baby boy nursery – simplify the chaos

We’re still waiting on baby boy’s arrival but as of yesterday, his nursery is finished and ready!

This was the first time I’ve really been able to go for it with decorating a nursery space. With my previous pregnancies, we chose to be surprised with the baby’s sex at birth so this is the first time we’ve ever known in advance. We also feel confident that this is our final baby so there’s no need to try to keep things somewhat neutral for the future. It was really fun for me to get to plan and design a nursery with a specific little boy in mind and I’m so happy with how it turned out. My goal was to create a soothing place for lots of baby snuggles, late-night feeding sessions, and (hopefully!) restful nights for our sweet boy. I wanted a blend of graphic prints and organic elements in earth tones that mimic the gorgeous woods you can see right outside his window. [And speaking of window – this room only has one window, never gets in the direct path of the sun, and is always a little moody and dim. I love it in person, but it does make it challenging to photograph well – the room isn’t quite as dark as these photos make it seem!]

Obviously, the main focus of a nursery is the crib. I’ve had the same Ikea crib for all my babies and it has served us so well. I’ve also used this little cloud mobile in all three nurseries (although not always above the crib) and I love how sweet and whimsical it is! The dinosaur sheet was a clearance find from back when LJ was still using the crib, but I never actually used it for LJ. It wasn’t exactly what I was envisioning for this nursery, but it’s hard to argue for buying new when you have a nice option on hand already and I’m satisfied with this choice.

I decided to forgo one large print above the crib and instead create a gallery wall, specifically choosing to center it on the wall instead of over the crib. I wanted a collected look so I pulled together some digital download prints, a maternity photo, the baby’s sonogram, and a simple dried fern in a variety of frames, some new and some thrifted.

The chair we had in here previously was a handmedown La-z-boy from Justin’s grandma with a slipcover over it. It is comfortable and worked just fine, but when I spotted this dark mustard colored recliner with a grid pattern in a local thrift store, I just couldn’t resist! I knew it would be perfect in this room and I was right. The only downfall is that it doesn’t rock, but we are currently brainstorming solutions for finding a way to make it rock.

I asked Justin to create a few little book ledges for baby’s book collection and he made three for me following the same process as the ones we made in our secret nook. They turned out great and all of baby’s books fit!

I kept the same dresser from Vi’s nursery, but decided to re-paint it in Sherwin Williams Iron Ore and swap out the gold drawer pulls for matte black ones. I did a little mirror switcheroo and moved the round gold one that used to hang here into the kids’ room and brought in the black oval one from the kids’ room.

I had the giraffe-patterned changing pad cover from LJ’s nursery and I think its colors and whimsical pattern translated well to this nursery. A little basket full of diapers, wipes, and ointments and we have ourselves a changing station!

I enjoyed spending time on some of the little details throughout the room as well – repainting the little side table we thrifted a decade ago, hanging plaid blackout curtains high and wide, finding vintage brass wall planters on Etsy for a unique touch, filling a basket full of soft baby blankets. Throughout this room renovation, we’ve painted the window and updated trim, replaced the thin baseboards with a chunkier version, upgraded the old worn carpet with this soft greige, and installed a new matte black ceiling fan. I painted the doors and Justin re-installed them with new matte black hinges and handles. I painted the ceiling Sherwin Williams Shoji White and painted wooden outlet covers – it’s the little things that really finish off a room!

Now the only thing we need is one sweet baby boy to enjoy this room!

Sources

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Evergreen Fog in Eggshell

Ceiling Color: Sherwin Williams Shoji White in Flat

Crib – no longer sold (similar here)

Crib Sheet

Cloud Mobile

Curtain Rod

Plaid Blackout Curtains

Faux String of Pearls

Prints: Rainbow, Black and White Rabbits, Oak Tree

Everything else is either vintage, thrifted, old, or was a DIY project!

Today marks the start of another round of the One Room Challenge and I am excited to join in the fun once again! I’ll be honest, up until yesterday, I didn’t think I’d be participating this time around. But I have been feeling a growing nesting urge to start in on the nursery for baby boy and I decided this would give me a great opportunity to focus in on his room while I’m still in my second trimester sweet spot of having the energy and drive to tackle it!

I’m currently 21 weeks pregnant, and in this post a few weeks ago, I revealed that we’re having a boy and shared my initial thoughts of what to do with the nursery now that Vi has moved over to a shared room with LJ. At first, I just planned to do a few minimal updates, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go a little bigger. Justin and I feel confident that this will be our final pregnancy, and it’s the first time we’ve found out the baby’s sex before birth. Since it’s the first (and only) time I’ve had the opportunity to plan out all the nursery details in advance, I decided why not have some fun with it?

Here’s what the room looks like right at this very moment:

An absolute hot mess.

As Vi shifted over to LJ’s room, we had to move some furniture around and this room basically just became a catch-all storage spot until we can decide what we want to keep for the nursery and what we want to get rid of. Here’s what it looked like when it functioned as Vi’s nursery:

I have a feeling that this renovation is going to be one of those times where things slowly come together piece by piece, but I threw together a simple mood board with some of the initial ideas I have for the space. This just gives me an sense of the direction I want to head: lots of earth tones and graphic prints, with plants to bring in an organic feel and soften things up.

First things first, the pink scalloped wall needs to go. While it is super cute, it was really done as a simple solution to update the room and move it away from feeling like a sterile white box for Vi. This week, my plan is to prep and paint all the walls (99% sure I’m going to go with Sherwin Williams Evergreen Fog). I’m also strongly considering adding a ceiling treatment in the same color – perhaps something similar to the planking we did on the ceiling in the office? We’ll see!

I’ll be sharing my real time progress over on Instagram, so be sure to follow along there if you want more frequent updates. You can also check out all the other ORC participants here – lots of fun projects happening this time around!

Tag: baby boy nursery

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