Crib Skirt

It's kind of funny...I started working on the nursery as soon as we announced our pregnancy at week 12. I was so amped to get to work at that point that I figured I'd finish it all within a month. It seems that, if you let it, getting a nursery decorated can be similar to planning a wedding: everything takes more time than you expect, and there's way more than your list makes it seem. I suppose DIYing almost everything didn't help too much with that either. But eventually that list does end, and ours did about three minutes ago. That's right, people: the nursery to-do list is completely done! (The pre-baby list, I must confess, still has two items on it, but hopefully those will get done today since baby could theoretically come at any time and since...well...I'll just say that I feel like go time will be really soon.)

This isn't usually my style (it isn't ever my style) but I'm 9 months pregnant and my alarm went off at 5:45 this morning to get ready for a sunrise maternity shoot and Baby is literally trying to get out of me currently, so I'm not doing my own tutorial on how I made this crib skirt for the nursery. I didn't take pictures along the way and I'm giving no explanation. This is half because of all the reasons I just mentioned, and half because the tutorial I used was perfect and there's just no point in trying to recreate my own. I mean, Young House Love is as great as they are for a reason: they make some pretty great tutorials all on their own. So here's the link to the specific blog post I used as my step-by-step:

http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/03/nursery-progress-skirting-the-issue/  

And here's my finished product:

The crib skirt was designed to cover the ugly hinges and hardware of the under-the-crib storage drawer.

Honestly, the crib would have been fine if I hadn't made the crib skirt at all. At first those metal hinges really bothered me but over the course of the last 10 or 11 months since we bought the crib they've become much less of an eyesore to me. Some of that has definitely been born from a lack of any kind of desire to actually make the crib skirt, I can't lie. But I'd already bought the hem tape and the fabric, so I did finally feel like it was time to suck it up and just get it done. 

I'm not sure why I get so intimidated by new and strange DIY-related things, but I do. Sherry from Young House Love promised that hem tape was super easy and super wonderful for the non-sewers such as herself, but I remained a little unconvinced. Aka: I was scared of the most ridiculously easy DIY project in the history of the world. Pretty ridiculous, now that I've done it and see how simple - and awesome! - it is. Hem tape is officially my new favorite thing. (For details on what the heck I'm talking about, click on the tutorial link above.)

I had such a hard time picking fabric the day I bought this, because there were SO many beautiful patterns that would have looked awesome as a crib skirt if there wasn't that super busy and crazy rug taking up the whole room. (I went through similar heartache when I was looking for new curtain fabric.) But in the end, I'm really happy with this fabric. It does have that subtle pattern on it so it's not a solid sheet above a solid skirt, but it's so subtle it doesn't compete with the rug below. I think it turned out perfectly. 

So the nursery is done! Completely and 100% done, folks. I can't even begin to tell you how that feels. As part of the maternity shoot today, we got a lot of detail shots throughout the whole nursery so when I get those I'll post a whole, finished overview of the final product. Everything DIY has been shared on here already, obviously, but there are a lot of details that haven't been documented and I can't wait to show you how it all came together. Also, it should be said that we are besides ourselves with excitement for Baby to finally be able to come live in his or her new room. 

Here's the finished nursery to-do list, with links to all the individual projects. It's been super fun and I've loved it all, but I'm also kind of ready to take a DIY break for a little while. 

• 1 Samuel 1:27-28 chalkboard
• quote for inside side table frame
• hang all pictures 
• turn green bottle into a lamp
• recover lamp shade? new lamp shade?
• prime dressers
• paint dressers white
• paint side table white
• paint cube organizer
• make mobile for over crib
• paint metal pail for books
• clean out closet and closet drawers
• clean out dresser drawers
• line dresser drawers with contact paper
• basket(s) for cube organizer
• get small lamp for changing table
• metal trash can for diapers
• basket with liner for hamper
• hang large frame for showers
• set up baby monitor
• make clothing dividers
• make crib skirt
• buy new blackout curtains

Yep, that's a pretty exciting completed list. Stay tuned for nursery detail photos sometime soon!