Project Nursery - Part II and III

It's been awhile since I updated everyone on our nursery progress and I'm happy to say..ALMOST DONE!
We're almost to the fun part, washing everything and putting away all the goodies we've gotten thus far.

I am a bit behind in posts, so I combined updates on our progress: 

Part II - The Hard Way
After finally getting the office all cleaned out, it was time to install the chair rail and do some painting. It was J's decision to keep the paint color in the room; he really didn't want to have to repaint again and since it was gray, it would work just fine for a gender neutral nursery. Little did he know this may have been more work than just painting the room.

The chair rail was up and it actually went really smoothly. We painted it white to match the crib and dresser/changing table. What a difference it makes in the room! However, the trim in the room was still wood color and looked weird with the new white chair rail. The time and cost to buy all new trim and doors for the room was too much, so time for painting. The trim in the room is probably as old as the house, over 50 years, and had a sheen finish, so it needed to be sanded before it could be painted. J took a day off work and sanded all the base, window, and door trim as well as the door and closet door. There was sawdust everywhere. We tack clothed the whole room to get all the dust out and then began taping. We taped the windows, door frames and base trim, which meant taping to protect our hardwood floors. A LOT of tape.  Like I said before, it may have been easier to just have painted the whole room, but I actually love the way it's turned out; it's the nursery I dreamed of when we started this project. Thanks honey!!

Part III - The Barrett's vs. The Glider
The last big purchase we made was the glider/ottoman. I have been fretting over this purchase for months. I was determined to find the perfect one (white wood with tan fabric) while trying to be thrifty. I found our crib and changing table/dresser on Craigslist and was so happy with them that I was figured I could easily find a glider/ottoman as well. I scoured Craigslist daily. When I did find a white/tan one, it was usually a bit more beat-up than I wanted (and overpriced!) so I finally realized that I should just spend the money and get a good one. I figure this is something I'll be using daily so it made sense to splurge a bit to make sure it was comfortable and sturdy.
Once I decided to buy a new one, the process of deciding which brand started. Turns out there are quite a few brands of them from super expensive to cheap, good reviews and bad reviews. Overwhelming! I finally found one that not only matched my picky colors but was also very comfortable...and on sale (score!) Thank you Babies R Us!

I bought it the day after I saw it int he BRU mailing and even went across the city to another store to pick it up. No way I was going to wait for it to be shipped to me. They loaded it into my car and I was a bit surprised by the size of the box, not too big. Hmm..I bet it's mostly put together (the back, seat, arms) and we just need to assemble the pieces together. Heh. Not quite. We pulled everything out of the box and stood looking at a pile of pieces, screws, dowels and some very confusing directions. Although I didn't think to get a picture of all the pieces, I did get a shot of part of the directions. And I thought IKEA was bad..

Of course I wanted it put together NOW :)  So J grabbed a beer and a screwdriver and we went to work. An hour later, we were still on step #5 and were barely speaking to each other; I was almost in tears. I cracked open an O'Doul's (which did not cut it) and we decided to take a break, eat some dinner and come back refreshed.
So an hour later, we started back up again and this time, we worked through it. Two hours later, we had a fully assembled glider and ottoman! And next time, I'll pay the money to have it assembled!

I love it!! And turns out, so does big brother Bear. I think he's found his new spot :)