Making Progress on the Nursery Renovation

It’s been a full year since I’ve been on this blog, but I had a pretty good reason: I had a baby! Our little fella is four months now and we have less time than ever to work on projects, but we’re also super motivated to finish the house so we can start enjoying it as a family. Because of this, we’ve actually made quite a bit of progress in the house even though we’re a bit late finishing up the nursery.

Getting the House Ready for Baby

Michael did so much during this year! while I had to take a break from the dust and debris that goes with renovating an old house, he repaired and finished the stairway walls and then built new, sturdier hand rails so I wouldn’t fall down the stairs. He also finished our dining room and entry room, and we were even able to put our big Christmas tree up for the first time in the front room. It felt like things were really moving along.

We also decided that we had to invest in new windows. You may recall we had tortured ourselves trying to refinish the old lead-paint covered windows and we even had a modicum of success, but it took forever and was just too risky an endeavor to attempt while pregnant.

Plan Ahead for Baby’s Needs

We ended up purchasing vinyl windows from a local company that custom-made them to fit inside of our current interior woodwork. The company was supposed to install them in October and they kept delaying and didn’t get them installed until January. It was so frustrating and stressful, considering my due date was in early February. We also had planned on waiting to finish the nursery until the windows were installed so we could clean and seal the surfaces in that room to help eliminate exposure to lead paint. Because they didn’t finish the windows as scheduled, Michael couldn’t start on that room until after our baby was born.

Baby boy has been bunking with us since he was born and will continue to sleep in our room in his Pack n Play for a while, but it still will be so nice for him to have a place for his crib, toys, clothes, etc. Right now we’ve got most of his things in closets, but they will soon have a new home and will free up more storage space for us in the rest of the house.

Making the Perfect Nursery Space.

Michael has been hard at work in the room, patching walls and fixing the peeling paint on all of the woodwork. He refinished the floors and painted the ceiling, then painted the walls with Behr Dolphin Fin and the trim with white semi gloss. It already looks so much better than before. The new windows add so much to the room as well because they are clean, functional, and safe for baby. I’m in love with the new room.

We still have a few more things to finish up. We bought a ceiling fan that needs to be installed and quarter round needs to go down, but it’s so exciting that it’s almost ready for baby! I can’t wait to start decorating and moving his stuff in. Stay tuned for the finished baby room photos soon.