I love Ikea!

I have been on quite the vacation from my blog not because I haven't been wanting to do any improvements anymore, but because I simply have not been able to, and for good reason too. My husband and I are expecting our first child on January 13th!
It has been a long and emotional journey for the both of us and I am so happy that we are finally able to experience the joys of parenthood.
Now that the morning sickness has tapered off and I have some of my energy back, at 5 months we figured we should start cracking on the nursery.
Last week I went to New Jersey for a few days to visit my mom and my sister..being that I drive roughly 6 hours to get there (this is without the numerous stops I had to take due to the little one dancing on my bladder), I figured I should probably do this before I look like a house and won't be able to make the drive. We decided to make a trip to one of my favorite stores to go on a shopping spree for the nursery, especially since the closest one is either in Toronto or New Jersey. Boo!

I would have loved to purchase more, unfortunately my Hyundai accent can only fit so much. I ended up leaving the store with the following pieces of furniture:

1.) Tarva Nightstand

2.) Tarva 5 Drawer Chest

3.) Tarva 3 Drawer Chest

4.) Sniglar Changing Table

I just love this collection because they are super affordable, and it's a blank canvas to work with. I was trying to look at craigslist and in thrift stores for old pieces of furniture that are cheap to refinish but there was nothing decent or cheap and crucial pieces were missing...This is also quality furniture, real pine, hefty hardware, much better quality than new furniture you would buy at the big box stores. I can attest to this because of the amount of time that I have spent putting this furniture together on my weekend off..
Grandma Evans also has been contributing to the nursery...she picked up the tab on a super cute rug, a mouse nightlight that changes colors, a blanket, and some organizing boxes as well as the major component, the crib.

When I returned from NJ, (which I was only gone for 5 days), my dear husband decided to surprise me with repainting the nursery and adding in chair rail, decorative wainscoting, and a new shelf =)
Those of you who remember, we had an extra room which I was making into my office space and is where I kept my menagerie.
Before:

Aaaand this is what I returned home to!

He did such an awesome job and I'm just so happy that this is one less thing I have to do!