Anthony's Plain Plane (Ha!) Nursery Mobile

Throughout my pregnancy I entertained myself by planning the nursery decor. Not actually decorating it, mind you, since the nursery nook's construction wasn't even completed by the time we were high-tailin' it to the hospital to welcome our little bambino. But picking out fictional nursery items and doing nothing with these ideas was something that I did really well.

I had a general idea of the colors (lots of 'em), theme (none! thankyouverymuch) and style (cozy modern) but not a clue of what kind of mobile to put up above the crib. So I waited. And found some I liked on Etsy. But didn't buy any since I didn't see any I couldn't live without. So I waited some more. And then I found one when we were in Rome but Zach was being grumpy after a too-long day of walking and so he said he didn't like it (even though I think he really did). So we didn't buy that one either. So we waited some more. Then I went with Teri to a craft store for inspiration and to buy items to make one. But I didn't find anything there so still no mobile. And we waited some more.

Now, Anthony is almost six months old and as of last week he was still mobile-less. I decided that last weekend was it. We would find ourselves a mobile. I had some criteria: Definitely nothing with characters licensed by a giant movie studio. Preferably no sports-related items. [Editor's note: I have nothing against sports-related items. But let's be honest. Little A has as much chance of inheriting my severe lack of coordination as he does getting his dad's athletic genes.] Animals and airplanes are desired. Vintage-looking items preferred. Oh, and what I find must be affordable, ideally under $10. Good luck, right?

I loaded Little A into his stroller and trekked up to our favorite store, walking up and down the toy aisle. I was hoping I would find what I was looking for and stopped in the classic toy section. I was able to scoop up these little beauties.



I originally had planned to paint every airplane a different color, each in a shade that we've used in the nursery nook (currently orange, brown, red and green). But after I put them together I decided their retro detail was just too cute to cover up.

Thinking of things from Anthony's crib-level perspective (I'm thoughtful like that), I realized that staring at natural-colored wood against a white background isn't as exciting as it sounds. Actually, it would be exactly as exciting as it sounds.

So we broke out the red paint. And I slapped on some detail (using a kid's watercolor paintbrush, the only one I could round up on the spot) to the underside of the planes, making them stand out for his little baby eyes a bit better.




Mid-way through the project, I included a very important step: Impromptu nacho eating. This makes the project much easier to complete and must not be skipped.


After using some of my college-level physics to figure out how to hang them without making them tip weirdly, I strung them with fishing line. Anthony's nursery nook is super tiny (it will likely be transformed into a walk-in closet on the tragic day we must sell our beloved teeny little home) so I didn't want to hang anything from the ceiling that took up too much space, out of fear of making the room look too cluttered. Fishing line seemed perfect since it's darn near invisible.



I hung them from eye hooks and I must say they are a big hit with our little guy. He loves staring, reaching and kicking up toward the airplanes and because they are actually light-weight gliders, they flutter and move around when the air conditioning turns on. Perfect! No batteries necessary.

The whole thing cost about seven bucks. And the cool shadows they make on the wall? Those were a freebie.





key words: affordable mobile, modern baby mobiles, baby mobiles, vintage baby mobile