The Alabama Wife: January 2016

During our two and a half year battle with infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss, I spent a lot of time dreaming about what our little child's nursery would look like. I went back and forth on some options and I ultimately decided on Disney/Pixar's "Up". It's one of my favorite movies and it has many nursery themes built into it. Not to mention that some of the main characters in the film also suffered from some of the same issues that my husband and I were also familiar with. While it is unclear whether Carl and Ellie suffered from infertility or miscarriage, we were familiar with both. The movie had a lot of themes to use for the nursery: a sky theme, a jungle theme, a zoo theme, an adventure theme, or a travel theme. It's very close to my heart.

The problem is that it's almost impossible to find "Up" merchandise. Not a lot of things were produced to begin with and what items were produced were no longer available or hard to find/expensive to acquire. I knew this was going to be a DIY nursery. Once I was through the first trimester, my husband and I got started with our projects.

The first inspiration came when I was looking for bedside table lamps for our bedroom. I stumbled across this lamp from lamps plus. It immediately reminded me of Kevin, the snipe. Unfortunately it was out of stock at the time, but I did order this one.

Then I stumbled across this silhouette reading lamp on pinterest from Chica and Jo.

So I googled a coloring book page of Kevin, printed it out, and followed the instructions on the blog. Then I took a hot glue gun and covered the lamp in feathers. Here was the result.

Here is an inspiration shot from the movie and proof that Kevin is terrible at hiding and would resort to putting a lampshade on his head.

Then there was the suitcase side table. Inspiration and directions from The Ruche Blog. We used furniture legs from Lowes. I found the tiny Dug on Ebay.

My brother Mike made the Carl and Ellie silhouette portraits and my friend Jackie made the watercolor floating house.

My husband bought me this magnificent vintage contour lounge chair from Mid Century Obsession on Etsy shortly after we found out we were pregnant. We had seen one in an antique shop a month earlier while visiting my parents in Florida and I knew that if our IUI took, I had to have one. As it turned out, it's about perfect during feeding time. It also vibrates, reclines, and heats up.

Then there are the pillows. I did Russell, Carl, and Ellie character pillows. I used an envelope pillow cover tutorial I found on Lovesome. The directions for the Russell sash I found at A litre of sunshine.

My mother-in-law crocheted this "Up" inspired blanket.

I made a bookshelf from 1x12 lumber, custom for his wall. The bottom shelf or the zoo was inspired by the fact that Carl and Ellie worked at the zoo. The Paradise Falls jar was an old apple cider jar. The radio flyer wagon was a gift from Dustin's coworkers. The airplane came from Home Goods, the frame came from my friend Christina she found at Hallmark, the balloon animal bookend was from modcloth, and the marquee letter from JoAnn Fabrics. The Carl figurine, jar, and Fredricksen chairs were gifts.

The house was a kit my mother-in-law bought for my baby shower. My brother put it together and painted it.

I free handed the waterfall painting that Carl and Ellie had over their fireplace. Colors and shapes are a bit off, but I'm satisfied with it. Oh, and that Ford truck bank was mine when I was little - my dad was a Ford tractor mechanic.

I bought a pattern for baby Kevin from Miles of Crochet on Etsy. My sister-in-law's future sister-in-law crocheted him for me. This is her instagram.

The toybox was inspired by Carl's balloon cart. My father-in-law picked it up at a thrift store. Someone made it and didn't finish it so my husband painted and stained it.

The curtain rod was inspired by Carl's cane. Dustin spray painted a PVC pipe silver and popped a tennis ball on each end. The curtain was inspired by this balloon rug and Ellie's overalls. The tutorial for the curtain came from Sew Many Ways. They're lined with blackout fabric I got from JoAnn Fabrics. Works great. The dog butt hooks came from ikea (because of the dogs in the movie).

This Disney/Pixar "R" print came from Jerrod Maruyama on Flickr. The dug portrait was done by my brother Mike and the elephant print was done by my friend Jackie for the baby shower.

I made the quilt and it was my first attempt at making a quilt. I think it came out alright. It's inspired by the nursery in Carl and Ellie's house.

I found the mobile plans on Recipe 4 Cute. I added the photos to just the bottom of the mobile so Robert can see them. I thought they mimicked balloons. I found the house on the family disney blog. The balloons are a styrofoam ball covered in pom poms. The clouds were made by my friends Jackie and Heather for the baby shower.

My husband and father-in-law made the crib. I was inspired by the Millbrook crib from Restoration Hardware. I didn't want to spend Restoration Hardware money though. It just so happens that my father-in-law is a muffler man and he and my husband are quite handy with a welder. I wanted it in silver so it would look like the blimp. It's made from steel and exhaust tubing.

I made the crib skirt and ironed on the "Spirit of Adventure" letters.

And a close-up of his adorable sheet from Babies R Us.

The map chest dresser was inspired by a dresser project on The Painted Hive.

The hat came from My Knitting World on Etsy. I picked the globe up from Burlington Coat Factory and the poster (ripped from a library book, haha) came from Rakuten.

The hamper was a gift from our friends Ashley and Alg. We are all Alabama fans, you know. I thought it worked because Carl and Ellie worked at the zoo.

The changing table is a microwave cart that my father made for his mother. If I remember the story correctly, the top and shelf were made from hardwood from an old bowling alley in the town I was born in and the legs were made from a tree from my grandfather's farm. I made the topper with instructions from Lay Baby Lay. My husband made the fabulous old fashioned marquee frame for the movie poster.