WhatIWore: I’ve always really liked decorating my home. I love hunting down vintage pieces, upcycling items we already own, DIYing keepsakes and saving for special items. Because we won’t know if we’re having a son or a daughter until baby’s birthday, I’ve opted for a neutral nursery that could work beautifully for a boy or a girl.
I’m going with a neutral palette primarily of pale gray, white and natural woods, with accents of pale yellow and a minty teal. Because babies are stimulated by patterns and eventually colors, I made a rainbow triangle quilt to drape over the rocker or crib as a pop of color (it’s backed in a black and white polka dot). I’ve yet to bind off the edges and mocked up what a pale mint border would look like. (I also mocked it up on one of my inspiration images above!) I think I’ll also make a matching pillow, destination TBD. I’m planning on doing a simplified tutorial (basically on how to cut perfectly equilateral triangles and sew them together) if there’s any interest!
The walls will get a fresh coat of pale gray paint and we’re planning on gray carpet in the nursery. We’ve debated re-doing our 94 year old wood floors (that appear to have never been refinished) but will save that for sometime in the future. As it stands, the wood floors in the baby’s bedroom are really beat up and we think we’ll really like the coziness that carpet provides. I’m debating on hiring a painter to give the ceiling a pale coat of light minty blue or else my mom and mother in law have both volunteered to help me. Normally I love painting rooms but I’ll gladly pass off that job for this space!
I’ve registered for gray and white crib bedding in cute geometrics and dots and will also make gray curtains with white sheers for the windows. I plan on hanging them high and wide, like I did for my sewing room next door.
We’ve already tackled the major items in the room including the crib (from Target.com), the rocker, rug and the dressers (one of which will be used as a changing table). The Monte Joya rocker was a huge investment, but I had a little money set aside and felt like it was worth it for me. It’s being custom made in Canada as we speak and has gray wool and solid walnut wood. Adam loves it too and I’m looking forward to reading loads of stories while rocking away in that chair.
The dressers were a craigslist deal I found about an hour drive from us. We negotiated what we thought was a good price for a set of matching, mid Century modern dressers (which also came with a mirror and bedroom - all a set), but when I started doing my homework I realized we really scored! It’s from the Perspecta by Kent-Coffey line from around 1964. The idea with these pieces is to keep them in the family forever - whether they move to another child’s room or our master, they really fit in well with our taste and style and the natural wood makes the room feel a little more grounded.
To bring in some color, we bought a yellow and white striped rug from Overstock.com (top inspiration board). I like it a lot and it’ll look great with the pillow that comes with the rocker and play nicely back to the triangular rainbow quilt.
To accessorize the room, I’m planning on making bunting out of my left over quilt fabric that I think I’ll drape over the curtains or on the wall behind the crib. Adam and I bought a trio of Ryan Buckley prints years ago (like a month after we started dating! Wishful thinking, huh?!) that I want to frame and use in the room. We have a lot of brightly colored art and posters so I’ll play around with that until I have a gallery wall we like. I’ve also collected vintage globes over the years (I have 5 or 6) so I’ll probably put one on the higher dresser for that pretty teal ocean color. Lastly, I’ve been really aware of giraffes since I’ve been pregnant and for now, it’s my baby’s spirit animal (maybe he/she will be a long baby!). I registered for this big giraffe and might treat myself/baby to it on my own if it’s still left on the list.
Right now we have a pretty empty room ready to be worked on! My friends and family are throwing me baby showers over the summer and I hope to make progress on the walls/floors/windows and then set everything up by August 1st! See more of my inspiration ideas (and direct links to most of the images above) on my Pinterest Nursery page. You can read more about my pregnancy here and here.
