Nursery D I Y - bird mobile

Ok, this isn't exactly a D I Y. This is a look-what-we-can-make-when-we-combine-things-bought-off-the-internet. But that is not really a thing, so we will just call it a D I Y even though it's cheating a little.

I have a problem with getting an idea in my head of a really specific item I want, and then spending 5 million hours searching for it on the internet, only to come to the conclusion that it doesn't exist. Is there a name for this? Well, this is what I did when I was hunting for a nursery mobile. I wanted a floaty, oversized tidbit of "forest" (the nursery theme would be enchanted forest, a combination of fairy tale and woodland theme) with pretty decorated birds attached. Almost as much a sculpture as mobile, in the ole mind's eye. I was depressed after dozens of etsy searches that turned up nothing close except for some beautiful $500 stained glass leaf mobiles that were a bit out of my price range.

Then I saw these beauties on sale at Land of Nod and knew I had to do something with them, even if I didn't know what yet:

I decided I would make some pretty leafy branches to hang them from, when my maternity leave started. A month passed and I happened upon this at BHLDN:

Eek! It was exactly what I imagined when I was picturing an overly complicated something that I would attempt to make. The branches have a wire center so you can bend any way you like. I did mine in a circular fashion over the crib, attached the birds, hung from the ceiling, and voila:

 

In person the mobile is the first thing you see when you walk in the nursery and it's quite eye catching! As an added bonus since the birds are cardboard and the leaves are paper, the mobile has a great floaty movement that will keep McClain (and adults) entranced for long stretches of time. Whenever I need to steal away and start a load of laundry or change clothes real quick, I can leave M watching this and he's entertained longer than just about anything else we have. Win!

Nursery D I Y - frame project

Our New York City apartment was a sprawling 550 square feet, and originally we had plans for Baby Williamson to sleep in a drawer. (Just kidding. Kind of.) Then when I was eight months pregnant (side note: I'm sure you're thinking what a blast! it sounds like to move in your third trimester of pregnancy but I do not recommend schlepping all your worldly belongings 700 miles when you are eight months pregnant. You should have your feet propped up with a big glass of lemonade at this juncture.) and we relocated to our cute little Lexington house, we suddenly had triple the space to fill (and only about a month until baby was due to arrive). I needed to frame lots of things on the cheap, but wanted a custom look. I had purchased these fabulous vintage fairy tale prints from Etsy and wanted oversized gold frames to show them off. I stalked several second hand and vintage home decorating stores in town that I knew had framed art until I found large ones that would fit my fairy tale prints. I wasn't too concerned that they all matched or were exactly the same size because I planned on getting mats cut for all of them in the same color, which I hoped would give them a cohesive look.

 Here are my frames before (with funny art that was in them when purchased):

With some patience I scored all these frames for 40 bucks! I then got navy mats cut at a local framer for another $40. (I would not recommend Michael's, who mysteriously seem to always be advertising a frame sale with promises of big discounts, yet wanted to charge close to $100 just to have mats cut, and said it would take two weeks! To quote Coffee Talk from 90's SNL days this is neither a sale or a big discount. Discuss.) My local framer literally had them ready in less than an hour, and as an extra bonus I felt warm and tingly about supporting a small business. Made me wonder why I had given shady Michael's (as I shall call them from this day forward) any of my framing business in the first place.

Here are the frames after (with new art and mats cut):

The top left frame originally had a funky greenish marbleized pattern going on, but I got the Krylon gold leaf pen and had way too much fun scribbling in all the space. I was really happy with the end result. All in all I spent $90 for all four frames, mats, and the pen, and I think they turned out ravishing, and looking like they cost quite a bit more. Stay tuned for more nursery D I Y's and a nursery reveal in a few weeks!