(Savannah, Ga.)- Ideas seemed endless for creating a room for a little girl. I considered a contemporary bright pink and lime green ensemble. Also in the running was a blue, white, and tan toile that would have lent itself to an enchanted look. And let me not forget the shabby chic, baby pink and light green design that I loved, too. Those just scratch the surface of the types of girl nurseries I was dreaming up.
Luckily, ONE design for a boy kept creeping into my thoughts. In my heart and from about week 13 on, I believed I was carrying a boy. My feeling was so strong that I did a crude computer design (I used Microsoft Paint, if that tells you anything) of a cowboy-themed nursery.
On November 5, 2010, I found out my suspicion was right and thus began my quest to create the wild west room I envisioned for our son.
How it came togetherBesides the crib and a rocker, I knew there were other things the room would need, but I just didn't know what they were or where I would get them.
Believe it or not, I started at garage sales. My husband was deployed to Iraq until mid-December, so I had many lonely Saturday mornings to rise early and go "hunting."
I found two important pieces for my son's room and not too surprisingly, I found them at the same sale. One piece is a white bookcase/seat that now sits under the one large window in the room. The bench came with a foam pad that was covered in blue and white stripes. It was in okay shape, but I knew I would take the original cover off and wrap fabric around the foam that I felt would truly match the room. The bench cost me $20. If I bought it at a store, it would have cost $80 or more.
The other great pieces I found at that garage sale were two white, but rustic-looking picture frames. They were "hand-scraped" as it's called. By-in-large they're white, but they've been purposely scraped to reveal the wood below. Each frame was $5 and by the way, they were in their original packaging; never before been used.
I filled the rustic frames with pictures I took of my husband riding our horse, Sergeant. I love the personal touch the photographs give the room. It also gives a little more meaning to the reason why I decided on cowboys, horses, and western stuff for our baby's room.
I took the camera's memory stick to Rite Aid where I printed 5 pictures using the picture kiosk. I wanted an "old west" look, so I choose the "sepia" color option for each photograph. Visitors to the nursery have done triple-takes because they don't think the photographs are current, but they certainly are.
As for the picture frames and the bench, you may think 'Why white?' in a western/cowboy themed room. Well, I needed to work with the features that already existed in the room, primarily the white trim work, white doors, and white window frames. By intentionally putting a little white on each wall of the room, the eye flows around the room. If I had all dark furniture and accessories, the white paint elsewhere in the room would have stuck out too much.
There is one piece that I did want in a dark color and that is the changing table. Truthfully, I didn't want a "changing table," rather a piece of furniture that could double as a changing table. I went to
Jere's Antiques on Bay Street in historic downtown Savannah. I found the perfect piece! It's a 1920s media console (pretty funny considering that there wasn't much in the way of media equipment back then). It's waist high and more importantly, it's the perfect length of the changing pad that I bought at Babies R Us (see the picture in the slideshow). I paid only $120 for the antique and it's a sturdy piece of furniture that has history, a unique look, and it will remain in our family for decades.
We WERE going to get the crib that my little sister slept in as a baby 16 years ago, however, it is the drop-down side style that is being banned in the U.S. starting in the summer. My husband and I figured that we'd take the mattress which is in perfect shape and we'd buy a crib. We found a Graco crib, brand-new at
Amazon.com for $139 delivered to our door. Taking the older mattress saved us about $80. Of course, I'm sad that we couldn't have the crib that is sentimental to me, however we don't have to worry about the safety of this new crib.
I was, however able to accept from my parents the rocker that they rocked me in as an infant. That piece is about to turn 31 years old. Does that mean it's an antique? Oh gosh I hope not!
The bedding and the window treatments are original creations by Barbara Kiss, my sweet and talented paternal grandmother. I sent her the fabric and the computer rendering I spoke of earlier. She not only made what I asked of her, she went above and beyond. She added darts and pleats, fancy corners and extra trim. I was so shocked when she gave me her creations. I cannot adequately tell her or anyone how special those pieces are to me. If we have a second child and if it's a boy, he's going to have a cowboy room, too. I can't see not using my Grandma Barbara's great work.
After I put the room together, I felt like I needed a few more fabric pieces. Instead of bugging my grandmother who already did so much for us, I contacted
Angela's Attic...Alterations and Artful Creations in Savannah. Angela made me covers for 2 pillows, a cow-print blanket, and a sleeve for the arm of the crib mobile. She was wonderful to work with and did a very professional job. In the future, I will take to her my pants and whatever else I need altered!
The crib mobile is something else that is original. I bought a clearance mobile at
Burlington Coat Factory for $14.99. I tore 4 blue and brown turtles off and replaced them with small plush horses that I found online.
(Watch the video to get more details on making a mobile.) The horse mobile rotates and has music like any other mobile, but this one is 100% unique. If my little man grows up to hate horses, I know it'll be all my fault!
As for the smaller signs, hooks, and embellishments around the room, I managed to find those for very cheap at
Bealls Outlet and
HomeGoods.
Originally, I planned for the metal wall art depicting a dad and son walking away to hang above the crib, however once we looked at how it's supposed to hang, we realized that it was too dangerous to be near the crib. We opted to put it on a wall by itself.
Instead of the metal wall art, I found something else to hang by the crib. That something else is rope art formed into letters that make up our son's name, D-A-N-E. I found this very unique product online at
BuckarooStyle.com. I ordered the largest one the company makes and therefore the cost was $25 per letter. The owners were very nice to deal with and they were on spot with their delivery date. The rope art takes the employees about 2 months to make. From the responses I've received, the wait was very worth it. Also, I asked and the company will make nautical-type rope art. I'm assuming these are white and I heard that the ends are tight, not frayed like the western ones. I think that the nautical rope art would be very desirable in our area because I'm sure many people choose to do a coastal theme considering where we live.
The chandelier was a royal pain to install. We paid $99 for it and I now know that is too cheap for a chandelier. The adage, "You get what you pay for," is true. Live and learn. I went to the website where I ordered the fixture so that I could leave a comment (not a favorable one), only to find out that the company does not sell them anymore. No surprise there. It was total junk to install and my husband even had to play "engineer" and reconstruct the inner workings of the piece. Now that it's up, it's great! Our guests seem to love it and some say it's their favorite part of the room.
I finished off the room with a genuine brown and white cowhide rug purchased for less than $150 from
Rawhide Company. I went with this type of rug because it's something we'll be able to use in another room of the house once our son is sick of the western theme.
The focal wall I had one truly "grand" idea for the room's feature wall. I say grand because I knew that my idea would translate into a lot of work and potential headache for my husband and me to create.
I came up with the idea to make two large (nearly floor to ceiling) panels with frames. The inside of the panels were going to be covered in denim, while the frames were going to be... can you guess? Yes. White like the frames in the rest of the room.
In the center of each panel would be a sconce--a bucking bronco and cowboy sconce that I found online.
There are a few reasons why I wanted to create panels. First, the panels conceal the cords of the two sconces I ordered for each side of the crib. This would hide the unsightly cords and be a safety measure. Covering the wires eliminates the chance of our son pulling on a dangling cord when he gets old enough to crawl and walk. Second, the panels add color to a large, tan wall. Thirdly, painting the trim of the frames around the panels gives me the "white" element that wall needed to match the others in the room.
How to make the framed panels (there are downloadable instructions attached to this article)
-Measure the room and decide how tall you want them. Also, determine how much space you want to leave in between the panels. If your wall isn't very wide, the space between the panels will determine how wide the panels themselves should be. (***make sure you carefully read the rest of the directions because your measurements will be impacted by the batting and fabric that will cover the centers).
-Take your measurements to your local hardware or home improvement store and have them cut down 2 pieces of thin plywood (1/8" thick) to the size you need them.
-Find trim that will match your design and have the store employee cut down 8 pieces for you. You'll need four shorter pieces to serve as the top and bottom sections and 4 longer pieces to serve as the sides to your frames.
-Pick out 8 decorative, wood squares that will serve as the corners of the frames (We paid $4.50 per square).
-Buy very short wood screws and metal braces. These are flat pieces of metal that have holes already cut out in them. You'll use the braces to connect your sides and squares.
-Take the wood home and apply 2 coats of paint to them in whatever color you want (don't forget to paint the squares!).
-At the fabric store, buy thin batting (enough to cover the plywood pieces and wrap about an inch around the sides of the board). Also, buy the fabric you want to go over the board and batting (we went with denim, which proved to be a nice weight of fabric to use).
-At home, prep the boards for the sconces. What this means is you will center your sconce on a board and mark with a pencil where the screws should go. Take the correct size drill bit and drill out your holes. Repeat with the other board.
-Now, spread out the batting on the floor or on top of another large, flat surface. Center the plywood piece on top. Using a staple gun, carefully wrap the edges of the batting around the board and staple down. Be sure to smooth the batting and pull it tightly around the edges of the board. This is a time-consuming process, so don't be surprised if it takes you a couple sessions to do this.
-You'll want to take a hammer and fold over the sharp ends of the staples. To do this, make sure you have the board laying on a hard surface--one that won't allow the staples to be smashed right out of the board!
-After each board is covered in batting and the staples are crunched so that both sides of the board have no dangerous areas, follow the above steps, using fabric in place of batting. Be sure to staple the fabric onto areas of the board that don't already contain a staple from the batting layer.
-Again, you'll need to take a hammer and fold over the staples used to secure the fabric. This is a tricky step. The fabric has a tendency to snag on the staples, so allot TIME and PATIENCE for this process!
*** The batting and fabric will add approximately 3/16" to the sides of your center boards. You'll need to figure this in when you have the store clerk cut down the 8 pieces for the frame. You can choose to cut the pieces yourself, too. That is what we did because the store's saw went on the fritz!
-If the paint on the 8 wood pieces and the 8 square pieces are completely dried, you can start to assemble the frames. This is a two person task. One person holds the pieces in place while the other person holds the metal straps and drills the screws into place.
-Once the frames are assembled, you're ready to hang them on the wall. For this, use nails that are at least 1.25" long and have a very small head (you don't want the nail heads to be very visible). It's best to anchor these frames to wall studs, but if you can't, it's okay. You should use at least 4 nails per frame (2 on top and 2 on bottom).
-Place the fabric-covered panels into the frames to see that everything fits together as it should.
-Once you're confident that your two main pieces are a good fit, it's time to start hollowing out holes in the fabric and batting for the sconce installation. Again, this is a two-person process. Start by feeding a thread and needle through the back side of the board, through the holes drilled earlier, through the batting and through the fabric. The person on the other side should receive the needle. Be sure the thread isn't pulled all the way through. It should be pulled through just enough so that it serves as a guide to let you know where your drilled holes are in the board (remember that you won't be able to see the holes because you covered them with fabric!).
-Take scissors and CAREFULLY start to cut a small hole around the thread on the front side of the board. You want to cut through the fabric AND the batting. If you don't hollow out a space around the hole, when you go to put your sconce screw into the board, the rotations will allow the nail to catch the batting, thus creating a bad situation of ripping, tearing, and a screw STUCK to the batting!
-Once you've cut the fabric to make way for each of the screws to go through the holes, it's time to hollow out a large hole for the sconce's cord. Turn the board so that the wood or back side is facing you. Carefully drill into that side. The holes in our boards were far from pretty. All we had to use was a large drill bit, so we had to drill multiple times in order to make one large, very rough-edged hole (see picture in the slideshow).
-Now that there are large holes in your wood boards, it's time to make a hole in the fabric and batting on the front side. Do what you did for the screws, being careful not to cut too much, but not to cut too little so that the plug gets stuck when fed through the hole.
-Good news for you... this is the last large step. Once you've made a large hole in both boards, it's time to feed the sconce cords through the open hole in the board's front.
-For the last step, use two people to mount the panel to the wall. First, you need to feed the sconce plug BEHIND the frame that is already on the wall. To do this, carefully tug on the frame so that you pull it away from the wall just enough to slide the plug between it and the wall. Once you've done this, push the frame back so it's flush with the wall.
-It's time to lift the panel into place. One person should lift the panel, while the other holds the sconce (remember, at this point, you've threaded the sconce's cord through the panel). After the panel is sitting inside the frame, holding it in place is easy because it can rest on the inside of the bottom of the frame.
-Now, line your sconce up with the holes and start threading the screws into place. You're going to go through the board and through the wall with this step. If your sconces are heavy like ours are, you'll need to use dry wall mounts. That, of course adds a couple extra steps, but it ensures that the sconce is securely in place.
If your board is nice and flat, you will not need to secure the panel to the wall anywhere else but through the sconce's screws. This will hold it tight enough. Now, if your board is warped... listen to this. We delayed our installation by 2 days because one of our boards was warped. We decided to bend the warped board in the opposite direction. This process did straighten out the board, which enabled us to place it into the frame on the wall. Don't be hasty with the installation. A warped board will not fit flush with the wall. You'll have a very funny looking panel.
A sigh of relief It's done. The room is finished and all that's left is delivering this baby.
The room was a lot of work, but I was sure to do the work in small increments so that it would remain a fun task for me. I'm positive my husband would call it anything but "fun" since he is not the "designer-by-nature" in our relationship. He is very happy with the end result, however. I overheard him telling someone that if this room was his as a kid, he never would have come out of it!
