the nursery

I was fortunate enough to be able to take a weekend trip to Boston + Providence with my parents + brother a few weeks ago, and while we were there we hit up IKEA to pick up some nursery essentials.

Joey trusted me in the store by myself, without him there to hold me back from spending a small fortune. No worries, however -- I ended up spending less than half of what we had budgeted + still filled my parents' van with stuff!

The IKEA loot included furniture [crib + mattress, bookcase [to be used as changing table + dresser/storage], rocking chair, side table], storage boxes [for the bookcase], bedding, and a few toys. When we added that to the things we either already owned [the cozy white rug given to us by my parents, who no longer had use for it] or purchased elsewhere [black + white puzzle mats, changing table topper, table + floor lamps, etc.] the nursery was born!

We were able to spend very little not only at IKEA but also on the nursery in general because my parents were super gracious in buying our crib + accessories as a shower gift, as well as the rocking chair as a Christmas gift this past December.

We are also blessed with extremely talented friends, and when we approached our friend Jill about painting a canvas for our little one's room, she couldn't wait to get started. We bought a nice big canvas and gave her the extra paint we used on the walls, and she got to work. The finished product was more than we ever could have imagined, and I often find myself getting lost in the swirling letters, discovering new things all the time.

Everything included, right down to the cost of the paint we put on the walls [in a lovely shade of grey, of course!], we spent a mere $400 to outfit our baby's first bedroom!