We welcomed our little boy to the world on March 13th, and I’ve been working on a plan for his room for quite some time. Is it nearly done? Obviously not. But you know what? Newborns can’t see past about 14 inches away for the first little while, so he’ll have NO IDEA that his nursery isn’t complete. Plus, he’ll be sleeping in our room for the first few months, so that gives us plenty of time to finesse things anyhow.
Right away people asked us what the theme for his room would be- but I didn’t really think in terms of theme. I didn’t want anything to feel too babyish- that phase seems so temporary, so I was hoping to incorporate a lot of elements that would feel more timeless and could grow up with him. I call that theme “Practical/Cheap Modern Hippie”.
Of course, the VERY FIRST THING we purchased for our son was this ridiculous shark from Ikea when we went on a “scoping things out” mission. It was the most absurd checkout of my life- we stocked up on my favorite apple candles and this bad boy. The cashier said “So…. three candles and a shark?” YES, SIR. THAT IS OUR REASONABLE ADULT PURCHASE.
Giant shark aside, the basics of this room were about creating a nice neutral palette with some texture, and then we could add in some more fun and color with the accents. We’re really lucky to have beautiful wood floors as our base, and we already had the awesome white fan (which doesn’t seem to be available at Home Depot anymore, which I find DEVASTATING, since it was great and inexpensive and I should have bought another one for the office while I had the chance), and Sherwin Williams Silverplate (at 70% I believe… I’ve lost track of our high-maintenance paint tendencies) on the walls, but I was dying to add in a fun texture, and I feel like we hit the jackpot with this removable wallpaper from Target. It was a fun experiment in hanging paper for the first time, and I think we did a great job! It helps that this paper is removable and repositionable, so I found it very user friendly. We added it just to the crib wall, since that’s the one you see from the door, and it’s such a nice punch of something a little different. (Fun side note: we realized that the wall is about 2″ higher on the right side, or perhaps the floor is 2″ lower… so if you look closely you can tell that the pattern extends a bit on that end. Yay old houses!)
Continuing that tonal texture, I picked up these super affordable draperies at Ikea, and I think they’re just perfect. This was also the first time I’ve bought drapery hardware at Ikea, and I have to say that I am SUPER IMPRESSED with the quality. We used this rod and these rings, and I love the dark grey color they come in. This room only has one small window that faces south and doesn’t get a ton of light, so I wasn’t terribly concerned about light-blocking draperies. I love the grey and white stripe for a little bit of subtle pattern and interest.
For the big furniture, we were gifted this great classic crib, and this awesome chair. (I couldn’t find our exact version online, they may have discontinued that cushion style) I know a lot of people use rockers or gliders, but we found this to be the most comfortable chair that we tested, and it has a nice little bit of bounce. I think the caramel tufted leather is a sophisticated detail that makes this feel less like a nursery chair too. We also have two heirloom pieces built by Ben’s grandfather- a small table that’s going under the window and a nice big bookcase, and they’re both very similar tones to our wood floors.
I struggled a bit a lot with picking a dresser for this room. I was hoping to land an awesome vintage one from Craigslist or the Facebook Marketplace, but everything cool was still way $$$$, and that just wasn’t in the plan. I’m a big believer in sticking to a budget, so it was a little challenging to find the piece that would work well here. The dresser is going to function as the changing table as well, so I had some size parameters that were really important to suit that function. Over dinner a few weeks ago, some of our friends ROCKED MY WORLD by telling us about the Pottery Barn factory outlet in Atlanta- basically discounts on discounts on discounts. So we popped online and found this bad boy and it was PERFECT. I love that it’s navy, just the right size, and has the mixed open storage and drawers. However, we couldn’t find it at the factory outlet (they restock every week, but this is a really popular item, especially in navy). And y’all, there’s no way I’m paying the original $899 price. Or even the $450 outlet price. I can almost swallow the $350 factory outlet price, so we had them put our names on a list in case one showed up, but then we decided we’d just build our own version. Because of course. This way we get to make it to our exact wishes, and baby M will have something cool that his parents built just for him. Ben has been working on this over the past week, and he has absolutely KILLED IT. Now I just have to put the finishing touches on it, and I’m pumped. We’re going to stick with navy for the main body, but do white drawer fronts for a little bit of contrast, and to make it slightly more modern. I’m not 100% on the hardware style yet, but that’ll be the last little bit anyway.
As soon as i spotted it, I snagged this ottoman and it may be my favorite thing in the room. I like that the tufting echoes the lounge chair without being too matchy. In person the color is really gorgeous and vibrant, and the height works perfectly as a footstool with the chair.
Another thing that always takes me a while are rugs. They just feel like such a big commitment. They cover so much of a room, and really set the tone, and they can be expensive, so it’s some work to find the right one. Because I was keeping the major finishes pretty neutral, I wanted the rug to be colorful and fun, but again, not too childish. Some options that I liked were this Project 62 geometric one, and this wacky bohemian option, but I wasn’t sold that either were just right (plus I’m pretty sure Ben actively hated that 2nd one, but he was nice about it). But I think I found the perfect choice with this colorful woven chevron. I know it’s chevron and that’s so trendy and over, but the pattern is really subtle, and it’s more about the texture and color variety. Since we’re not sticking to a specific blue palette, I like that it has a ton of fun shades of blue and green, which I think will really bring the whole room together. I also can’t get over the fact that it’s $111 for an 8×10 rug. TAKE MY MONEY TARGET! *In person, this rug is much more multicolored than it looks in the image, I wouldn’t even call it a “green” colorway so much as straight-up multicolored. While it wasn’t what I was expecting, I think it looks really cute in the room, and it definitely makes the whole space feel finished. I would consider it a more babyish style, however, with all the colors.
To play off the colors in the rug, I was totally inspired by this bright door from Studio DIY. I hadn’t really thought of painting our interior doors before, but I think this is such a fun room to do it in. The basis of this room is so neutral that I think it can handle something bold like that. I’d like to pick a color from the rug that plays nicely with all the navy we’ll have going on.
I think that layered lighting will be really nice in this space, and I’m very much in love with this mint table lamp for the table next to the nursing chair. I’ll have Ben add a dimmer so the light can be low for late-night feedings, but I think it will be so nice having something there. I’m also kind of obsessed with this moon light that we got from Urban Outfitters that I think is so fun near the dresser. Our friends have a little guy who’s just about 2 months older than our baby, and he LOVES the little twinkle lights they’ve set up by his changing area.
Also, in that corner, I’d love to incorporate some of our “hippie” artwork, including this pisces print, this aquamarine print and a moon phase DIY I have planned that will look similar to this wall hanging from Etsy. I also have several really colorful pieces from some local artists that will bring a lot of punch to the wall above the dresser.
So there isn’t a theme so much as a collection of things that we love and that we hope our little guy will love: ocean life, animals, astrology, and of course a little bit of Viking flair. We were gifted an awesome sailboat mobile, and I paired it with a blue tapestry that I stole from our master bathroom because I felt like it looked like the boats are sailing on a stormy sea. Am I the only one that sees it? Maybe. But I’m feeling it.
Even though we only have about 75% of the elements in place, the room is feeling really good (and the baby has no idea it’s a little unfinished :)) I can’t wait to get the dresser finished, do a little organizing, maybe? paint the doors, finish some DIY artwork, and show you my new favorite room in our house!
