In 3 months my husband and I will be welcoming a new addition to our 2-person and 1 four-legged family, we are to say the least, very excited. I find that I am humbled a little more everyday by the experience and the anticipation of carrying a child and bringing him home this coming July.
So, 3 months and counting, and there is still much to do in terms of getting the nursery ready. I already have most of the furnishings but the ambience/mood of the room isn't quite there yet and this I find to be the most important aspect, for me anyway. I know I love the color yellow, the happiness of the color draws me to it when thinking of the nursery. I know I want the nursery to be comfortable, lived-in yet organized and tidy. I want the nursery to exude happiness, love and fun.
Time to gather samples for ideas and of course there's no better way to do that than hitting the web! Here are a few choice images I chose from the many that I gathered.
THE MOOD
The range of ambience or mood that can be created for your nursery is much wider than you can imagine. These days new parents are creating nurseries for their pint-sized selves that you wouldn't even be able to imagine. I found this to be quite inspiring and it made me realize how much fun it's going to be to create an atmosphere for my child to grow up in. I ran into many images of the 'traditional' nursery settings, but then there were romantic settings full of chandeliers and canopied cribs in white and pastel pinks, there were more contemporary settings (as seen pictured above) where the room exudes comfort and a lived-in quality. There were clearly unique nurseries filled with wood accents that screamed modern country and even hipster styles. There were plain modern nurseries and simple chic nurseries, they were all beautiful and of course inspiring to look at.
Hipster! |
Modern country |
Modern |
So chic |
FOR COLOR
A really popular pairing for nursery colors was a hue of blue or teal paired with hues of yellow. I found the pairing to be quite please (as you can see by the images above and below). Using pastels or not the two colors bring out airiness, happiness and a fun little spunk that can be used for either boys' or girls' nurseries.
The more 'now' or contemporary colors used for nurseries were darker colors paired with white and accented with a fun pop of color (yellow or orange is used in the images above and below). While most at some point in time way back when, would have said "no no not for a nursery" to these darker 'moodier' colors: black and dark gray, I actually found them to be yes, untraditional, but unique and still fun and completely color appropriate for a nursery. Just goes to show that with the proper decor and accent colors you really can make any color work for a nursery.
WALL ART
Popular amongst many of the nurseries I came across were stenciled trees around the crib, and there is quite a variety of tree stencils to pick from. However, not only do you have a variety of stencil trees to pick from but it is also probably one of the most economical ways to go in terms of wall art.
The ABC wall |
Then of course there were other wall art/decors that I found worthy of posting, all of them unique, interesting, fun, smart and exuding a particular style not all that traditional of nurseries and yet inspiring to push us to think beyond traditional nursery settings.
The folky frames and pictures |
The UNpainted tree wall art |
THE CRIB
The crib is probably the most important furnishing in the nursery, for obvious reasons, and there are, like with everything else, so many to choose from. But regardless of whether you opt for a vintage crib, a metal crib, a wood crib, a contemporary crib, a traditional crib &tc the decor that surrounds it will ultimately give it the final say. I found a couple of crib images that I found worth talking about, 1. The canopied crib. A smart way to keep out the light when your baby is taking a nap, and of course, it looks absolutely darling. And, 2. The vintage crib. I found that the vintage-styled cribs exudes the most character by itself without even the help of surrounding decor, which means that going for a minimal styled nursery is easily possible, and also, the vintage crib is simply adorable.
OTHER IDEAS TO BE CONSIDERED
Other smart and fun ideas to be considered are the DIY mobiles. I've personally really been wanting to make my own moible but found the idea of doing it myself (which of course will be ideal in terms of budget and making it personalized) a little scary, however after seeing a few simple mobile designs I've realized that it will be much easier than I imagined (more on this DIY mobile in a later post!).
A second idea that I really loved in a couple of nurseries that I came across was the kiddie bookshelf, where the books are leaned up against the wall for easy picking... and a smart, colorful way to fill a large blank wall. As I am an avid reader and hope that my child too will love to read, I think yes, I'm definitely doing this one!