Eco Design on a Dime

9/21/09

The baby’s room is finished and by finding everything on Craigslist I’ve avoided the further manufacturing of products and saved myself a lot of cash. One really big score was the pre-shopping of a yard sale that had a ton of kids’ furniture. Not everyone is willing to let prospective buyers shop the day before, but if they are, it’s the way to go. Not only do you have first pick of everything, you also don’t have to fight through a crowd.

The walls of the room got a new look too. Since I don’t know the sex of my baby, I opted for gender-neutral colors, and used a combination of theLittle Yolo Sprout paint, with zero VOCs, and Tierrafino’s Ipaint, an all-natural clay paint. The clay paint added a wonderful texture to the room and was a breeze to put on, and the bright orangey-yellow of the Sprout paint adds a bit of sun, even when there is none. 

I’m waiting on bringing a crib in until my babe outgrows the cradle that I found. According to its previous owner the cradle has rocked over 25 infants to sleep (although you’d never know it from the great shape it’s in). Now I just need to replace the vinyl mattress with an eco friendly option to avoid any harmful chemicals near my baby—an investment which can easily made, since I saved so much on the other stuff.