BARNHOUSE | Baby Girl’s Schoolhouse Nursery Reveal!

Room Makeovers

We finished the schoolhouse nursery just in time for Baby Girls Yolo’s arrival!!! And I am excited to share it with you! We actually had 3/4 of it finished this Summer for a photoshoot with Country Living Magazine’s March 2020 issue (on newsstands now). I knew the angle they wanted to shoot, so we painted and wallpapered it, and set up the crib…but got busy so the other side of the room was left unfinished, ha! Since Baby Girl was 12 days late, we thankfully had a bunch of time to finish up! 

The key with this space is efficiency. The room is not all that big (9 x 10.5 ft plus a 5×2 closet) and I wanted to make sure we fit in a crib, a changing station, storage for clothing, and a comfy slider for nursing. I am happy to say that after a couple weeks of having Baby Girl home, the nursery is functioning amazingly, and there is just enough floor space for the pups to lay around the chair during each feeding!

The Concept

Let’s start with the concept for the room. After thrifting the big chalkboard, I knew I wanted a schoolhouse vibe in the nursery. And remember a while back when I was wallpapering the downstairs bathroom?  I had gotten the “Around Campus” school building wallpaper from Chasing Paper for the bathroom, but it did not quite fit the vibe, so I switched to a tree wallpaper. When I was brainstorming the nursery, I measured the room, and had the exact amount of Around Campus paper needed to cover the top half of the nursery! Meant to be!

Color Palette

Even though we knew Baby Girl’s sex early on, I wanted the room to be neutral colors. If you have been following for a while, you know my love for Behr’s Silver Celadon. Note: Silver Celadon is chalk paint color that I ask to have turned into a matte paint. All the doors on the second level are painted this color, so I could get a little sense of what it would look like in the room. It is just prettiest, most calming color, so it was a no brainer to continue it on the bottom half of the walls. It reads a lot more sage in this room compared to the hallway, which I really liked, because it feels like a different color in the room (reminder, make sure to test paint in the room you are painting because light can really affect the color!)

The Trim

I knew I wanted a chair rail to separate the bottom paint from the top wall paper. So we measured the height of one wall paper panel, marked that distance from the ceiling, and set our trim to that elevation. We used two pieces of wood for the chair rail; a standard chair rail profile for the top and a decorative band below. By combining two standard pieces, you essentially create your own, custom trim. It’s such a simple DIY; just cut the trim with a 45 degree angle at the corners, and use a brad nailer to tack it to the wall. Use a little caulk and wood filler to infill seams and cover nail holes, then paint. It’s a big impact upgrade for a low cost! Once the chair rail was up, we painted the base, wall, and chair rail with Behr’s Silver Celadon in a matte finish. Once dry, I hung Chasing Paper’s “Around Campus”  wallpaper above.

The Crib

The moment I saw this crib, I knew it was perfect for the room! The brass frame was exactly what I was looking for, plus it converts into a toddler bed so we can use it for a few years!

The Chair

I am SO in love with the slider! When DucDuc reached out and offered to make me a custom piece for the schoolhouse nursery, I was so excited, because this linen buffalo check is gorgeous and perfect for the room. Yes, the Sully slider is pricey, but if it’s in your budget, the quality is impeccable. The pattern lines up perfectly from piece to piece, the craftsmanship is stunning, and the chair is beyond comfortable. Baby Girl and I have spent hours sitting in the slider and we just melt right in. The ottoman slides as well, which I wonderful when you need to put your feet up! Plus, it doubles as storage, so I can put my pump in there, so it’s out of sight, but within arm’s reach.

The Rug

You know how much I love Loloi rugs! And this one was perfect for the nursery. Its so soft, and the colors tie together the room, while adding just a dash of peachy pink. I also love that the pattern plays well with the patten on the chair!

All Baby Girl’s books are in my “Schoolhouse Nursery” Amazon shop!

The Chalkboard

I can’t wait for Baby Girl to get creative drawing on this thrifted chalkboard!  In the meantime, I chalked some of her stats on the board for her to sleepily pose in front of 🙂

Closet Changing Station

We maximized space by turning the closet into a changing station. Mr. Yolo and I were looking for a dresser at Goodwill to paint and convert into a changing table, and then we spotted this actual changing table for $25! It’s not an antique, but it was the perfect size so we could not pass it up. I covered up the faux mahogany “wood” by painting it with chalk paint (I mixed a few colors to get this dark blue/gray), then changed out the hardware to these brass handles. The changing basket I got fit perfectly in the top.

Hanging rack 

The Hanging rack was a quick DIY using a galvanized pipe and hanging brackets. Before hanging I used Rub & Buff to turn them gold! Supplies are in my Amazon Nursery Shop!  

Sponged Alphabet Wall

Baby Girl came 12 days after her due date, so I was filling my days with random projects while we waited. I was walking around the hardware store one afternoon, and the idea hit me to cut the letters of the alphabet out of sponges, dip them in paint, and sponge the ABC’s onto the closet wall. It was the perfect busy work to channel my nesting energy into. It definitely took longer than I thought, ha! First, I cut out one letter per sponge. I just freehanded it, but you could use a Sharpie to draw the letter on the sponge before cutting it. Then, set aside a chunk of time for the painting part. Once you start, you are going to want to finish because you will need to reuse each letter, and you don’t want the paint to dry on the sponge. I dipped each letter in paint, blotted it off, and then pressed it on the wall. The perfect schoolhouse nursery decor.

More after the break!

If I missed anything, which I probably did because #Mombrain, leave a comment, and I will make sure to answer!

Shopping Sources: 

Paint Color:
Behr Silver Celadon in Matte (this is chalk paint color that I ask to have turned into a matte paint)
Chasing Paper Around Campus Wallpaper
Little Seeds Monarch Hill Hawken 3 in 1 Gold Crib
-ALDI white rolling cart (similar here
-Loloi II Lucia Collection Distressed Persian Area Rug
McGee & Co Creativity Takes Courage Flag
-Kids Velvet Hangers
DIY Stump 
Vintage/thrifted: Chalkboard, Changing table, lamp, alphabet art   
For more: check out my Amazon Nursery Shop!


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COMMENTS


  1. Kianna says:

    Love this room! Lucky, adorable little girl!

    I’ve never seen hanging brackets like that and can’t seem to find them (maybe I’m not searching the right words) could you link some similar ones? I love that look so much. Thanks!

    1. Jenni says:

      The supplies to make the hanging rack is on Amazon shop http://www.amazon.com/shop/ispydiy

  2. Alexis says:

    I would love to know if you thrifted or have a link for the cute black side table!

    1. Jenni says:

      Thrifted! And painted black!

  3. Missy says:

    Beautiful!! Nice work, mama. Did you make the book shelves or did you find them somewhere?

    1. Jenni says:

      I found them a Michaels last Summer! Hopefully they are still available.

  4. Brittany says:

    So adorable! Congrats on baby girl Yolo. Where do you get the wood brackets holding the shelf in the closet?

    1. Jenni says:

      Ikea!!

  5. Great content! Super high-quality! Keep it up! 🙂

  6. Frances says:

    Love the diaper backpack… where is it from?

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