I’ve been contemplating nursery design for a couple of years now and started on it when we originally repainted our home. We always knew this would be a baby’s room and regardless of gender, we knew we would continue with the same grey paint color as the rest of our home with a navy blue accent wall similar to other spaces in the house.
I figured if we found out we were having a boy, I would accent the room with greys and blues and if we were having a girl, I would use blush pinks to accent the space. Well, we’re having a girl and I am so excited to finally be sharing our baby girl’s nursery with you!
Overall Design, Style & Feel
While this was an opportunity to go full-on princess pink crazy in a space, I really didn’t want to do that. As girly as I tend to be, I don’t lean overtly feminine. What I mean by this is that I like pink accents and feminine touches in a space, but nothing over the top. Most of our home is designed with a modern-contemporary casual-elegant feel that mixes scandi, mid-century and modern styles and I wanted to take the same approach with the nursery.
More Design Than Theme
Many like to start with a “theme” for a nursery and go from there. If I had to say that we had a theme, it would be Mid-Century-Modern meets Kate Spade with accents of woodland creatures (is that even a thing?). I wanted elegant design, feminine touches and soft accents that would only make sense in a nursery. The Kate Spade accessories are all me whereas the cute woodland creatures are all my husband (he has an Outdoorsman YouTube Channel!).
Many were surprised at some of the design choices that we made, but I’m excited by them! I’m going to take you through each selection so you can see how we came to the final look for the room and pulled everything together. Don’t worry – there’s a source list below so you can shop everything shown as well!
Furniture Choices
The Blue Chair:
One Piece to Inspire It all
For whatever reason, Hattie’s blue chair that used to be in my office was what inspired much of the space. It’s classic lines and walnut, mid-century modern legs and blue upholstery was exactly what I wanted to focus the room around. The chair is oversized (not quite a chair-and-a-half) and so that gives me space to sit with baby (and feed) with Hattie next to me so she feels included as well.
If we decide down the road that a glider makes more functional sense, a kit can be purchased to convert this chair to a glider and then back again after we’ve moved on from that phase.
My first pink item for the space was this little velvet ottoman! This footstool is durable and comfy, plus it adds an extra seat in the space!
A side table was a must here, too. I wanted a place for a glass of water, maybe my phone and a small lamp to provide me with alternate light sources in the room. I went with a tray-top table so that if bumped in the night, nothing would slide off. My husband painted the bases of the legs as they were originally golden oak and that didn’t fit in the space.
We also had to include this framed photo of Hattie as a puppy. Its soft lighting and setting lent itself perfectly to the space! I knew as soon as I had it printed that a nursery was the best place to hang it.
The Crib
Ah, the main piece of the puzzle. Searching for baby’s crib felt like shopping for a wedding dress. I always thought I had something specific in mind and then when it came down to it, “the one” was something entirely different! We opted for a walnut-stained wood crib with clean, classic lines and flared mid-century modern legs (inspired by the blue chair!).
This gender-neutral crib was made more feminine with the polkadot crib skirt and bedding choices. Even though we’re having a girl I’ve still been leaning towards more gender-neutral bedding and shades of blue for the room.
The Dresser + Change Table
This dresser is in more Nursery Design Pinterest Boards than I can count! It’s solid wood, provides plenty of storage and is a nice height so you aren’t straining your back when changing baby. For me, it was about two things – storage and style. The semi-gloss white paint helps to brighten the space and the wide top allows room for a change table tray with enough space for anything else you might need!
Although a change table tray isn’t required, I like how it makes the space look tidier. To keep the dresser from looking like every other Pinterest photo, we opted to swap out the drawer hardware that came with it to these more feminine gold knobs.
The mini gallery wall of watercolour woodland friends felt like the right artwork for the space. The soft colour and texture of the animals helps maintain the elegance of the space while still allowing it to be a nursery.
The Bookshelf
The bookshelf was one of the more difficult pieces for me to source, mainly because I couldn’t make a decision on what I wanted. I didn’t want to add any additional walnut pieces to the space (and make it too dark) and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go with another bright white piece of furniture either. I didn’t want anything too heavy and tall, but I also wanted enough shelf space to house a decent library.
When I came across this pink bookshelf with gold trimmed legs, I knew it was the one! The style fit the Mid-Century feel fo the other furniture, the design was fun and a bit whimsical and the colours were right. It’s pink without being ‘too-pink’ and the gold trimmed legs match the dresser hardware and Kate Spade polkadot accent pieces.
‘Shelfie’ style is always important to me. I never want a bookcase to only house books when things can be displayed in a much nicer way. In addition to baby’s first library, I added some small stuffed animals, framed photos, accent boxes, pieces from our travels over the years (i.e. these Hello Kitty dolls from Japan!) as well as an additional nightlight in the shape of an owl.
Hattie’s Space
My first born child is a fur baby and I couldn’t forget about her when decorating this space in our home. Before we began nursery preparations, she would go into the room and play with her toys for some quiet alone time (funny dog, I know!). When we moved her blue chair up from my office, she was elated – like we were finally finishing her room for her.
One of the first things we added to the nursery was a toy box that housed a few of Hattie’s things. She loves to go into the space and play with her toys or chew a bone on the cushy rug. We also placed a dog bed with cushions and a blanket in the corner next to the crib. This gives her a comfy space to lay down near the baby if she wants to.
Window Treatments
Window treatments can be some of the most challenging design items in a space, or at least they are for me. The two windows in the nursery already had wood-slat blinds that matched the casings but I wanted something a little extra to add the design that the corner needed.
Rather than curtains, I opted for custom ribbon-trimmed Roman-style shades. These gorgeous shades accomplished a few things in the space: The white fabric adds an element of brightness to the dark corner and the navy blue ribbon trim ties in perfectly with the accent wall. I wasn’t sure that I wanted the bulk of curtains or the risk of baby tugging on them when she got more mobile so shades kept that from being an issue.
Although these shades are a gorgeous bright white, they are full 100% blackout! When they are closed, this space is dark as night! I wanted to be sure that I got these shades just right, so I went the custom route with Blinds Galore. I was able to choose everything that I wanted online but was also able to have a phone conversation with a design consultant prior to finalizing my order to be sure that I had everything just right. Once the blinds arrived, they were incredibly easy to install.
The Closet
When we originally built our home (over 10 years ago), we outfitted this walk-in-closet with some pretty basic wire shelving. When we made the decision to repaint a couple of years ago, we took that shelving out and put in an IKEA closet.
This closet system has allowed us to add modular storage such as hanging bars at different heights, drawers, pull-out trays and shelves.
Because of the modular nature of this product lineup, we can move the parts around as baby grows and her needs change. We also added a mirror helped to make the space feel a bit larger and more complete.
All The Extras
There are always those little ‘extra’ touches that make a space great. Because this is a nursery and you’re only little once, we wanted to add a few touches of whimsy. Some of these include the laundry hamper with the appliqué fox detail, the painted tin with bears on it, the fox-shaped coasters and pewter hooks in the shape of airplanes.
Source List:
Crib: Babyletto ‘Peggy’ Crib in Walnut, buybuy BABY Canada
Dresser: HEMNES 8-Drawer Dresser in White, IKEA Canada
Dresser Hardware: Project62 Knobs, Target
Change Table Tray: DaVinci Removable Universal Changing Tray, buybuy BABY Canada
Artwork: Woodland Animal Watercolour Art Prints by Susan Windsor, Etsy
Frames: RIBBA in White, IKEA Canada
Book Shelf: Crowley Standard Bookcase by George Oliver in Blush Pink, Wayfair.ca
Owl Nightlight: NLA, Urban Barn
Chair: NLA, Urban Barn
Side Table: Acevedo Side Table by Mercury Row, Wayfair.ca
Ottoman: Livia Velvet Ottoman in Pink, Structube
Table Lamp: Project62 Montreal Wren Small Lamp in Blush, Target
Coasters: Fox Shaped Felt Coasters, La Maison Simons
Window Treatments: Custom, BlindsGalore.ca
Closet System: PAX Wardrobe System, IKEA Canada
Rug: nuLoom Moroccan Trellis Shag Rug, Overstock.ca
Hamper: Fox Laundry Hamper by Sweet Jojo Designs, buybuy BABY Canada
Diaper Pail: UBBI Diaper Pail in Chevron, buybuy BABY Canada
Dog Bed: HomeSense Canada
Throw Pillows: GURLI Cushion Covers in Light Pink, IKEA Canada
