ORC Fall 2020 Week 3 | Twin Nursery

Hi there! My name is Michelle and while a healthcare consultant by day, I am a fearless DIY-er and real estate investor by…. night? Honestly, anytime I have some free time. Each spring and fall I like to participate in a little big challenge called the One Room Challenge (ORC). The ORC Fall 2020 round will be my fourth (and by far most interesting) round – we will be tackling the SAME room we did in the spring, but turning it into a twin nursery.

The drama that surrounded that final reveal was documented over on my IG page, but the quick and dirty of it is this: I chose the wrong lumber for my murphy bed and it broke. Then I discovered I was expecting twins by way of an ER visit and triplet miscarriage. So, I hope you will join me for the next few weeks. This pregnant, exhausted mama needs all the encouragement she can get to pull off a TWIN NURSERY.

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

Super Napper

I wish I could tell you that I was superwoman this week. Well, I suppose if napping was a super power then maybe so. As far as the twin nursery goes, though, not so much!

Let me give you a peek into what it is really like to be pregnant with twins (at least in my case).

First Trimester

• Exhaustion. I felt like I was drugged and would fall asleep literally anywhere, doing anything. I have never experienced such intense exhaustion!

• Nausea and heartburn. With my singleton pregnancy (my daughter), I had little to no morning sickness. This was a c o m p l e t e l e y different story. I had to lay down most days just to keep from being sick.

• Anxiety. Most symptoms of a twin pregnancy are physical, but we should also at least touch on the mental aspect! The discovery is mind blowing to say the least. People have different reactions, spanning from dismay to excitement. My mental response was ambivalent… I was equal parts excited and terrified. I have to admit that thoughts such as, “Why me,” or “Maybe it’s a mistake,” were common. We had a difficult journey with our first born, so the thought of two at the same time had me freaking out slightly. Eventually that has turned into 90% excitement with 10% anxiety, so that’s a pretty good shift.

Second Trimester

• Short honeymoon period. With my daughter, I had a solid amount of time I felt really good – energetic, comfortable, no problems eating, etc. This is a completely different story. I would say my “honeymoon phase” ended at about 21 weeks.

• Pain. I am SO PAINFUL already! My back is completely exhausted all the time. I have lower spine issues starting to pop up, but some of my husband’s physical therapy exercises have really helped with that. Sitting AND standing too long puts an incredible amount of pressure on the pelvic area and my back. The result?

• Bedrest. I am not on prescribed bedrest, but you will often find me about 2-3 pm having to lay down to relieve some of the stress from carrying these two around. If they are having a growth spurt, that laying down likely turns into an accidental 1-2 hour nap.

• Heartburn. It’s already back! I don’t even know where my organs are fitting anymore.

• Pregnancy Insomnia. I can’t sleep even if I’m tired sometimes – I will get up to inevitably use the restroom only to find myself laying around for 3+ hours. So, I’ve started getting up and working at my computer during those times. I am a healthcare consultant, so chart abstractions are usually repetitive enough to get me sleepy again.

• Completely winded. Fun new development that I know will only get worse until D-day. I. can’t. breathe. I am a pretty athletic person and a leisurely walk (1 mile) has my heart rate pumping and me huffing and puffing.

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• Incredible growth. I am the size (at 22 weeks now) that I was when I was 34 weeks pregnant with my daughter. And BOY did that escalate quickly. It went from barely showing to my full blown third trimester status in the matter of two weeks.

Impacts on the Twin Nursery

Why am I telling you all of these things?

They greatly impact my room’s progress! My husband is not one to help much with decorating, so any progress with the twin nursery has been on me.

When I have a growth week (like this past week), I end up in bed right after I’m done working on my company. Projects fall off the deep end of my priority list. Which is ok! I’m growing two babies, so I am completely fine with that sacrifice.

While physical progress didn’t happen during this week, virtual progress did! I ended up ordering the wallpaper, skim coating materials and the supplies for the fern mobile dupe.

By the grace of the One Room Challenge blog link upload grace period, I am able to provide a quick tutorial on the fern mobiles! Just barely scraped one of those out this morning – check out my reel over on IG to see the progress unfold.

Fern Mobile DUPE

This is probably one of my only DIY projects for the twin nursery. Here is the inspiration:

Supplies:

• Faux fern garland
• Faux eucalyptus garland
• Floral wire
• Macramé cord
• Wooden hoop
• Wooden beads

Step 1: Measure and cut your macramé cord

I eyeballed this measurement, but estimated how long the cord would need to be in order to be first doubled up, then gathered at one central point and ran upward to hang a short distance from the ceiling. I don’t want these hanging too low, because the boys are not going to be playing with them if I can help it!

Step 2: Loop your cord at four points to create the hanging device

For this, double up your cord and run it behind your hoop. Pull the loose strands of the cord through the loop that you see. When you gather them together, use a separate piece of cord to tie what is called the “gathering knot”. I totally had to reference YouTube videos for this – here you go.

Now, you have your four sets of cords gathered up in a knot that can slide up and down depending on your preference.

Step 3: Greenery

Use floral wire to place individual fern pieces (pulled from the garland) and eucalyptus pieces around the hoop. Make sure you wrap the wire tightly and tie it off after about 4-5 loops. That’s at least what I did, and I’m no florist.

You may want to add a few touches of hot glue here and there to make sure some of the heavier pieces have more than one secured contact point.

Step 4: Unravel a few of the cords

At this point, the cords that are drawing up and in that gathering knot have several long strands available to choose. I chose 4 strands and unraveled them (my cord consisted of three fiber strands twisted together). These will hold your wooden beads.

Step 5: String Your Beads

String the unraveled strands of fiber through the wooden beads, tying a knot at the end. I used three beads per strand. This results in about 12 fiber strands with beads on the end.

Step 6: Strategically weave your strands to relocate the beads

For this step, I had to kind of get creative… the strands of fiber hang over the gathering knot. The first thing I did was do a simple knot at the bottom of the gathering knot where the four support cords branch off. This helped to keep the bead strands from hanging loosely. I ran four of the bead strands along the support cords and looped them over the wooden hoop.

The remaining strands I weaved around the support cords so that they would dangle beads about halfway down the cords. I also varied this so that a few were hanging directly down in the center (those were a bit longer).

Trim off the excess fiber and you have yourself a DIY Fern Mobile for your cute little woodland nursery!

Next Steps

Yesterday, I got my skim coating materials in, so I will likely be attempting that in the next few days (granted I have energy).

• Destroy the broken murphy bed
• Clean and clear the room and closet out
• Install additional baseboards where the bed used to be
• Paint baseboards
• Touch up the built ins (from the crash and boom of the bed)
• Stencil the credenza to create a changing station
• Assemble one to two cribs
• Purchase a glider for the corner
• Skim coat the textured wall between the shelves
• Wallpaper between shelves with woodland themed paper
• Dupe the fern mobiles I found online
• Dig out my baby stuff from my attic and closets
• Add baskets to the shelving units for diapers, clothes, etc.
• Figure out some sort of decor for the rest of the room

Hang in there my fellow ORC-ers – we are halfway there… at least in terms of the deadline.