A nook for reading and reading in the Nook

I love having crafty ideas that involve repurposing things. That's just the way I am. :)

So I was super excited to find a pin on Pinterest where the lady repurposed a crib and turned it into a desk for her kids. (I suggest checking out her blog to see the pictures because it looks pretty cool.) And then later I found no shortage of pins where people turned their kids' closets into reading nooks. (Seriously, get on Pinterest and type in 'reading closet' in the search box.) I thought, that too, is a great idea! I had a useless crib and a closet in the playroom that wasn't being used for clothes....well then the wheels in my head starting turning.


So the netbook was set aside and I went and stood in the girls' playroom.

I'd look at the crib that had been turned into a I-don't-know-where-to-put-this-so-I'm-gonna-throw-it-there kind of monstrosity.

Then I turned to look the over-flowing closet whose doors couldn't even close.

I looked back and forth a few times trying to figure out how to implement the two cool projects I read about.

My first issue was the things I'd have to purchase to change the crib. And then we'd need a chair for the desk, too. Then was the issue of "we already have a desk, why do we need another one?" followed by the question of where we would put it.

So I looked back at the closet and thought that it is a great closet to turn into a reading nook because it has the sliding doors that would come easily off and be easily replaced by a shower/curtain rod and curtains. But what would we do with everything in the closet? I had thought about getting rid of it all, but the girls still play with it--hence the messy-ness.

After looking back and forth a few more times, the ideas came together: Turn the crib into a reading nook!

After finding a place for all the stuff that had piled into the crib, I simply took off the rails on the front of the crib. Then I made a nice cushion (out of a bunch of blankets we aren't using because of the warming weather) to go on the mattress support and then covered it all with the old nursery's dust ruffle. Then, to give it that nook kind of feeling, I thought a drape of some sort would be awesome.

My first thought was buying some really cool see-through fabric from Joann's....but then we are back to needing to not spend any money. Then I saw (stuffed in a corner) the two pink princess panels of material from an old MYO Tent Kit that Kyleigh had gotten a couple years ago. It's the kind that doesn't come with any supports...so we had a hard time using it. This was perfect!

The two panels got tied together down one side and then I got to work hanging it up. I tied it to the crib bars with a shimmery princess-pink ribbon. And voila! :)