Skip to Content

Modern Travel-Inspired Nursery

My husband and I both love to travel. In fact, we met each other on a trip to Paris. So even though most of my pregnancy was during a global pandemic that halted all our trips, our greatest wish for our son is that he know the value of traveling to experience new cultures, meet new people, and gain new perspectives. The nursery we created for his arrival is inspired by that idea.
The recliner/rocker is my favorite spot to sit with our newborn baby boy, telling him stories and singing our favorite songs. I also love the huge dresser that stores absolutely everything — we don’t even have a closet in this room! We framed the vintage postcards of places we’ve been together that were used as table numbers at our wedding.

Beckett’s Adventure Nursery

When we found out we were having another baby boy I immediately knew I wanted a mountain wall! That is where my inspiration began. I had so much fun planning and putting together this nursery. Some of my favorite parts of this nursery are items used from our oldest son’s nursery! I feel like the items look very different in the space, and it allowed me to spend less money in the end! It goes to show that though the style of the nursery may be different, some of the items can be reused in different ways to create a completely different look!

Baby G’s Adventure Nursery

As soon as we found out we were having a baby boy, my husband got to work on Graham’s nursery.  The adventure/outdoors theme wasn’t planned, but rather evolved naturally from the decor we fell in love with.  Our little guy was premature has spent a month in the NICU, and we have learned that life truly is an adventure.  It is not necessarily something that awaits us, but rather is always around us.
We had previously painted the room a blue-gray (Sherwin Williams Evening Shadow).  We added mostly gray and navy elements, with small bursts of earthy colors throughout.  Many DIY elements were incorporated to make the space unique.  The outdoor adventure canvases were hand painted by my husband, he also repainted the glider (a Craigslist steal), and made the arrows.  We purchased the letters for his name, mobile, changing pad cover, and cushions for the glider from a handful of incredibly talented Etsy sellers.  Finally, the pieces his gallery wall came almost entirely from Hobby Lobby, while his furniture and curtains are from Target.
 
 

Adventure Awaits Nursery

I cannot believe that baby Ollie is already here. I took these photos about a week or so back but with all of the activity around our house, I never shared them with you! I really had a certain look I wanted for his room in mind and I am so happy with the way everything turned out. I specifically wanted to incorporate travel and adventure aspects along with navy and mint into the color scheme.
Our first purchase for the nursery was the “Adventures Awaits” sign from Hobby Lobby. Pairing that with Oh Joy!’s crib bedding and a few extras from some of my baby showers, Ollie’s nursery came together so simply! I cannot wait to highlight for you our amazing pegboard that Dusty built for the nursery. Inspired by Shanty2Chic, it turned out perfect.
One of my favorite pieces of the nursery is this Peter Pan quote by Ever N After, an Etsy shop that I stumbled upon during my pregnancy and fell in love. Each design is handmade and made to order. Brittany’s wooden signs are beautiful hand lettered calligraphy on stained wood and she never uses any stencils! How talented!!
The quote “Little boys should never be sent to bed, they always wake up a day older” in Peter Pan allowed me to have a bit of Disney woven into Ollie’s nursery without having a Disney-fied room. I sprinkled a few other Disney items throughout including a Oliver & Company Oliver plush toy, Disney Mouseketeer hat, and Mickey and Minnie, of course. However, Brittany’s rustic wooden sign is by far my favorite. It is truly something that you cannot get from a store.

Mountain Adventure Nursery

When my husband and I found out we were going to have a baby, we immediately started looking for nursery ideas on Pinterest. We had DIYed most of our wedding decor and stationary, so it was only a natural progression that we would DIY our baby’s nursery! We were committed to not finding out the gender before the baby was born, so we’d need a design that could work for a boy or a girl.
After browsing through a plethora of pictures, we decided on a theme of “adventure.” We wanted it to embrace the feeling of the movie “Up” without it being “Up” themed. We had a book about the art of the movie and started with that when choosing a color palette for our endeavor. We wanted the room to be bright and cheerful, above all other things.
After painting all the walls with a fresh coat of sky blue, we started by painting a mural of mountains on the wall that we were going to put the crib against. My husband sketched the mountains on the wall in pencil and then I went back with a small brush and painted the detailed sections. Next up was replacing the old carpet with hardwood floors and an amazing rug I found online. We painted an old dresser from my childhood with ombre yellow paint and some fun new glass knobs. Model hot air balloons were hung from the ceiling above the crib to give the impression that they were flying high above the mountains. The finishing touches were pictures on the walls and a pegboard station above the changing table to make changing diapers a breeze!

Adventurer’s Dream Nursery

I started this project because I never had a chance to design a room for Hudson since we moved two weeks after he was born and now we live in a place that doesn’t have any shopping and is nearly impossible to get furniture shipped in. But thanks to the help from several beautiful companies we were able to make his room come to life! I was inspired by my son’s need for adventure. He always wants to explore new things and is eager to learn so I wanted to create a room for him that stimulated his growing brain. The goal was to include as many shapes and letters as possible with a little splash of color.
It was a bit difficult not being able to see the products in person before committing to them (shipping here isn’t easy so I didn’t even want to think about returns) but amongst all of the craziness my interior design skills blossomed and I created a room I will forever be obsessed with. I was very patient with my choices and I think that had a lot to do with it’s success. It took about two months total to complete the room but a lot of that was spent waiting for products to arrive. The crib and wallpaper were the first two pieces to arrive which was super encouraging because they both looked fantastic together! Everything else was added as it came and eventually we got this finished masterpiece ;)
My husband built the frames, shelves and dresser which sparked an idea and lead us to deciding we wanted to start our own wood shop so stay tuned for that! I also DIYed the black felt bunting banner that is hanging next to his dresser. I’m not the best DIYer but I am really happy with how it turned out. I mean, it wasn’t very complicated or anything but still I’m very proud haha!
If I were to give anybody tips or advice on creating a space for their children I would say get your inspiration from watching them. It was the best feeling ever watching Hudsons eyes light up when he walked into his finished room. I can tell he absolutely loves it. Also, be patient. Don’t try to rush it! I was on a bit of a schedule so I ordered everything as quickly as possible once I decided on what I wanted but otherwise I would have taken my time and slowly added pieces that I found overtime. It doesn’t have to be perfect right away.