Decorating a Babys Room on a budget

I have baby on the brain lately, because I am about to have my Fourth Child!  We found out we were expecting another baby the day after we moved into our new house.  Thankfully we got a 4 bedroom house, but one of the bedrooms was unfinished.

I didn’t want to spend a fortune decorating her nursery, so here are some frugal tips that I have learned along the way when it comes to decorating a nursery.

1. Paint the room a neutral color if you plan on using it for another purpose in the future.  My husband and I had planned for this bedroom to be my office, but when we found out we were expecting we realized it would have to be a nursery.  We plan on having our 2 girls share a bedroom when they are older, so it only made sense to paint it one time.  We chose a neutral color, that way when it becomes an office we don’t have to repaint.
2. Use stick on wall decals instead of painting murals.  These are new to me, this is the first time I have used them in a room before..  Since we are planning on having our girls share a bedroom, these can easily be taken off the walls and put up in their new bedroom. Then I don’t have to paint the bedroom again
   • I bought the I am a Child of God decal online for $12!
   • I bought the brown and pink polka dots from Amazon for $10 (I used gift cards I earned from Swagbucks, so they were FREE!)
3. Buy certain items from Craigslist or consignment sales. I purchased this crib from Craigslist for only $100, it came unassembled and even missing a few screws.  My husband was able to find the missing screws at Lowe’s for only $3.  If purchasing baby equipment from Craigslist, I recommend doing your research and making sure the item that you are purchasing has not been recalled.  This crib was practically brand new, and for 1/3 of the price!
4. When carpeting a small space, look at remnant carpeting sales. We went to a carpet store that specialized in Remnant carpet.  You can choose from their remnants, which sometimes are WAY cheaper than installing an in-stock carpet at their store.  We choose a higher quality grade of carpet that we would have normally chosen, because it was a cheaper price and there were no hidden fees.  You have to watch out for those large box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot, they will charge you for for small things like tack strips that can send you over your budget. We were going to have Lowe’s come and give us an estimate, but they wouldn’t even do that until we paid them $39 to come over and measure the room.
5. Skip the changing table. Our nursery is very small,  we did not have room for a separate changing table, so I am hunting down a changing table pad that I can stick on top of her dresser.  I have found that I don’t use the changing table as much as I thought I would, so going without it has been an easy switch for me.  Changing tables can cost almost as much as the crib, so skipping this option is definitely a frugal idea.

What are your frugal ideas for decorating a baby nursery?  I would LOVE to hear them!!!