With just two weeks to go before my due date, we’re wrapping up the last nursery details: painting the closet door a cheerful green, tidying up the clutter inside, hanging a few finishing pieces of art, and making a last-minute change from our original curtain choice (we do love a good curtain switch-up).
Clara heavily influenced the green closet door. She kept saying, “my baby will like a colored door like mine but not pink,” and since a bold green door had been on our plan earlier this year, we finally stopped hesitating and went for it.
We were initially concerned that a bright door might fight with our apple-green curtains and a kelly-green changing pad cover idea. But we discovered some airy Ikea curtains from our last house in the attic, so we hung those temporarily to see how a green door would play with them.
Although the colorful curtains took time to make, they were inexpensive—less than $10 each—so it felt silly to cling to them if something else in the room made more sense. I also removed a faux-changing-pad cover (just a fabric remnant I used to visualize a green cover) when we realized a bright closet door was too good to pass up.
We still want to refine the curtains—lining them with blackout fabric and maybe adding trim in black, brown, or green—but the room is getting close. And a proper changing pad cover is still on the list.
To pick the perfect green, we taped sample swatches to the door and observed them in different light: morning, afternoon, and late at night with the lamps on. The winner for us was Irish Moss by Benjamin Moore—balanced, not too dark or bright, and neither too yellow nor too blue.
I only needed a quart of semi-gloss, though it took three coats to reach a smooth, shiny finish with even coverage. Bold colors often look rough for the first coats and then come together at the end. A tinted primer might have reduced the number of topcoats, but I didn’t have any, so three coats of paint did the trick. I started with a brush…
…then switched to a brush plus a small foam roller for the second and third coats to speed things up. We used the same method on Clara’s door—three coats with a roller/brush combo—and it’s held up well through months of use, which is reassuring.
Preparing the closet was mostly about organizing: lining up shoes, placing empty baskets on the top shelf for future use, putting some extra toys in a bin on the floor, and moving overflow clutter to the hall closet. The hall closet is larger and can store things we don’t need right away, like a Bumbo and the play table. The nursery closet will evolve—perhaps with cubbies, a basket system, or a cozy reading spot on the floor—but it’s great to start with a clean slate.
I wanted to hang two simple wood frames on the curtain wall, so I drew a pear shape in pencil on white foam core and used green and brown finger paint from Clara’s stash. It’s a sweet, kid-friendly piece for now; we’ll likely swap it for a family photo or an animal print the baby loves as he grows.
Below the pear art I made a “Love You Forever” lettered sign. I sketched the letters on black construction paper, cut them out, and arranged them on another sheet of white foam core. John suggested adding color to the V’s, so I glued in decorative paper from my craft stash. The whole thing was free and took about fifteen minutes—simple, imperfect, and full of charm.
Since Clara’s room already has a similar sentiment—“You Are So Loved”—it feels nice to echo that message in our son’s room. It’s unexpectedly emotional in the best way.
Those wood frames complement the stained tops of the built-ins and the dark drawer hardware nicely, and they help balance the frames on the opposite side of the room.
We also found a sweet little wooden rocker at a local consignment shop for $15. Clara adores it—she thinks her brother will love it too—and despite looking delicate, it holds her weight just fine.
Slowly but surely this room is coming together. We’ve got ideas for the wall behind the crib and may wait until the baby arrives to finalize that decision. For now, the toys on the built-ins, elephant-print crib sheets, and the new green closet door are making us more excited than ever to bring our little boy home.
Even though the nursery isn’t completely finished, we didn’t want to miss our tradition of taking a family photo before the baby is born (a tradition we began with Clara). Here’s the picture we took when we first started on the room in January…
…and here’s the one we snapped yesterday. I laughed and asked John if he’d inflated my bump in Photoshop or hidden my legs—apparently this is just how I look late in pregnancy. #watermelonsmuggler
For fun, here’s an extreme before shot showing how the room looked before we moved in last summer.
There’s still a healthy to-do list, but the space already feels much more baby-ready.
Current nursery to-do list:
- Get a proper changing pad cover.
- Line the curtains with blackout liner and add a trim detail in black, brown, or green.
- Tweak the wall behind the crib—options include wallpaper, a stencil, slatted wood, or an accent color.
- Make a woodsy cuckoo clock to match Clara’s, giving the new baby a charming, rustic piece.
- Add an overhead light on a dimmer (we haven’t agreed on a fixture yet).
- Consider a softly colored ceiling someday—maybe sky blue to introduce another subtle hue to the green/yellow/neutral/white palette.
- Install sconces between the built-ins in a few years when the crib is replaced by a twin bed, so they can serve as reading lights.
Are you working on nursery art, swapping curtains, or painting a bold saturated door? We couldn’t have predicted we’d end up with several bold doors around the house, but once you go bold, it’s surprisingly addictive.
If you’re curious about the nursery’s progress from the beginning, we’ve documented painting all the trim, laying new floors, finding the rug, painting walls and ceilings, adding built-ins, choosing bedding, making curtains, installing a changing cabinet, and even crafting a mobile for above the crib.
