Skip to Content

Baby Ella’s Gender Neutral Bird Themed Nursery

Description

I wanted a nursery for our baby girl that would be largely gender neutral. Neither my husband nor I care for pink very much, and we figured as long as she doesn't care, and we'll be the ones spending a ton of time in the room looking around, it might as well look how we want it to!  She'll be into pink soon enough, despite our best efforts, we're told! In the meantime, no girlie-girls here!

Design Inspiration

I found and fell in love with the tree decals early on. They come in lots of different colors and were the main inspiration for the nursery. Finding the right bedding came next and took us forever to decide on! It was hard to find one we both really liked! But once we did, everything else fell into place.

Decorating Style

I don't know that I really have a decorating style, or that I would know what it's called if I do! I like things that are timeless...but I also love modern! Some have said our nursery has a vintage quality though. So...Eclectic? Truly, I have no idea!

Project Details

Paint: Benjamin Moore: clinton brown & pismo dunes

Tree Decal: Etsy - designedDESIGNER - (the guardian owl above the closet came as a free sample with our order) When we painted the nursery, we did not choose the completely matte paint, but rather decided to go up a level of "shine" to make the walls easier to clean, just in case. Alas, the decals don't stick so well to that. They'll stay up for a few weeks, but then some start to peel. If you go with walls that aren't totally matte, I recommend using wallpaper paste with the decals...Also, while putting up each decal was relatively easy, because there are so many trees, leaves, & birds, it takes a LONG time. Be prepared, and don't leave this until you're already too big to move around easily as we did!!

Window Shade: Hunter Douglas - Vignette Roman Shades, black out, Traditional 6" Fold in Drake, Hickory

Shelves: Pottery Barn, Holman 3" ledge, unfinished, 2' length

White Owl Stuffed Animal on ledge: Grand Rabbit's Toy Shoppe (the green one was a gift, no idea where it came from...)

Picture Frame: Pier 1 - Savannah Collage Frame

White Side Table: Pier 1 - Anywhere Pedestal Table

Floor Lamp: Lowe's - Portfolio 72 1/4" 3-way Antique Bronze Torchiere Floor Lamp

Recliner/Glider: Dutailier Cadenza - NOT cheap, but so comfortable and it looks like a regular piece of furniture so it should have a life outside the nursery one day!

Pillow on Glider: Bed, Bath & Beyond, Julia Pleat Oblong Rust Toss Pillow - Although the cover on our pillow was handmade by my mother-in-law, the original cover would have matched great too!

Owl Hamper/Canvas Bin: The Container Store, 3 Sprouts - The 3 Sprouts website has lots of different animals and other cute bins and what-not...

Rug: Crate & Barrel, Baxter Marigold 4x6

Bedding: Handmade by my mother-in-law, fabric from Hawthorne Threads, most of it from the Ty Pennington collection - The main brown fabric with the birds and orange flowers that you see in the bedskirt, teething guard, and pillow cover is called Foliage in Charcoal, but I don't see it on their site anymore...

Mobile: Wimmer-Ferguson Stim Mobile - No, it's not pretty, but it's what's best for baby based on research. They can see high contrast, simple patterns the best. This one also has interchangeable cards, and ones that face downward, so baby can see them better and you can swap them out when she/he gets bored. I love some of the cool, custom owl/bird ones I've seen on Etsy, but I figure, baby would only see the bottom sliver of the bird from her point of view and they cost $200-300 -- too much for something you can only use for a few months and isn't best for baby anyway!

Crib & Changing Table: Purchased from a friend who got them through Babies R Us a few years ago... I don't see it there now, but it's a cherry finish.

Basket on Changing Table: Target, can't find the same ones online though...

Closet Drawers: The Container Store, Elfa

Orange & Beige Wicker Milk Crates in closet: Target - I can't find them online, and I think they're not making them anymore, as I was told I got the last 2 in the store and other stores don't have them at all. However, there were still a few blue and beige ones when I bought mine...

Switch Plate Cover: Lowes, allen + roth 1-Gang Oil Rubbed Bronze Decorator Rocker Metal Wall Plate

Favorite Items

My favorite item is the bedding our mother-in-law sewed for us. I love the fabrics and colors! A close runner up is definitely the Glider/Recliner, followed by the shelves. I love the idea of using ledges that allow you to easily display picture books and if your nursery is small like ours, mounting them on the wall doesn't take up any floor space!

I'm also fond of the lamp. It was relatively cheap and matches perfectly!

The tree decals would be at the top of my list if they only stuck better! But I do love how they look!

Advice

Start with the nursery bedding before choosing everything else, especially if you have to buy premade. It's much easier to match to sheets than vice versa! Also pay attention to what colors are "in" at the moment, it makes finding coordinating items MUCH easier. We got lucky, as I didn't think to do that, but orange is pretty popular right now!

Andressa

Wednesday 1st of May 2013

I like the warm, earthy colors. The only downside to using these shades is that they make the room look dark.