We moved into the house a couple of months before finding out if we were expecting a boy or a girl, so this bedroom stayed exactly as it was for a while …

As soon as we found out our second child was going to be a girl (!!!) I went into overdrive decorating her nursery.

We started by painting the top half of each wall a soft aqua (CIL’s “Bali Hai Teal”) and freshening up the white board-and-batten on the bottom. I painted the chair rail what I call “Barbie pink.”

Then I started on a massive “cupcake tree” mural for the main wall. I sketched it with a pencil and did the white trunk/branches first, then painted different-sized cupcakes frosted in pink, purple and yellow icing.

I specifically painted 28 cupcakes because I was 28 years old — and would be, too, when the baby was born.

(Oh, and I outlined everything with a thin black Sharpie to make it crisp!)

You might recall that D didn’t have a dresser until months after he was born (!!!) so we were lucky to get a hand-me-down dresser for C from Darling Husband’s sister. It was PERFECT for the paint treatment I had in mind …

Pink ombré! I sanded and primed the dresser, bought three sample cans of pink paint from Home Depot, and did each row a different shade. I also swapped the hardware for simple + shiny white knobs.

It was a HUGE transformation!

The dresser came with a mirror for the top, which I also painted white and added.

Above the dresser, I painted wooden letters to spell out C’s full name. There’s also a coat of silver glitter on them — yay glitter!

(I remember being disappointed that I couldn’t get all of the letters I needed in the same font, but I think it still worked.)

Over by the door is her hairbow holder — just an old frame I painted pink (the pale pink from the top row of dresser drawers), coated with more glitter, and hot-glued ribbons to the back.

I made tissue-paper poms for two of the corners of the room, using two different shades of pink (as well as light blue/aqua) — and instructions from the one-and-only Martha Stewart.

I painted a hand-me-down wall shelf pink (more leftover dresser paint) and sewed bright pink curtains for the window.

Her rocker and ottoman were the same ones I had used in D’s nursery — espresso wood with “butter” yellow cushions.

The white side table was a vintage metal one I’d had in my room as a teenager.

Above the rocker, there was a serious of six tiny canvases with cupcakes on them. I painted them pale pink (yup, yet more dresser paint) and hot-glued on foam cupcakes I’d cut out.

I brushed glitter on some, glued sequins on one of them, and cut tiny “sprinkles” out of foam for another. It was an easy, fun craft.

Here’s one quick shot of her closet, where I bought pale pink hangers (Dollar Store FTW) and made size tags out of more pink foam.

Across the room, C was of course going to use the same crib we’d used with D. (Still in good condition, just with lots of gnaw marks!)

I sewed an extra-long crib skirt (full tutorial here) so it could graze the floor even when the mattress was at its tallest setting.

And, just like with D’s nursery, I sewed a baby-sized quilt for the crib.

Super simple: just three different types of pink fabric for the squares, pink minky for the backing, and thick pink silky trim for the edges.

D had to “try it out” on one of his dolls while we waited for C to make her big arrival.

Above the crib, I had a pink-painted mirror (yep, more dresser paint — that stuff goes a LONG way). There were actually two identical mirrors, each bought for 50 cents at a yard sale the previous summer.

For this piece, I cut out the letters of C’s name from different pink fabrics (including quilt leftovers), ironed them onto a piece of floral fabric, traced them in glittery gold fabric glue, and hot-glued the whole piece around a canvas. Then I added a few felt rosettes and outlined those in glitter, too.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour of Baby C’s DIY cupcake nursery! I had so much fun putting it together, and — as you’ll see in newer blog posts — it transitioned beautifully into a bedroom she enjoyed for YEARS.

Don’t forget to pin this post for later!

P.S. Take a look back at Baby Boy‘s nursery in our condo here, back when he was a tiny little thing. Try to pick out all the items we’ve reused in our little girl’s nursery!