Warning: This has become a nursery brain dump.
Nursery plans are underway at the Woodwards. Even before we found out a little boy will join us in June, I was drawn to vintage and classic looks in navy blue, white and red.
A little vintage. A little Americana. A little nautical. But then again, not really any of those things. Make sense?
Check out my nursery inspiration images viaย my Pinterest baby board.
Takeaways:
- Light walls
- Navy blue, white and a little red
- Mixture of patterns, stripes and solids
- Classic furniture and lines in white and wood tones
While I don’t really feel that there’s a strong theme, I am excited about the direction of the room. I’m aware that I’m not fooling anyone (baby daddy included) – this room will be a lot for me at first. I am well aware that Baby Dub could probably be perfectly content in a sparse room with a safe bed and space to store his stuff.
But, I enjoy the process of creating a space and I do hope it’s something baby boy can grow into.
T
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A few things that guided my planning:
- The main furniture pieces should be gender-neutral and classic. I didn’t want anything that screamed baby boy or dated the room. I decided on a Jenny Lind crib and a vintage dresser. I will use the rocker that my mom used to rock my brother and I as babies and I’ll curtain the television stand my dad made and use it for extra storage.
- Everything should be moveable. In other words, I don’t want to put any time into wall details or permanent built-in structures. It’s no secret that we don’t plan to be in this house forever (or even more than another couple of years), and I want this room to be able to move with us. Also, the walls are textured, which means that many wall treatments are out.
- It has to be affordable. We will obviously be spending some money on creating a nursery, but will also be using much of what we already have and taking budget routes when possible. I also don’t plan to cram every spare space in the room with stuff. Trying to remember that less is more.
With that said, here’s my initial plan (forgive my horrific attempt at a design board) –
- The map is probably my favorite part of the room – Ryan scored it on Craigslist for his wifey before we were pregnant for $50 or so. It’s a vintage pull-down map and it’s huge. The bottom is coming loose from the wood pull-down piece, so I need to do a little fixing. But, it’s pretty fantastic.
- We already have the dresser and we just ordered the Jenny Lind-style crib, courtesy of Ryan’s parents (in white, but I couldn’t find a good example for the picture above).
- As mentioned, we’ll repurpose the hutch my dad made for storage, use an old ladder that belonged to Ryan’s grandpa as blanket storage and reuse a wooden rocking chair from my childhood. I’m still not sure what’s getting painted and what’s staying natural at this point. I’ll figure it out once I see it in the room.
- The fabrics are mostly navy-ish blues and white, with a touch of red. I plan to use Dwell Studio Bella Porte in Twilight for curtains. (I’ll need curtains for the windows and closets.) I’m hoping to use polka dots for the bedding, with a splattering of some other fabrics. I have a white bed skirt that I’m hoping to repurpose for a crib skirt, ala Sarah at Five Camels.
There are still parts of the nursery that aren’t included above – most notably, a fabulous sign that’s yet to be determined to be purchased from my buddy Jen at Onion Grove Mercantile. (She’s awesome. Go buy a sign.) I’m leaning towards one of her amazing “Locally Grown” signs.
But that could change before this post is even published. Because I’m fickle.
And don’t even GET me started on paint colors. I may be back tomorrow sharing the samples on my wall. My generous mother in law offered to repaint the room for me and it looks like it’s getting done THIS WEEKEND. Which means I must pick a color soon.
(And as an aside, Presidents’ Day means the ever-popular Behr paint sale at Home Depot. It takes all my willpower not to purchase 40 gallons of paint. Just in case.)
What do you think?
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Lauren says
I love your nursery ideas. And I know that you will pull it off flawlessly and that it will look amazing! I am especially in love with that map. What a cool feature for a nursery!!!
Joi says
I love your plans, Kim! Can’t wait to see it all come together. : )
*claire* says
i absolutely love all of your ideas!! i think it fits right in with the rest of your house’s style! and what a perfect baby-yet-sophisticated look. can’t wait to see it done!
Leigh says
I love your ideas. I think the “grown locally” sign would be so fun for a baby’s room. Also…I had no idea about the paint sale….now I’ve decided I need to paint. I don’t really have anything to paint, but now I’m sure I need some.
Leigh @ Kesler Expressler says
Love the fabrics you’re eyeing. I’m a huge fan of that honeycomb fabric and wanted to get it in pink. I still might. Unfortunately a lot of my initial fabric choices got shot down by my husband for being too adult. Whatever! Your nursery is going to be fab – can’t wait to watch it come together!
Michael - Innkeeper says
seriously loving it all! great plans. I’m excited to see it come together.
And Ryan got you a pull down map on craigslist!? seriously!? wow. pure gold! love it.
Chelsea @ {twotwentyone} says
This little guy is going to have one heck of a room! I like your lack of theme. I think some people go over board with the theme/matchy-matchy stuff in nurseries.
Debbie @ My Little Mess says
I wanted to let you know that I tagged you in a post on my blog if you care to check it out. ๐
Sara @ Russet Street Reno says
Love it!!! I also got the white Jenny Lind crib, it’s so classic and CHEAP! Your colors are so perfect for a nursey.
Kelly @ Corner of Main says
It is going to be wonderful! What a lucky little guy. That map is awesome =)
vanessa says
I am loving all of your ideas. That locally grown sign is too cute!
Debbie @ My Little Mess says
I love the direction you are going for the room! I can see how those signs would be a tough choice. I think I like the sunshine one best but the locally grown one is great too.
I actually didn’t know Home Depot had a Presidents Day paint sale! I may have to do some sweet talking to my husband…
Courtney says
Love all the nursery ideas you have. Just had a thought regarding the signs you like — I fell in love with the “you are my sunshine” sign and decided to recreate the wheel and make my own. Here is what I ended up with – it was inexpensive, and fun to make and I love that it hangs in his room and I can say that I made it:
http://metzgerfamilylove.blogspot.com/2011/10/pinteresting-ideas-sign-for-es-room.html
Caroline says
Glad you had a good time in AZ. I think the nursery is going to be fabulous! I love the navy fabrics and am insanely jealous of your vintage map. I wish I had raided the high school storage rooms for outdated maps back when I was still teaching. And I agree that 5C’s crib skirt is awesome and can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Jennifer says
I think this sounds great! And I just want to say that if you don’t get it all finished and styled to blogland perfect before he arrives, don’t stress. Really. Babies truly don’t need much (place to sleep and rock, well-stocked diaper station, that’s really it) and you may find that as you get to know him, you have more ideas for filling out accessories. My little one is 13 months and I just know feel like her room is “her.” Love the navy and white bedding too – how cute would that be with pale pink walls for his baby sister down the road?!
Tara @ Tara Being Tara says
Our whole wedding was navy and cream, so I’m definitely partial to this color scheme!! I think that you’re allowed to enjoy the room if you’re going to be spending a lot of midnight hours rocking in that sweet chair!
2littlehooligans says
oh i love the ideas! yes the room is for you, but you deserve it! your bringing a little life into this world:)
Elz @House Pour says
Love it!! I’ve been loving the navy blues lately too. And Jenny Lind cribs are the best looking I think! ๐
Mrs. Adventure says
First I loved: Warning: This has become a nursery brain dump.
You had me laughing before the post started so thanks :o). I love your color scheme and can’t believe I’m saying this but – we are very similar.
I’m going to use our antique dresser and my mom is buying us a jenny lind crib :o) although my colors are green and a golden yellow for the time being. Shucks.
Mrs. Chic says
The nursery is going to be darling, great choice on the Jenny Lind crib classic and perfect! ๐ Can’t wait to see more ๐
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
i LOVE all of your inspiration rooms and your board! What great ideas! I think it will look so nice! My favorites are definitely the big, bold stripes everywhere.
Shanade says
How fun! I love the ideas. I’m in the process of doing something similar to this for my kiddos room.
Rachel says
This is gonna be goooooood! I’m so excited to see how it all comes out and what you end up going with!
Liz @ It's Great To Be Home says
LOVE! It looks perfect, and it’s so you! I love the vintage-y vibe (without being overly so), and the mix of wood and patterns will be awesome. Ha, yes, my mom pointed out that nurseries are kind of for the mom – but I’m cool with having an opinion while I can! ๐
Cindy @The Flipping Couple says
Totally love the navy and white. So excited to see it come to life! I’m glad you’re ordering the crib and that piece is done. I adore all those signs and am pretty sure yours is going to be amazing. AMAZING.
Thanks for the reminder about the upcoming paint sale! I love Behr, so maybe it’s time to bite the bullet on my gray walls. Ooooo, paint.
Emily says
Um, this is going to be fabulous! Baby W’s room and T’s “Big” room are going to have a similar “vintage, americana, nautical, but not really those things” theme, too, so I’m obviously a fan.
And is that first image from RH Baby not the most perfect room ever? Ahhhh, love it.
KatiePerk says
Love what you are loving! If we were having a boy I wanted to do navy, orange and kelly green! Paint colors are soo overwhelming!
DecorandtheDog says
I want to keep calling you baby…baby Arnold. But I would probably be annoyed by that so I’ll try to stop. ๐
Baby W is going to have one kick butt room!!
daisy says
Is there any way that room could end up anything but spectacular???
Love the signs. I used to sing “You are my sunshine” to my boy every night before bed for the longest time. We still sing it together and he’s 11!
Enjoy this moment in time!
Amanda @ Serenity Now says
I love your plan! It is cohesive without being “themey.” A friend from church gave us a Jenny Lind crib in white when I was pregnant with Michaela Byrd because Natalie was still using her crib. I love that crib in white! So classic looking. When we had Natalie, T was such a jerk (true story!) about the furniture and going with something “wood”, and I ended up with stuff I didn’t like. So the moral of the story is go with your gut and make the room look the way you want it to look! Or else you will still be ticked at your husband 6 years later. ๐
Shannon says
I love it all, its all very you and will flow with the rest of your house so well. I am in major need of the industrial toy basket thingie, it’d be poifect in Gabe’s room. Good luck on the paint sitch, sorry I’m no help with suggestions. I always walk into lowes, yeah 2 or 3 cards, hem and use for a few mins and pick one. Then live with it.