I’m finally getting back to work on Baby girl’s woodland nursery. Yay! I really thought I’d have her nursery finished before she arrived. I did pin down my vision and got a lot of things in place, but I was a long way from done when she finally showed up. I was too busy with Christmas, birthdays and just getting ready to, you know, have a baby.
This is the crib I bought when Miss A was born, back before I knew what a vision board was or how to plan a cohesive look for a room. I simply picked out a crib and a matching dresser. I knew my husband liked dark wood furniture, so that’s what I chose. It’s a very nice, well-made crib and I like its clean, simple lines, but I didn’t love the dark wood color.
Miss A’s Pink & Turquoise Nursery
It also had teeth marks all along the rails.
So I decided to paint it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I already had French Linen, but I thought it was a little too dark for the crib, and I wanted to lighten it slightly. So I mixed 1 part Old White with 6 parts French Linen to create a lighter, softer shade.
While I was in the hospital, my mom was here caring for Miss A, and she graciously finished painting the crib with the chalk paint. Some people complain that chalk paint doesn’t save time. They rave that it’s easy because you don’t have to prime, but you still have to wax, so there are still two steps. Personally, I love needing little to no prep with chalk paint (I’m super impatient), and I love that it feels more artistic than regular latex paint. I can distress or not, keep the brush strokes or not, and use white wax, dark wax or clear only. The creative options are endless, and I love it!
I’ve used chalk paint on furniture twice before: here and here. Both times I distressed the pieces. I had planned to leave the crib undistressed, but once it was painted and waxed, I decided to go back and distress it a bit. I’m glad I did! It looks much better now.
Then I tried my hand at applying dark wax for the first time. I’ve read that it’s more of an art form, much like distressing. Since my crib didn’t have many crevices built in, I tried to follow the distressed areas with the dark wax.
It’s important to use a light touch with dark wax. I used very little and it was still plenty. Here’s an example of what it looks like with just a tiny bit of dark wax. You can see it has a hard edge. I wanted a more subtle look, so I went back over it with clear wax to blend it in. The example on the right is very subtle, which is exactly what I wanted.
In the original vision board I made for Baby G’s nursery, I included a gorgeous antique gray crib from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child. I knew it was faaaaaarrr out of my budget, but I wanted something along those lines.
My makeover isn’t an exact copy of my vision, but it’s close enough and I’m happy with it! That’s what a vision board is for: giving direction, not requiring everything to match exactly! My version cost $50 (with some paint supplies already on hand) compared to $1,200. I’ll take it!
I couldn’t resist leaning the two framed pieces of art I already have against the wall and snapping a quick picture. I have no idea where the art will go in this room. I still have a long way to go before I hang anything on the wall, but I just love how they look together.
I love the rustic wood frames from Hobby Lobby paired with the crib finish. They’re perfect! Now I need to tackle painting and waxing the changing table/dresser and a bunch of other smaller projects. They’re at the top of the priority list. And now that Baby G is getting close to a month old, I’m starting to feel ready to move her into her own room. When Miss A was about 4 weeks old I moved her into her own room, and she started sleeping longer stretches at night. I’m ready to try that with Miss G.
Updated: I was originally worried about using chalk paint on a baby’s crib, but the FAQs at ASCP address this issue here. It’s fine to use chalk paint on cribs and other children’s furniture, but you should wait the full 4-6 weeks for the paint and wax to cure before using the piece. It’s also worth noting that pregnant women should not apply the wax. I waited until after I delivered Baby G to wax the furniture.
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