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DIY Nursery Makeover Reveal: A 24 Hour Transformation

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hey there! I'm monica 

I pride myself on making amazing style and design accessible for everyone, regardless of location, budget, or ability! My design philosophy is rooted in authenticity + attainability - If I can do it, you can too! My work has been featured in countless publications, but I take the most pride in homeowners that have been personally inspired by my DIY ideas and have tried something in their own homes!

learn more about ME + MY BIZ

Once upon a time, there was a lovely couple expecting their first baby.  They dreamed of an amazing nursery in their newly purchased home, a space to raise their little girl and teach her about the world…

This was not exactly what they had in mind.

DIY Nursery Makeover East Coast Creative Lowes (4 of 20)

Welcome to my Lowe’s Fall Makeover reveal- this was the state of Betty & Edgar’s nursery when I arrived.  I had 24 hours, 100 degree heat,  1 helper, a group of Lowe’s Heroes volunteers and a baby on the way (well, not until December, but it sounded better for dramatic effect and all).  I wanted to truly give this sweet couple the nursery of their dreams and I couldn’t be any happier with what we were able to pull off.

Welcome to Baby Victoria’s Nursery

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Yes, that’s actually the same room as the first photo!  The transformation was so dramatically different that even the homeowners weren’t sure if they were really in their own house.

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Let me back up a bit… A while back I announced the Lowe’s Fall Makeover.  I read through 100s of applications and chose Betty & Edgar in Los Angeles, California.  In my announcement post, I mentioned that they were expecting their first baby and it just so happened that the week I was going through all the applicants that all four of my kids were in full-day school for the first time.  It seemed like the perfect example of a chapter closing for me and just beginning for them.

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Betty & Edgar bought their first home this year and have been working SO hard to transform it into a home.  When Eric and I had our first child we were young… really young.  We were both still working on our college degrees and the best option for us was to live in a tiny apartment at Eric’s parent’s house.  I painted the tiny laundry room, stamped the walls with stars using a kitchen sponge, and that was Kenzie’s nursery.  We were so thankful that we had a place to live while we finished college and started our family, but I never had that experience of a decorating a first child’s nursery and bringing her home into a special place I’d created just for her.

I could completely relate to how badly Betty and Edgar wanted to welcome their baby girl into a beautiful nursery.  I might have even gotten a little ambitious with all I planned for a 24 hour makeover, but I knew we could do it!

I’m going to be sharing all the details and DIY project tutorials over the next week, but today, let’s just enjoy a little before and after, nursery eye candy shall we?

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The  cream and salmon walls were too warm and made the hardwoods look almost pinkish…

Cooling down the paint colors completely changed the look of the wood floors- they looked amazing once we had pained the walls Icy Avalanche and the trim a crisp white.

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icy avalanche paint color

Baby V’s room is pretty small- about 10×10, so I wanted to keep things fairly neutral, but add lots of textures.  The two-thirds accent wall really helped with that.  I installed faux wood wallpaper and hung it horizontally on the wall.  This paper is actually textured, so if you feel it you’d think it was real.  We had a hysterical situation with one volunteer that was insisting there were nails in the wood! I actually had to peel back the paper to prove it.  That’s when you know you’ve got a fabulous faux paper on your hands!

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Proud Daddy checking out the new room.

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We also wallpapered the inside of the closet to add some style and allow the new sliding barn door to remain open a lot of the time to make the room seem a bit larger.

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We built organizational cubes right into the closet, creating cute and functional storage for clothes, books, and toys!

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Betty will be spending lots of quality time in this corner with Baby V over the next year.  She wanted a rocker, but knew that there wouldn’t be room for an oversized, upholstered chair.  The scale of this rocker is perfect for the room, and it’s nice and comfy too- I tried it out!

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Let’s remind ourselves again of where we started- notice that there’s no baseboard molding and we were even missing some window trim.

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We didn’t just add base and window molding, we also added simple crown molding and it makes me giddy how much it impacted the space and pulled it all together.

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The Animal Print Shop prints have become somewhat iconic in nurseries and they look adorable framed and hung in this space.  The hardest part was choosing what animals in the collection to include!

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Before.

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After. 
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I love this rug from Lowe’s! Betty and Edgar didn’t have too many design requests, but one thing they did say was that they didn’t want a lot of pink for baby V.  The rug was the catalyst for my entire room design. I love the orange and blue combo and how I was able to incorporate it throughout the space in subtle ways!

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Before. 
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After.

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The curtains were basic white and we added some pompom detailing- actually Betty’s mom helped work on that project, and I know she was so excited to be contributing to the makeover!  The growth chart is one of my favorite DIY elements of the room and I can’t wait to share the tutorial.

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We didn’t want to bring in a huge piece of furniture, so we went with a smaller scale dresser as our changing table and then mounted the wire baskets on the wall for added storage with loads of style.

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Before.

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After.

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The picture ledge we built created a divide between the wallpaper and painted wall and also we made it deep enough to hold baby supplies and cute accessories.

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That fur vest…  adorable!

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I had Kim from Manayunk Calligraphy design this custom print for the room and it was perfect!  I actually kind of forced Betty and Edgar to choose a middle name, but they said the cute custom art was worth it!

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Before.

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After.

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Partnering with Lowe’s to transform this space was such a fabulous experience.  The volunteers from the local Lowe’s store jumped right on board with my plans and embraced the huge challenge we had before us.

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It was tight working quarters and I’m not kidding, it was over 100 degrees! This crew didn’t complain once- they worked so hard! I was dying of heat, sweating profusely, and working at roughly 100 mph, so I’m sure they thought I was a tad insane, but they didn’t mention it if they did!

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I also had some serious jet lag, but the perk to being up at 4:30am was catching the most amazing sunrise over Lowe’s. If you’re going to be at Lowe’s before 6am, I highly recommend you choose a Los Angeles store!

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Spending time with Betty and Edgar made me only want to work even harder to create the perfect space for their little girl- they are such good people!  Edgar made us life-changing coffee and amazing snacks around the clock, and Betty was such a great hostess while we invaded every inch of their home for 24 hours! Betty also teaches middle school math and that alone should earn her an award- middle school is no joke!

They’re going to be amazing parents and now they have a nursery that is all ready to welcome baby Victoria home!

Congratulations Guys! I can’t wait to hear the good news when Victoria arrives!

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 Tomorrow I’ll begin sharing the projects from this room, but you can use the slider below to shop for many of the items I used in this makeover.

 SHOP THIS POST
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Makeover Photography by Tessa Neustadt  

*This post is a sponsored collaboration with Lowe’s Home Improvement.  All opinions are 100% mine.  I’m thankful for a company that allows me to do what I love and help out families like Betty and Edgar.  Thanks for supporting the companies that make East Coast Creative possible. *

 

The comments +

  1. Kathy says:

    Wow! What’s not to love? Great job!

  2. Ashey says:

    This room is amazing! Where is the light fixture from? It’s gorgeous!

  3. Stacy says:

    I love this room!! That wallpaper is unreal & I want it!! Might be copying your design for our future nursery!! 🙂

  4. Shared. I love that it’s not too cutesy for a normal room.

  5. Karen says:

    Where’s the crib from? 🙂 the whole space looks amazing!

  6. Gina says:

    That is amazing! I love it and want a grand-baby soon just so I can copy everything you did!

  7. Andrea Martinez says:

    Monica I just love all that you do, you are inspiring! I would love for you to come to Oregon and do a small guest house my son is building for him (a disabled veteran) and my three young grangirls. Will you be doing another contest anytime soon?

  8. This is amazing! From the colors to the walls to the decor… my sort of nursery! A space that will last for a looooong time with this new little arrival! Best of luck to the lucky family. Well done, Monica!

  9. Looks great! Where did you get that faux fur rug? I love it.

  10. Mindy says:

    Sheesh. You’re amazing. This is amazing. It’s gorgeous. Gorgeous! I’ve been wanting to mount wire baskets to the walls too just didnt know how to do it. Please, tutorial soon!

  11. Mindi says:

    one word. AMAZING!

  12. I am blown away by this gorgeous room you planned and put together!! Bravo!! I love every detail!

  13. rhonda says:

    I love it!
    I can’t wait to see the DIY chart..

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