A nursery and a name

When Joshy and I were first married, we were broke. Seriously. We both were full time students, paying for Lipscomb and working part time jobs. We didn't have cash for the extra things...no cable, no internet, no Netflix. Nothing. So, when it came to TV time, we just didn't have a lot of options. Luckily, one of Joshy's friends let us borrow the box set of the first 6 seasons of "Smallville" on DVD. (If you've never seen it, "Smallville" is the story of Superman when he was a teenager growing up in Kansas) We watched every  episode together, cuddled on our hand-me-down couch in our teeny, drafty duplex. One day, while we were watching, I said to Joshy, "We should name our first son Clark. It's a nice name." Six years later, that's exactly what we're doing. Now his middle name was more of a struggle...we went through every R name in the book to try to find one that fit in order to keep the tradition of the Henderson men having R middle names, but alas, nothing fit. Finally, after much deliberation, Thomas just clicked. And so our son has a name: Clark Thomas Henderson. It's classic, easy to spell and pronounce, and there just aren't many Clarks out there.

When it was time to change the guest bedroom into his nursery, I knew pretty quick what I didn't like...no baby blue, sage green, tan, pale yellow. No zoo animals, sports, or transportation theme. Let me tell you, it's hard to find little boy stuff that doesn't have an animal, a ball, or a vehicle of some kind on it. Thankfully, Pinterest came around just in the nick of time, and I was able to start pinning things that seemed to fit our style better. We decided on a slate-navy wall color, with lime green and UT orange accents. No theme, really...just a cute room. We did, however, want to incorporate a few Clark Kent touches here and there, but nothing that really screamed Superman. No blue and red, just a poster of the Metropolis skyline, silver accents for the Man of Steel, and a pair of glasses next to an old camera. Subtle nerdy-ness, you could call it.

My biggest goal with the nursery was to spend as little as possible, and to make it something that would easily transition to a 'big boy' room. His crib and mattress was a $75 Craigslist find, and with just a few cans of spray paint the silver crib is a perfect match. The dresser we already had; it just required a few coats of orange paint and new hardware. For his changing table, we used another Craigslist score: a $25 desk that we painted green. When he's out of diapers, we'll just take the changing pad off the top, put a chair under it and he'll be ready to go. The shelving unit came from Ikea, and the single bed we already had. Everything was DIY, including the beadboard which -believe it or not- is wall paper!

The wall painting, furniture make-over, beadboard wall paper, and shelf assembly was all done in one weekend, thank to Clark's team of super aunts. Joshy's sisters Jessica and Ashley came in from North Carolina, and my sister came home from college for the weekend to help us get everything done. Overall, it's exactly what I had envisioned, and I think it's the perfect room for our new baby. We just need to bring him home so we can put it to use!



We love his letters above the crib. Tutorial found here, letters from JoAnn's. Project total was around $14 for letters and spray paint. The orange paint was left over from his dresser.




The green chair and sock monkey were a gift from a recent shower. Aren't they perfect?


Globe found on Ebay for $15. Vintage camera was s gift. You should know, normally I think it's a little silly too hipster to put a vintage camera in a baby's room. However, considering #1: I'm a photographer, and #2: Clark Kent was a photojournalist, I think it's appropriate.


Bedding came from Walmart: $15 for bedspread and $10 for orange sheets. The blanket was a gift and we already had the green pillow cases.


I found these magnet boards here, but the price was too steep, so I bought 3 pizza pans from Walmart for $3 each. My uncle Tracy drilled holes in them so I could hang them.




This print was the ultimate inspiration for the nursery. A gift from JoEllen, found here. The "Super Hero" pillow was made by my friends Stephanie and Colynn as a gift. Chevron curtain fabric from Fabric.com.


Orange and green photo boxes from Ikea, $5 per pair. The green and blue boxes on the bottom we already had.


Shelf brackets from Ikea. The shelves themselves are just pieces of wood spray painted silver...about $10 total for the wood. The orange and blue storage boxes are from The Land of Nod, only $5 each.


Changing pad & cover, monogrammed dog, wooden truck, and framed button "C" were all gifts.


Of course, I had to have a pair of dark chunky glasses...


Mirror from Ikea; the lamp, camera, and dresser we already had. Dresser hardware from Lowes.




I made the alphabet print and Ashley made the numbers; inspiration from Pinterest.


It's a bird, it's a plane! The superman symbol I feel is a little too much...it will be replaced with a silhouette of Clark when he arrives.


Love this lamp from Ikea...a gift from Joshy's parents.




I can't find a link for this fabric, but we love it. My friend Cindy sewed the dust ruffle and curtains for me.









Clock from Target, found in store for $4.



And last but not least, the beadboard wallpaper. It was only $20 a roll from Lowes, and so super easy to install. The entire room only needed 2.5 rolls. The chair rail we did ourselves too, with wood from Lowes that we painted white.


So there you have it....Clark's room. I love it for so many reasons: it's subtle, nerdy Superman touches, the non-baby colors, the ability for it to easily transition to a toddler room, and of course, the fact that we did the whole thing for around $550, furniture, paint, supplies, accessories and all. I just hope Clark loves it as much as we do!