-"Baby Makes 3" is funded in part by... -Dear baby, if you can't tell by the bump, you'll be here soon.

To be honest, I'm freaking out a bit.

There's still so much to do -- a lot of organizing, name picking, decorating, and cleaning, all while lugging around 25 or so extra pounds.

I guess I'm feeling a little bit crazy, but I'm allowed to be, right?

I'm your mom, and I want everything to be perfect for you.

I'll see you soon.

Love, mom.

-And by... ♪♪ -When it comes to baby's health, clean water is at the top of the list.

Food News Media -- supporting clean water for America's restaurant industry and for baby for life.

-On this episode of "Baby Makes 3"... we're in the home of Anna and Joe, a young married couple who love the great outdoors and are expecting their first child.

They've decided to wait for the birth of their baby to learn wither it's a boy or a girl.

We're gonna take those two themes and create a gender-neutral nursery that brings the natural warmth of the outdoors into their home.

That moment when you go from couple to family, everything changes.

When you bring the baby home, you want to create a warm, comfortable, and safe environment for them.

Step one -- the nursery.

-I'm Anna.

-And I'm Joe, and we're having our first baby in three weeks.

-We met growing up on the Bouncing Bulldogs, the jump rope -- It's a competitive jump rope team.

-We both competed.

Each of us has won national championships and world championships, as well.

To be honest, we couldn't stand each other growing up.

Ultimately, we ended up dating for something like seven years all through college, and then decided to tie the knot, and we've been married for almost four years now.

-When I told Joe that we were pregnant -- And this is saying a lot because we were trying.

It wasn't a surprise.

So we were in kind of that period where, you know, we just -- We're waiting to find out.

I had gone to one of our favorite outdoor retailer company stores and picked up a gray, tiny, adorable little fuzzy zip-up hoodie.

And I put it in a bag and I set the bag on the living-room table, and when he came home, we were just chitchatting.

And I said, "Oh, you know, this store was having a sale today.

I actually grabbed you something.

I know you love their stuff."

So he was like, "Cool."

-And we were standing I think, like, right here, actually.

-Yeah, we were standing right here.

And so he walked over and opened up the bag and I'm starting to do this and I'm just standing there.

And he pulls out a tiny, little hoodie, and he said, "I don't think this is my size."

-And then I knew.

-Of course he knew.

-I realized and hugged her.

And it was really a special moment, I think, to just think, "Oh, my goodness, this is for real."

-Having "Baby Makes 3" come out and help us put together a nursery with a little bit of our direction, I think, will be really helpful because I think there are probably a lot of little details that we don't think about or know about because this is our first child.

You know, and having somebody who has a child give us that perspective and that experience will be really... -Helpful.

-Yeah, it'll just be helpful.

-I guess the hardest thing about the nursery is just feeling like we've covered all the bases.

What's gonna give baby the best environment to feel comfortable and give us the comfort to feel like baby's in a safe place?

-I am definitely most looking forward to just integrating a little baby into our life.

-I can't wait to take baby camping.

You know, I had someone at work ask me -- It must have been a year ago -- "So, what is it you want to be when you grow up?"

When I reflected on it and had another conversation many months later, I realized my answer to that question was "a dad."

And so I think it's really, for me, feels like the most exciting thing in the world to be able to have our baby.

You know, and to raise our child and bring it into the world.

I think it's really something that will change a lot of things, but at the same time, will be the most meaningful experience of our life.

-I'm here to meet Anna and Joe.

They've decided they don't want to find out whether they're having a boy or a girl, but with only a few weeks until the due date, that means it's crunch time for us to design a gender-neutral nursery.

So let's get started.

[ Knock on door ] -Hello, hello.

-Hi, there.

-Nice to finally meet you.

-Good to meet you.

-Yes.

-Hey!

-Oh, look at you!

Oh, my goodness!

-Come on in.

-Wow, when are you due?

-In like 3 1/2 weeks.

-In 3 1/2 weeks.

Wow.

Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-This is exciting, and I know you were not gonna find out the gender of the baby.

Is that where we're still at?

-That's where we're still at.

It's a baby, and that's all we know.

-Gonna be quite a surprise, then.

-Yeah.

-And so with the nursery, we want gender-neutral, yes?

-Gender-neutral, and then obviously, with it being a room in our house, we want it to sort of match the flow and everything else that we have going on style-wise.

And I think for us, the big emphasis has always been sort of natural tones and bringing nature indoors.

-Your house looks lovely.

I would love to see more of it.

-Thanks, yeah.

-Yeah, we'll show you around.

-Yeah, come on in.

So, this is the living room.

It kind of flows into the dining area.

We have the kitchen over there.

It's all open.

We love that.

-What did it kind of look like when you moved in?

-Well, it was actually a mix of a lot of reds and creams and dark.

One of the first things we did was, like, take out some of the cabinets that were closing in the space and choose different furniture that might make the space a little more open.

-We've brought in a lot of natural elements, which is, you know, one of our favorite parts.

Being nestled in the woods, we like to bring in, you know, plants and tree-inspired paintings, that kind of thing.

-Yeah, this is beautiful.

I was just looking at that.

-Thanks.

-That is gorgeous.

"Thanks"?

Does that mean -- Did you do it?

-I did, yeah.

-Really?

That's beautiful.

-It was a little DIY on a weekend.

-So, with the nursery, you want to kind of take this nature theme and carry it into the nursery, right?

-Exactly.

Yep, that's right.

-So show me the space that you want to turn into the nursery.

-Yeah, of course.

Let's go.

It's down the hallway this way.

-Okay.

-So, right down the hallway here is the nursery.

And this is our bedroom right across the way.

-Great.

-So this is the nursery-to-be.

-Wa-ha!

Wow!

A lot of baby stuff, yes?

Cute.

-Yeah, we have everything we need.

We just need to put it somewhere.

-Yes, you do.

Okay, so tell me more about this space.

-I mean, we're not super-attached to anything in particular.

-You got to get rid of this big bed in the middle.

Yes, we love the windows.

We'd love to be able to, you know, let baby to be able to see outside and get some good light.

-Yeah.

But you're gonna have to also, you know, a lot of napping, all of that stuff.

So we're gonna have to figure out how to get rid of the light when you don't want it, as well.

-Exactly.

-Maybe some kind of blackout shades or something like that.

-That would be good.

We do have this dresser.

I don't know if it's something that we might be able to repurpose and incorporate.

I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.

But you know, it's a piece that we could potentially use, I feel.

-Yeah, it's actually the perfect height.

-You know, it's a good piece, and it kind of fits this space.

-I like it.

I like it, and I'm thinking -- I am thinking we can convert it into a changing table.

-Yeah, that would be great.

-It's about the same height.

We're gonna have to measure it and check, but we can kind of re-fit the top and make it a changing table.

And then, of course, you can put all of your baby stuff in the dresser.

But when the baby gets older, you can remove that, and then you can still keep it in here -- -As a dresser.

-Yeah, exactly.

So I really like this piece.

-That would be perfect.

-And you're gonna be changing a lot of diapers.

-Yeah?

Is that right?

-Yes, yes.

-Joe, anything that you're attached to in this space?

-No.

You know, honestly, there's one thing I'm not attached to.

And being a little bit taller, the ceiling fan just because the ceilings aren't that high.

And so if I'm in here carrying an infant, it's gonna be nice to not be conscious of fan blades twirling around my head.

-Yeah, right.

-So it would be nice to find a way to get that out and to have maybe a nice, softer light in the room.

-Okay, great.

So I know the perfect designer for you guys now that you've given me your ideas.

So I'm gonna go make that happen.

-Okay.

-All right.

-Awesome.

Okay.

We're here at the design studio meeting with my designer Lauren.

I've given her all the notes of what the couple's looking for, so let's go see what she's come up with.

Come this way.

Hello, how are you?

-Hi, Melissa.

I'm good.

-Well, this is our couple -- Anna and Joe.

-Hi, I'm Joe.

-Hi, Joe.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to see you.

I love working with couples that are expecting their first child just because there's so much excitement during the time, and they have no idea what's ahead.

And having gone through that myself, I think it's just really fun to help them through the process.

I'd like to suggest a color scheme of blues, yellows, and grays because I think it'll work really well for the gender-neutral space, as well as the outdoor nature feel that we're bringing into the room.

So aside from color, I think the other thing that's really important in your space will be texture to bring in that natural, outdoorsy feel.

-Mm-hmm.

-I would love to do something like a reclaimed wood wall.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Oh, yeah.

-So this would be the focal point of the space.

-That is beautiful.

-I love it.

That's perfect.

-So, I see this picture, and I think it's a door, but maybe you can help explain what's going on here.

-This is one of my favorite things.

So, when I saw that your room is opposite the nursery, I thought, "Wouldn't it be very cool if you had a Dutch door, which is you can open the top and keep the bottom closed so you can peek in, see if the baby's sleeping, but you don't have to go in and disturb them.

It acts kind of like a baby gate, but it's prettier.

-That's really cool.

Never would have thought that we would have one of those.

-Yeah.

So tell us about the cribs.

What have you got going?

-Sure.

The crib is gonna go against the wood wall.

I think the bed should really be the focal point of any bedroom space.

But because we do have this wood wall, I don't think the crib should be wood.

I think it needs to have a contrasting finish.

Another important furniture piece in the room will be a glider.

So I'd love to show you what I'm suggesting there.

This is a high-back, slope-arm, and I would suggest doing it in a gray fabric, though I'd love to do a combination window treatment.

We're doing a decorative fabric valence, and it won't necessarily be this fabric, over a blackout shade that pulls down underneath.

-I love this, Lauren, because this blackout shade doesn't have a cord.

You can just pull it down.

Remember, you don't want any cords in the nursery.

They can be dangerous.

So this is perfect.

-So, just to brighten things up a bit, I'd love to mix in some antique brass elements with a light fixture like this.

-Oh, that's cool.

-That's really cool.

-Yeah.

-I understand that you love camping.

You love spending time outside.

And I'm sure that's a hobby that you'll pass on to your child, as well.

To reflect that interest, I wanted to incorporate a play tent.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Very cool.

-So cool.

-So cute.

-Our nursery design will also incorporate several accent pieces.

We'll install a bookshelf shaped like a tree, include nature-inspired wall art, and hang two camping-themed sconces on either side of the crib that will provide a soft, warm light.

-I'm gonna get started on the plans, and we'll get this in place for you immediately.

-Well, it's starting.

Our project is underway.

We moved all the furniture out, and we moved our painter in.

So we're gonna check in with Sven from S.A. Johnson Interiors and see how he's doing.

Hey, Sven, how's it going?

-Hi, Melissa.

It's going real well.

-Good.

Good.

Wow, I love the color.

It looks really good.

-Thank you.

-Yes, now, but more importantly, I'm here because I want to talk about the type of paint that you're using.

And I've done a lot of reading about low-VOC and no-VOC paint.

So can you talk about that?

-No-VOC paint was developed a few years ago to try to take the volatile organic compounds out of paint.

Everything around us has these compounds, however, paint has such a concentrated amount of it that you want to get a lower amount because it can be carcinogenic.

The paint smell is actually the VOCs being emitted, and they can actually emit from the paint weeks and months after you've painted.

-So, obviously, we want -- whenever we're painting a nursery, we want to use low-VOC or no-VOC paint, and then we don't have to worry.

We can move baby right in.

-Oh, yeah.

Right in.

Right in, yes.

-While painting continues, let's take a look at our design plans with our general contractor Jonathan.

So, I want to introduce you to Jonathan.

He's my general contractor.

He's gonna make all of these plans happen.

-Great.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, really looking forward to it.

Very nice to meet you.

-I picked up the designs from our designer, so I thought we'd look at them, and you can explain some of the different aspects.

-Sure, absolutely.

One of the first things that we're going to try to do is provide this accent wall with some timbers that we're going to bring in.

And then we have an additional Dutch door.

We're gonna be cutting the door in half to allow some access from the top and the bottom.

-Yeah.

-And moving on into the dresser right here... -Yeah, this'll be your dresser and your change table -- the one that we've talked about.

And then, of course, the thing that we all loved was the tent.

And we're gonna put that right next to the crib.

-Love it.

Cute.

-Yeah, very, very cute.

-I'm really excited about everything.

It looks like it's all coming together.

And you've definitely listened to our interests and put them all in.

I mean, we're really excited.

-So, what's next, Jonathan?

-I think it's really time to get to work.

-Jonathan is headed over to a local sawmill to place the order for our accent wall and to learn a little bit more about the wood material we will be using.

-You must be Billy.

-Yeah, I'm Billy.

Are you Jonathan?

-I'm Jonathan.

Very nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you, too.

-Tell me what you guys do here at Raleigh Reclaimed.

-Mainly, we do custom furniture.

We do residential and commercial.

-Where are you getting your wood?

-Within like 100 miles.

Just structures.

Mostly tobacco barns, and there's a lot of structures from, like, the '40s and '50s.

Hey, this is Joshua.

-How are you doing, man?

-Hey, Jonathan.

Good to meet you.

-Very nice to meet you, as well.

So, are you gonna be helping out with this accent wall that we're gonna be putting in the nursery?

-I sure am.

Billy was talking about the process of getting this from rough lumber into the dimensional lumber that we'll use.

And then my role is I'll usually get in there once we're on site, and I'll do the install, put the wood on the wall itself.

-What would be the process of turning this into an accent wall and making it a finished product?

Can you show me how that's done?

-Yeah.

-Let's get some safety gear, and we'll get started.

All right, Josh, you want to hit the dust?

So basically, we take in a piece of raw barnwood that's in the rough on both sides.

And we have planed it to 3/4 inch, okay, and we have straight-lined two edges.

So basically, when you have two boards that have been straight-lined, they're the same thickness now, and there's no gaps.

As you can see, with two boards that are not surfaced, there's gonna be different thicknesses and there's gonna be gaps and dust catchers.

-Okay, so you're basically trying to take that guesswork out of it and give it a nice, finished look.

-Yeah.

Exactly.

-Unfinished look.

-Well, yeah.

-[ Chuckling ] Okay.

It looks like you guys are doing a lot of great work here.

It was nice to meet you, Joshua.

See both of you guys tomorrow.

-Yeah, see you tomorrow.

-All right, thanks.

-So, Anna and Joe, do either of you sew?

-We don't.

-Nope.

-Not at all.

-But a lot of people do, and this is a pretty simple project to put together.

But if you don't sew, you can go to your local fabric shop and get this made up.

Of course, we'll take care of it for now, but I just wanted to find out.

-So, I brought some fabric books that we can look through to find the fabric for the Roman shade for your nursery.

-Okay.

Perfect.

-Let's find out what you like, what you don't like.

-Yeah.

-I kind of like these patterns here.

-Yeah, those are cute, little shapes.

-And when you're looking through fabrics, I want you to think about your child's development.

Think about visually stimulating shapes and colors and things like that.

-Mm-hmm.

I like this.

I like this one a lot.

The colors.

It kind of matches what we were looking at with the color palate.

-I don't know about the shapes as much.

It's a little, I don't know, maybe -- -Busy?

-Interpretive.

But I do like the color.

-Okay.

-Well, I have something else that you might like, then.

Let me find it.

-That one's very pretty.

-Look at this.

So, it has a branch-y pattern with leaves and flowers and has the blue and the yellow that we talked about using.

-Yeah, it's cute.

-The twigs.

-I like it.

Yeah.

-It's great.

-Great.

-Mm-hmm.

-So, I have a seamstress that I work with that I can have make the Roman shade valence for your nursery.

So I'll send this over to her, and she'll get started.

-Perfect.

Great.

-Our refurbisher Emily just arrived.

Let's talk with her about our plans for our changing table project.

So, Emily, this is our dresser from the nursery.

Our couple wants to refurbish it, update it, and we also want to turn it into a changing table for them.

Talk to me about the most important safety issue when working with old furniture.

What do you look for?

-Well, a lot of old furniture has old paint.

So the first thing you're gonna want to do is make sure that the paint that's on the furniture does not contain lead.

-Right.

-And the way that you do that is you go to your home improvement store and pick up one of these little kits that will tell you whether or not there's lead in your paint.

-My design team talked to you about the color.

So you've been experimenting with color and ideas with what you're gonna do with this dresser.

-Your design team picked out a really pretty crème fraîche, and we're gonna paint the box of the dresser in this color.

Then they want to do the drawers in a very pretty soft dove gray.

So this'll be on the front of the drawers, and then we're going to glaze it so that we can get this effect.

And then the design team also picked out these really neat pulls that we're going to put on the front and exchange out for the old ones.

So I think it's gonna be really lovely.

-That's beautiful.

And this carries their nature theme that they've got inside the house.

I really like this.

Great.

Wonderful.

Well, those look fabulous.

I'll let you get to work.

-Great.

-Back at Emily's shop, she begins the glazing process on the dresser drawers.

Emily is using a black glaze.

Glaze is applied with a brush, just like paint.

The glaze is then wiped off with a damp rag or sponge, creating the distressed look.

Glazing can be done up to three or four times, depending on the look you're trying to achieve.

Back at the house, I help Anna and Joe get started on a personalized DIY project for their baby.

I wanted to come up with something that was very meaningful that you two could create and put in your nursery.

So, because you're both world champion jump ropers, I thought we would make a rope sign.

-Awesome.

-That's great.

-And I asked you a little earlier to come up with a word that was meaningful for you.

What word did you come up with?

-We came up with "explore."

-So "explore" sort of represents this sense of curiosity that we'd love for our baby to have as they grow up in life.

And we both have had so much time to travel and sort of spend our lives together experiencing new things that we thought that would be a great thing to have our baby have in their nursery.

-Great.

Wonderful.

Well, sounds good.

Well, this is a really fun project.

A little messy, but fun.

So what I've done is I took a big dollop of non-toxic wood glue.

I put in a cup of water and a cup of cornstarch.

We've mixed it up.

And then we're gonna take this rope, and you're gonna dip it in the glue.

I want you to kind of separate the rope a little bit so it really soaks the rope.

And then as you pull the rope out, you can pull all the excess glue off.

And then you're going to lay the rope along this word that we've put.

And then after about 24 hours, it dries really hard like this.

-Whoa.

-And you'll have your sign.

And then, to top it off, we have these jump rope handles.

We're gonna pull these off and add them to each end so it'll feel like a jump rope.

-I love it.

-So your baby will be a Bouncing Bulldog.

-So cute.

-Yes.

All right, are you ready to get messy?

-Yeah.

-Let's do it.

-Okay.

Well, here you go.

I'm gonna leave you to it.

Have fun.

-Okay.

Thanks.

-You write, I'll glue.

-Okay.

All right, so we got a shape.

I'm gonna leave a little at the end.

It's really great that we have a stencil.

-Yes.

-I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.

That's kind of cool.

-Yeah.

-All right.

-It'll look nice on the wood wall.

-Yeah.

What a cool idea.

It kind of reminds me of, like, papier-maché.

But don't you use cornstarch with that?

-I can't tell you the last time I papier-machéed.

-How does that look so far?

-I think it's pretty good.

We might have to brush it with some glue.

-Yeah.

-But so far, so good.

-Yeah, really get it soaked.

-Wow, I'm amazed it sticks in its shape.

-I know.

It's actually sticking pretty well.

We might have to make the "E" a little bit bigger.

Hey, we're a pretty good team.

-Efficiency.

-I know.

Look at it.

-Uh-oh, you're outpacing me.

-Come on.

You got to keep up.

Oh, man, I can't believe this dries so stiff.

It's so cool.

-All right.

It's getting messy now.

-Yeah.

And squeeze off the excess of that, probably.

Yeah, here you go.

And then re-twist it back.

Nice.

-I should have remembered I married a perfectionist.

We want it to look good.

We can't have our DIY project, you know, not up to par with the rest of the nursery.

Baby's gonna know what we did.

-That is true.

Baby will know what we did.

-How does that glue feel on your hands?

-You know, it's a little sticky.

-I'm really happy that we're in the positions we are.

Almost there.

And the jump rope handles.

-I know.

I know.

-What a cute idea.

I think that's good.

-And just a little sauce for extra flavor.

-Oh, my God.

[Laughs] Ta-da!

Perfect.

Stick.

All right, I think we're done.

-We're off to a great start, creating Anna and Joe's gender-neutral nursery, but there's still a lot to do, including building our Dutch door, creating our custom-made Roman shade, and lots of finishing touches next time on "Baby Makes 3."

-Closed captioning is brought to you by... Snuggle Me Organic -- organic cotton and wool loungers and bed sharing cushions for baby.

-"Baby Makes 3" is funded in part by... -Dear baby, if you can't tell by the bump, you'll be here soon.

To be honest, I'm freaking out a bit.

There's still so much to do -- a lot of organizing, name picking, decorating, and cleaning, all while lugging around 25 or so extra pounds.

I guess I'm feeling a little bit crazy, but I'm allowed to be, right?

I'm your mom, and I want everything to be perfect for you.

I'll see you soon.

Love, mom.

-And by... ♪♪ -When it comes to baby's health, clean water is at the top of the list.

Food News Media -- supporting clean water for America's restaurant industry and for baby for life.

-Safety first.

"Baby Makes 3" nurseries are created for newborns.

Some projects may not be suitable for older children.

When in doubt, seek the help of a licensed contractor.

For more information, visit us on the web at babymakes3.tv.

-The "Baby Makes 3" DVD set helps make those first parenting decisions the right decisions.

Discover more than 50 nursery projects, including a starlight ceiling and nursery accent wall.

Create a fun, adorable, and safe space for your baby.

Available for $19.95 including shipping and handling.

Order online at babymakes3.tv.