Creative Mum’s £90 Pretty Pink Nursery Was Made With Love
- Lindsay Wlodarski, 34, transformed the room on a strict budget by upcycling secondhand items and crafting decorative touches, such as the cot mobile, animal watercolours and floral wall art
- The mum of four is thrilled with the result and says her handmade £4 cot mobile would have cost around £150 to buy in the shops
- The experience has inspired her to launch her own range of printed fabrics
Having a freshly decorated nursery ready and waiting to welcome your newborn baby is an exciting part of the nesting experience for any parent to be.
Already mum to three young boys aged 10, 6 and 3, Lindsay Wlodarski was thrilled when she discovered she was expecting a baby girl. After years of being outnumbered four to one, she jumped at the chance to bring a more feminine touch into the home.
“As soon as I found out that I was expecting a girl I knew that I wanted her nursery to be super elegant and girly,” says Lindsay, 34, who lives with her partner Justin, 37, and their children in Leicestershire. “I totally embraced it after having three boys. It was a complete change for me to be looking at pink and frilly items.”
The project took Lindsay approximately one month, which she completed while she was pregnant so that it was ready for her baby girl Charlotte who was born in August 2020. It cost her just £90 to transform the room, which was previously a bedroom for her youngest son and decorated in white and pale blues.
“From the day of my first scan when I found out the gender, I spent hours searching Google, Pinterest and watching YouTube videos to piece together a plan for her room,” Lindsay told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk.
Once Lindsay had collected all of her ideas, she set about figuring out the practical steps she needed to take to bring her vision to life.
“As a stay at home mum, and with my husband furloughed for five months, I certainly didn't have the budget to pay an interior designer to do it,” she says.
“I sourced what I could from Facebook Marketplace and was extremely lucky to receive a stunning changing table for free from a lady who lives in the same town as me. Another acquaintance offered us a white and grey cot bed, which was a perfect fit for the room.”
Lindsay was also given a wooden under-cot draw, which she painted white to match.
“I attached a rose garland, which I already had at home, along the bottom of the cot for a decorative touch,” she says. “I paid £1 for the cot valance sheet on Facebook Marketplace.”
Lindsay already had the white wardrobe from Ikea, which is also where she bought the picture ledges to use as floating bookshelves.
It’s the handmade touches, such as the beautiful cot mobile, that really make the nursery stand out.
“The cot mobile is my proudest creation and so very worth the hours I spent on it,” says Lindsay. “Now I get to see Charlotte’s face light up with joy when she sees it.
“Firstly, I sketched out the design and then created the pattern for each piece. I cut each item out of felt that I already had at home, hand-stitched them and filled them with stuffing from a pillow.
“The flowers are made from spirals of felt that are hot glued together. Each component was then attached to string and securely tied around an embroidery hoop, which I finished with some glued-on lace ribbon and flowers. I sourced a musical arm to hang it from for £1 on Facebook Marketplace.”
Lindsay also handcrafted the corresponding rabbit and swan artworks that adorn the walls, which she has displayed in £2 photo frames from The Range.
“I lightly sketched them out and used watercolours to complete them,” she says. “I fell in love with how well the bunny turned out, so I challenged myself to turn it into a panel that could be printed onto jersey fabric I could use to make my daughter a special outfit.”
Lindsay ordered the fabric online and she ended up making three fabulous outfits from it.
“I’m really pleased that I taught myself to sew a few years ago, as shopping for baby clothes in a pandemic was practically impossible so I made 90 percent of her clothes myself,” she says.
Lindsay already had two spare wall shelves hanging around in the house, so she painted them with grey paint samples to match the colour scheme of the room. She attached some foam flowers from The Range to the front of the shelf with the clothes pegs on it to enhance the floral theme. Speaking of which, the floral wall art above the cot was another craft hit.
“I had seen oversized flowers for the wall when searching on Pinterest and Etsy, but they cost around £80 or more,” says Lindsay. “I watched a few YouTube videos to learn how to make them and had a few practice runs with printer paper. Once I was happy that I could do it, I spent £9 on shimmery card from The Range to make the final versions. Each petal is hand cut, rolled onto a pencil to create the shape, and then hot glued together. They are attached to the wall with Wilko’s picture hanging strips.”
Lindsay also made the hairbow holder and dreamcatcher with craft materials she already had at home. The walls were given a lick of Wilko paint in an elegant shade of pale pink.
“I managed to make one tin stretch to the whole room,” says Lindsay. “I also sanded back the skirting boards and re-glossed them all, as well as the door, with gloss I already had at home.
“A local lady added my daughter’s full name – Charlotte Felicity Pixie Grace – to the wall in vinyl lettering after she was born for £18.”
Lindsay is thrilled with the finished room, especially the price tag.
Lindsay’s shopping list
Aside from the items she handmade or picked up for free, here’s what Lindsay spent…
- Paint from Wilko, £12
- Rug from Amazon, £15
- Cot mobile, £1 (plus some supplies she already had)
- Picture frames, £4
- Book shelves from Ikea, £10
- Wallflowers, £10
- Flowers on shelf in jar, £2
- Foam flowers on shelf, £1
- Valance sheet, £1
- Curtains from The Range, £12
- Lampshade from The Range, £4
- Vinyl name stickers, £18
“When I first started the nursery, I couldn’t have imagined how special it would be,” she says. “I’m really pleased with how stunning it looks considering I was on a very tight budget.
“I could have paid hundreds for someone else to design it but I didn't have the money to pay out all in one go. A cot mobile like hers could have cost me around £150, but cost me just £4 in total: £1 for the secondhand musical arm and £3 worth of craft materials I already had at home.”
Although Lindsay is naturally creative, the room did pose some challenges but her hard work paid off.
“The wallflowers took a lot of time and patience to make, involving a couple of finger burns from using the glue gun, but the effect it gave the room is outstanding,” she says. The easiest part was the cot mobile. I was able to relax and enjoy the hand stitching. The overwhelming feeling of pride when it was completed is what made it so much fun.
“The whole process really inspired my creativity to keep going and I have since been spending the little amount of free time that I have designing my own fabrics. I’m hoping to launch my own business, Pixie Grace Designs, and my daughter has inspired me to pursue this dream. Who knew a year like this could actually bring me so much happiness.”
The room makeover also helped to calm the mind during uncertain times.
“I felt anxious being pregnant during a pandemic even though I had anticipated it being challenging,” she says. “I was feeling a bit all over the place at the start of the first lockdown, which was only a couple of days after I found out I was expecting a girl. But designing and working on her room – especially the crafting elements – gave me something to focus my mind on and kept me busy so I had less time to sit and worry.”
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk comments: “You don’t need to spend a small fortune on a room makeover to make a big impact.
“Lindsay has achieved an incredible result on a budget with some savvy shopping and by putting her creative skills to the test.
“The great thing about DIY is that you may uncover skills you never knew you had. It could even inspire a money-making business idea.”
What to read next?
Save More With These Discount Codes