Creating a Nursery Out of Attic Storage Space

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of VELUX Skylights for IZEA Worldwide. All opinions are 100% mine.

Aren’t nurseries SO much fun to decorate? Before you spit out your coffee–this is a design I’m working on for a friend!! They thought they were stopping at two, but they’re getting a bonus baby this summer. Isn’t that fun?

Because they’re in an area where the real estate market is tight and they love the school district that they’re in, they want to create space for their newest family member in their existing home. Honestly, I can’t blame them, because we all know that moving is such a pain, and having to do it pregnant is just an extra layer of stress.

We’re working within the footprint of their current home because their budget definitely doesn’t allow for an addition, but the good news is that they have a storage room in their attic that’s already got drywall and hardwood floors installed. They’re currently using it for out of season clothes and holiday decorations, but it’s a good size for a bedroom:

The little door on the left is access to more under-the-eaves storage, so once they organize and clear out this room we’ve got a nice blank slate to work with. The only thing that concerned me was that there’s only one window and it’s small. Their lot is heavily wooded with mature trees and while they’re beautiful and provide great shade, that also means that there’s not a lot of natural light filtering into the house.

Here’s the design board I came up with for the nursery–and yes, they’re expecting a girl!

No one wants to live in a dark cave, so a big part of my design plan is adding two skylights to the angled ceiling line. They’ll let in natural light and provide a view to the trees, plus the ones we’re using (VELUX No Leak Solar Powered Fresh Air Skylights) come with built-in solar powered blinds that are operated by remote control! They’ve got 80 colors and patterns to choose from but I’m planning on using the blackout blinds, because who wants to wake a sleeping baby?!

On one side of the room, we’ll use one of our tutorials to build DIY built-in bookshelves:

And on the other side, we’re going to build a window seat with bench storage for toys underneath:

You can see in the above image that these skylights can be opened to release warm air–always a consideration in an attic space–and generate a breeze. VELUX skylights have rain sensors, too, so they’ll automatically close themselves if they’re open and it starts to rain (I think that’s so cool).

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We’ll paint the ceiling and sloped walls in the palest pink and then do a board and batten treatment below with gray paint. The antiqued gold crib will be perfect for the first few years, and then they can simply update it to a wrought iron “big girl bed.” Since the other finishes are ageless, there won’t be any additional expense in converting this from a nursery to a sweet girl’s room.

Do you love this nursery board as much as I do? If so, here are my sources for the room:

If you’ve got a space in your home that could use some additional light, head on over to enter a giveaway for two VELUX No Leak Solar Powered Fresh Air Skylights with Solar Blinds–installed!

While skylights are perfect in a bedroom, they work just as well in other rooms (I especially like them in bathrooms where good natural light is so important). To get an idea of how they’d look in your room, why not make your own mood board?

I’ll keep you posted on how this room progresses; in the meantime, I’d love to hear what room is at the top of your list to transform–whether it’s a little fluffing or a complete renovation.

Thanks for stopping by~