baby wallpaper border

Baby's Room, The Frugal Way

So, you're going to be parents. How exciting!

Your parents and grandparents have already volunteered to buy baby furniture for you and friends have already committed to having a baby shower. Much of your baby's early needs will be covered.

What's left for you to do is to paint and patch the walls in your baby's room. And to clean up the tile floors. The room had been an extra storage room and has been neglected as the rest of the house took on some charm. This one room was the deemed the baby's room from the time you purchased the house, but you wanted to wait until there really was a baby on the way to start decorating it. And now that day has arrived.

Since you've frugally decorated the rest of the house, you already know the best places to purchase paint and patching materials. You aren't sure of the baby's gender yet, and really don't want to know. You have decided to use bright colors, primary colors, as you paint your baby's room, figuring that they will do for either gender. But you would really like some cute wallpaper borders. You want your baby's room to be special and one he or she will enjoy for years to come.

Off you trek to the local stores, looking at every type and style of wallpaper borders that you can find. And you soon discover that even when they're on sale, the ones you love are more than you would really like to pay.

Then you stumble upon someone - ME! - who suggests two alternatives to the cutsey wallpaper borders your were considering.

1) Visit local (or online) teacher supply stores. There you will find all kinds of materials that you can use as borders for your child's room. You may find bright colored ABC's. You may find pictures of clouds or animals or fruits and vegetables. Teacher supply stores are a great place for finding things for a child's room.

2) Why not consider purchasing patterned contact paper instead of wallpaper borders? Contact paper comes in all kinds of colors and patterns now and could be a good alternative to expensive borders.

3) If after trying #1 and #2 you still have not found exactly what you're seeking, perhaps you need to consider a real do-it-yourself project. Are there magazine pictures that you could laminate and put on the walls? Have you taken snapshots that you could enlarge and laminate and hang on the walls? Or can you find stencils that depict the theme you would like for the room? If so, you could stencil drawings on the walls and color them in yourself.

Once you've really mastered the art of being frugal, your creative mind comes to life. There are so many things you can do for your child's room that don't take much money at all. You just have to have an open mind - and maybe a few months to work on the project. You have both of those, don't you? Then why are you still reading? Why are you waiting?