“Roots & Wings” Baby Olivia Grace

Description

Baby Olivia's room is a tiny Canadian nursery in Shanghai. The 'Roots & Wings' owl canvas is a gift painted by mama. A little 'Woodlands' felt mobile hangs over the crib, while the initials of baby's name are teamed with tiny animals & paper lanterns spin over the change table.

Design Inspiration

The colour inspiration (chocolate, tangerine, lime & turquoise) came from a baby shower invitation I saw online...BEAUTIFUL combination for a baby boy or girl.

Since the baby was due in the late Fall, I loved brown and orange, but the lime and turquoise really added the spunk I was looking for. The rest of the room came together after the colours were chosen. Animals are a popular choice for children, but I was aiming for something a little different, so we went with a Woodlands animal theme (owls, hedgehogs, fawn's, foxes). This also helped us bring a bit of our native Canada to our tempoary home in China.

Decorating Style

When it comes to childrens interiors, nuseries included, definitely bold colours and strong outlines. For Olivia's nusery, I wanted a neutral background with a consistant colour scheme for the crib painting and decor. In hindsight, I could have painted the walls a warm tangerine, but the chocolate brown is very calming.

Project Details

Collect your favourite childrens books, greeting cards, magazine cut-outs...basically anything that inspires you. Etsy is a great resource for creative ideas and there are tons of savvy moms blogs & online shops (love felt crafts & artists paintings from all corners of the globe.)

Favorite Items

The painting is special to me because I have made a career painting childrens murals and have waited many years to create one for my own baby. Every stroke I anticipated the birth of Olivia:)

Advice

Plan a bit out on an inspiration board. Even if you do not consider yourself artistic/creative..we all have an eye for what we like. Collect pictures. Collect creative people you know to help you with different parts of the project (woodworkers? painters? crafters?) Have as much as you can handmade to create a nursery of pieces that can be passed on.