Sugarland Roofing Contractor, 517 W. Hilary Circle, Sugar Land, TX 77498 - (281) 724-3750

  4. Anton says:

    First of all I would like to say terrific blog! I had a quick question which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your mind before writing. I have had a tough time clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out. I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or hints? Thank you!

  5. Fascinating blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it
    from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would
    really make my blog stand out. Please let me know where you got your theme.
    With thanks

  6. Enid says:

    Hello! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting fed up of Wordpress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

  7. Edward says:

    It’s awesome to visit this website and reading the views of all friends regarding this paragraph, while I am also zealous of getting familiarity.

  8. Ben says:

    Thanks for the auspicious writeup. It if truth be told was once a amusement account it. Look complicated to far introduced agreeable from you! By the way, how could we be in contact?

  9. Chase says:

    I have been browsing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.

  10. Heather says:

    I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This article posted at this web site is genuinely pleasant.

  11. Bertha says:

    Very good blog you have here but I was curious about if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics discussed in this article? I’d really like to be a part of group where I can get responses from other experienced individuals that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thank you!

  12. Marylou says:

    Nice replies in return of this question with real arguments and telling everything about that.

  13. It’s an remarkable paragraph designed for all the online visitors; they will get benefit from it I am sure.

    Look at my website - Body Mass Index Chart

  14. Kazuko says:

    Yes! Finally someone writes about slots.

  15. Jeffery says:

    Great post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Kudos!

  16. Melanie says:

    Quality posts is the secret to interest the visitors to visit the web site, that’s what this web site is providing.

  17. Christoper says:

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts on home-decor. Regards

  18. Art says:

    After looking over a handful of the blog articles on your site, I really appreciate your way of writing a blog. I saved it to my bookmark webpage list and will be checking back in the near future. Take a look at my web site too and let me know what you think.

  19. Sheila says:

    Asking questions are actually fastidious thing if you are not understanding anything entirely, except this post provides nice understanding even.

  20. Greg says:

    This is really attention-grabbing, You are an excessively skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and stay up for in quest of more of your wonderful post. Also, I have shared your web site in my social networks

  21. Otis says:

    It’s very straightforward to find out any matter on net as compared to textbooks, as I found this article at this web page.

  22. Krystyna says:

    Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular article! It’s the little changes that produce the most significant changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!

  23. Cesar says:

    I all the time used to study piece of writing in news papers but now as I am a user of internet thus from now I am using net for articles, thanks to web.

  24. Elijah says:

    Hey there! Quick question that’s completely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My site looks weird when viewing from my iphone 4. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to resolve this issue. If you have any suggestions, please share. Appreciate it!

  25. Lan says:

    Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s challenging to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and visual appeal. I must say you have done a great job with this. Also, the blog loads very fast for me on Chrome. Exceptional Blog!

  26. Lyn says:

    Unquestionably imagine that which you stated. Your favourite justification seemed to be on the net the easiest thing to keep in mind of. I say to you, I certainly get irked whilst folks consider concerns that they plainly do not know about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the highest and defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , other people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks

  27. I have been browsing online greater than three hours lately, yet I never discovered any attention-grabbing article
    like yours. It’s beautiful price enough for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made excellent content as you probably did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.

  28. Hildegarde says:

    Hey there! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site? I’m getting fed up of Wordpress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

  29. moroccan oil says:

    It works to mitigate the drying and physiological aging of the skin (anti-wrinkle properties) by restoring
    the hydrolipidic film and by increasing nutritive contributions at the cellular level.
    You may design your own personal gift pack from a number of different moisturizing
    and fragrant oils, including the beautiful Argan oil that keeps
    your skin moist and supple even under the driest sun and wind, or perhaps
    calendula if her skin is more sensitive. It can be
    be your once daily moisturizer, just massage a small amount onto your face or problem areas.

  30. Flora says:

    I’m gone to convey my little brother, that he should also go to see this weblog on regular basis to get updated from most recent news update.

Leave a Reply

Higher-powered by Wordpress | ©2001-2009 The Fix Chicks