Guest Room to Nursery :: Week 3

Here we are at Week Three of the One Room Challenge, where we’ve been transforming our guest room into a new nursery/bedroom for baby Marcus. If you just walk into the room and look at the back corner pictured, you’d think the room was beginning to take shape!

But do you know how much progress I made this past week? I bought…a…chair.

Yeah. That’s it. A whole week gone, and I bought a chair. It’s a pretty chair. It’s a comfortable chair. It’s a Pottery Barn I practically stole because of all the discounts, coupons, and gift cards I levied against its price. But I have a whole to-do list here and I added…a…chair.

Remember when I was talking about the degree of difficulty balancing the demands of two adults and one active two month old adds to getting a project done? Double that when one of those adults is trying to get all her ducks in a row so that she can go back to work in less than two weeks. Getting daycare set up, making sure uniforms fit and I have all the pieces, trying to figure out timelines to include who’s picking up our son and who’s getting groceries and who’s cooking dinner on what days…you get the idea.

In all of that, spending time with my son has taken priority. Talking with my husband has taken priority. Conversing with colleagues at work and friends has taken priority. I love what we’re doing with this nursery and it makes me happy every time I walk up there with little man and show him the little man cave we’re building for him. But it’s just not high up on the list.

Although when I sat down with little man and rocked him in this chair and sang him a few silly Winnie the Pooh songs I remembered from my childhood and daydreamed about getting him moved up and set up in this room where there will probably be many nights where he sits in my lap in this chair, either listening to a bedtime story or singing a song or cuddling because he needs comfort…I’m very, very glad that I added this chair.

The rest of the room is pretty much the mess it was after I began working on his closet last week. And you know what? I’m okay with that for now.

You can also find Week One and Week Zero over here, respectively!

And yes, I got him an adorable little chair as well. Although this one might migrate down to the play area we’re setting up for him in the family room.

I’m hoping that over the next couple of weeks, or at least on the weekends, I’ll be able to put together the DIY projects I’ve been planning for him. Getting the drapes up should be ridiculously easy, and I’m really looking forward to making his name sign. I just feel like his room should have it. He’s such a little person, he needs something to help establish his presence!

Okay, so let’s recap. Here’s what we’ve done so far:

Moved out bed, mattress, linens, blankets, and vertical dresser
Found homes or tossed {most of} the junk accumulated during second floor renovation
Assembled and placed crib
Purchased and hung some artwork
Purchased and partly assembled closet organizer {Wayfair}
Purchased rocking chair {Pottery Barn similar, purchased on clearance}
Placed the rocking chair and added pillows and blanket
Purchased hamper {Amazon similar, bought smaller one no longer available}

And here’s what’s still on the list:

Assemble and place the changing table
Build bookshelves/toy shelves
Build toy chest or toy organizer
Pick and hang other artwork as needed
Hang curtain rod and curtains
Finish closet organizer and patch/paint closet
Make and hang name sign
Woodland area rug or play mat

Three more weeks of the One Room Challenge to get all of this done! I’m not sure that we’ll knock out every single project on the list, but I’ve picked out and prioritized the ones I’d like to get done. But it’s all about whether or not something else takes priority.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s not about time. We like to say we’re too busy or we don’t have enough time. That’s not it at all. It’s that we’ve given other things more priority over our time than the thing we didn’t get done. While I might be a little sad if we don’t get little man’s room put together, it will likely be because I made time with him a priority over the projects, and that’s nothing I will ever feel guilty about.