Nursery Work

We're almost done! Hurrah!

Here is the overall shot of the room.
Note that the squat cage has been removed! Yay! In its place is the comfy chair. I slept in it again last night and had not one companion, but two. Endearing, but made it a bit tougher to get out of said chair for the usual nightly run hobble to the bathroom. No, the dog rug wasn't one of those companions.
The crib has switched walls since I noticed there was an air return vent on the right-hand wall.
Obviously, the dresser couldn't go there, since it would block the vent. Instead, it is on the opposite wall.
Let's brag about that dresser for a wee bit, shall we?

Eric worked extremely hard on it and deserves many kudos. We picked it up from Unpainted Furniture in Boulder a couple of weeks back. It's made of pine, so it's pretty light weight, but had plenty of drawers for both kids stuff. Or so I thought! Five of those six drawers are full and the only reason the last one isn't full is because we haven't picked up all of the diaper changing accoutrements yet. We have a pile of tiny newborn diapers from Jenni (Thanks!), but we still need to pick up wipes and the like.

Eric slaved over staining that dresser for a week and a half. Unfortunately, I added a level of difficulty by changing my mind over the main color (the lighter color) after he'd already applied one coat. It's easy to "forget" color depth and intensity when you're in the store choosing stains, and that's what happened. Fortunately, he was a trooper and picked up the slightly darker stain and laid on 3 coats of that to get the hue you see now. I like the drawers in their contrasting cherry stain. He then sealed it with several coats of polyurethane following the time honored method: Stain, sand, stain, sand, stain, sand, curse, seal, sand, seal, curse, sand, seal. The top? Smooth as glass!

I spent that week washing baby clothing, sheets, blankets and the like and sorting by size. After the mighty donations we received from Ed & Val and Jenni (Thanks again, you three!), and all of the new clothing from the baby shower (Thanks everyone else!), plus Caitlin's old clothes, we have filled those three drawers on the right. The left bottom two drawers are filled with sheets, towels, washcloths and spit up cloths. The top drawer is reserved for diapering gear, since that's where it will all take place.

Now we need to pick up a simple end table for me to put my liquids and snacks on, Eric just needs to finish the threshold and remove all of the tools from the closet and we will be done, done, done! Hurrah!

The plan is, of course, growing:

1. Remove carpeting and pad. Done!
2. Remove staples in floor. Done!
3. Remove baseboards. Done!
4. Vacuum floor. Done!
5. Paint with Kilz to seal in anything...unpleasant. Done!
6. Paint ceiling in fabulous dark blue (Called Deep Space). Done!
7. Begin painting walls. Done!
8. Add stars, moon, sun, spaceship and rocketship using glow in the dark paint. Done!
9. Apply stencils/stamps. Done!
10. Once the walls are done, remove fan. Done!
11. Install new fan. Done!
12. Install new flooring. Done!
    
13. Purchase, stain and cut new baseboards to size. Done!
14. Install new baseboards. Done!
15. Pass out from fumes. Narrowly avoided.
    
16. Replace all 1980's almond outlets, switches and covers with white ones. Done!
17. Install dimmer switch. Done!
18. Install bookcases, crib, rocking chair and sundry other nursery items. Done!
19. Install threshold strips between rooms and hallway.
20. Sink baseboard nails.
21. Install closet door guides on floor (Putting holes in my new floor already?!).
22. Stain, sand, stain, curse, sand, and stain the new dresser. Done!
23. Beg and bribe friends to help husband carry new dresser and chair upstairs and install into nursery. (Thanks Patrick!) Done!
24. Fill dresser with new, old and borrowed clothing. Done!
25. Install changing pad on top of dresser. Done!
26. Photograph everything for posterity because the room will never be this organized and clean, ever again.
27. Drinks for everyone! Except the Preggosaurus, who will grumble into her lemonade while being uninhibitedly thrilled that the nursery is done and she didn't have to inhale more fumes than necessary.

Ooh, did I mention we finally picked up the new freezer? It's in the garage, freezing. Many thanks to Grammy and Grampy for the freezer and dresser!