DIY Nursery Makeover – Before Tour

Before tour of a budget friendly DIY nursery makeover that will become a vintage school room designed nursery.

It’s One Room Challenge time, and I’m back and ready to overhaul our boring nursery.  We recently had our third daughter back in December, and our nursery has more or less been the same for all three of our girls.

Let me give you a fun little history lesson on this room.  For the first five years of living in our home this room was our bedroom.  It has a bathroom connected to it, so we made it our master bedroom (even though there are was bigger bedroom with a bigger closet).  After we found out we were pregnant with our first baby, I got the renovation bug and knocked down a wall of that aforementioned bathroom to make it a Jack-and-Jill-ish bathroom.  We moved into the other larger bedroom and made this room into a nursery.

That  was five years ago, and since we don’t usually find out the gender of our babies, I tried to design a gender neutral room, but really just ended up with yellow walls and some frog accents here and there.

The room has since been painted, but everything else has basically stayed the same.  Dark furniture, dirty carpet, bare walls, and no real organization.

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I thought this was the perfect chance to overhaul this room.  I redesigned my daughters’ shared bedroom last Fall, and now that they have a new space, I thought it was only fair to give my new little girl a new space too (not that she really cares, but I do!)

Being an educator, and a lover of all things vintage, I thought I’d put those two passions together to create the design for this new, not so boring, nursery.  Take a look at a modern spin on a vintage classroom – nursery style!

vintage school nursery design plans with chalkboard wall, book shelf ledges, and colorful rug

I’ve been collecting ideas and vintage goodies for this space for the last few months (yep, I’ve been dreaming up this nursery for over a year – ever since I got pregnant).

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Here’s what I’m thinking for the space:

  1. Refinish our old crib with a faux natural wood finish
  2. Update white curtains with a black pom-pom trim
  3. Build wall book ledges (image source is from Amanda’s Etsy’s shop – Old House to New Home)
  4. TONS of vintage accessories
  5. A bright rug (I’m thinking a Chindi style rug) and new laminate floors
  6. IKEA Raskog cart
  7. Refinished vintage rocking chair with Branch Toss fabric from Minted
  8. Vintage green chalkboard feature wall using Rust-oleum chalkboard paint

I can’t wait to paint an entire wall with vintage green chalkboard paint! I’ve used it in my home for smaller projects, but I’m so excited for it to cover an entire wall!

Here’s a look at some of the vintage pieces and fabric I’ll be bringing into the room:

room design inspired by a vintage classroom school theme

FINAL REVEAL

You can see the final reveal on this nursery here: Vintage Classroom Decor Nursery Design

Jenny at Refresh Living (dev.refreshliving.com)

Post by Jenny Leads

Jenny is the voice behind Refresh Living. She has a passion for helping people to create a home they love without spending a lot of money.

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12 Comments

  1. Aw, I love nursery makeovers! And especially ones with a unique theme! Cannot wait to see how it progresses, Jenny!

  2. I love your design plan! The green chalkboard wall will be a huge hit! And I’m a huge fan of the bright and colorful rug. Can’t wait to follow along!

  3. That rug is AMAZING! Also, good choice on the cart – my parents have one at their house and it is literally so convenient for a nursery (I store our diaper/change stuff on it when I visit). Good luck !

  4. You had me at “vintage schoolroom”, Jenny! What an adorable theme! Excited to see it come to life!!