Coming right along

 My initial goal was to be done with baby preparations by Thanksgiving.  Things are going so well, though,  that I might just be done by Halloween.

We already have clothes, we already have most of the "other" stuff (bathtub, swing, boppy pilllow, etc) and we even have 2 new boxes of diapers ready and waiting.

Last weekend we bought a car seat.

 

I've been trying to spend as little money as possible in the decorating department.  I know that I will find cool stuff as time goes on and I don't want to buy the first thing I see just for the sake of buying something. I also know the room will morph and change as Elliott gets older.  I'm trying to suppress my OCD feelings that everything in the room needs to be completely decorated and perfect by the time he's born.

I've had these frames since I was 21.  They belonged to my grandparents and I took them after they passed away.  Michael and I have had them in every apartment/house we have lived in.

It was a hard decision to make (just because they belonged to my grandparents and I can remember them hanging in their house), but I took the print and mat out, painted the frames black and put pre-painted ocean critters in them.

Total project cost: $8

This mirror also belonged to my grandparents.  Ditto everything about the frames.  I agonized about should I paint it or not?

Painting won.

It looks less like a blob in person.  You can still see the carved woodwork.

Michael was responsible for hanging the crib blanket on the wall.

I found these cool, gauzy blue curtains at Ikea.  A $6.99 package comes with 2 panels.  I bought 2 packages.  Spencer made the fish in his art class.  Not counting the cost of the actual class, it was free.  He was really excited to share his project when I asked if we could hang it in Elliott's room.

The bear is pretending to be Elliott during a diaper change.

Just this week Spencer made an octopus in art class.  The whole theme of the class is, conveniently, "ocean", so I'm sure Elliott's room will be decked out by the end.

You may remember that we put the desk in the closet to make room for a twin bed and a crib in the room.

We took the closet doors off for easier access to the desk drawers.  Then I spent days agonizing about something to do in place of the doors.

I found this curtain at Ikea for $4.99.

And this children's drape for $14.99.

One pair of scissors and a hot glue gun (and a 3rd degree burn on my thumb) later, and we have this:

It looks rather idiotic in the picture.  I actually hate how it looks in the picture.  When you are actually in the room though, it has a nice, colorful appeal to it.  I'm happy with it.

I'm waiting for wall decor to be marked down 50% at Hobby Lobby and then Elliott will get letters spelling his name above his bed, just like his big brother Spencer.