My favorite room in our house is easily Owen’s nursery. I planned it out many months before his arrival and Drew helped make my dream a reality. While I wasn’t able to do as much as I would have liked, it was such a fun process creating this space for our family – mainly for me because Owen didn’t even sleep in there for the first month.
The Vision
I’ve used PowerPoint to “vision board” a few rooms in our home to help visualize the space with things we already have and potential new pieces. It has been super helpful to see how the different variations of a room would look without spending any money. So I began “designing” Owen’s nursery with the key pieces and came up with the vision board:
This is the vision I decided to use as my inspiration for Owen’s nursery! I typically start with the wall color when I design my rooms, but for this project, I started with the wallpaper. I landed on this Rifle Paper Co. Willowberry peel-and-stick wallpaper in the Emerald color. I knew I wanted a “neutral” color that 1) felt warm and cozy, 2) could be used for any gender baby, and 3) work if/when we converted this room into a non-nursery room. Once I picked out the wallpaper, I made selections of all other elements of the room based on that, including the paint color.
Next comes the fun part – filling the board with items I already had (ie. 3-tiered cart, round mirror, and lamps) and playing with new items (ie. everything else). I crop each photo and use the “Remove background” functionality within PowerPoint to place each item on the board. I try to layer each item on top of each other to try and mimic how it would “feel” to be in the room. A lot of research goes into this part to find pieces that are cute and affordable, because it is a baby nursery after all. Drew and I DIY’d everything in the nursery except preparing the wall for wallpaper (ie. skim coating), so I feel very proud of this room and am very happy with the results!
The Final Nursery
All photos were taken by the amazing Allyn of Pear and Grace Photography.
The Sources
The Room
- Wallpaper – in Emerald
- Paint – in Greener Pastures in Flat/Matte finish
- Beadboard
- Beadboard chair rail and moulding
The Furniture
- Crib – Babyletto Gelato in Natural Walnut and Gold Feet
- Crib mattress
- Crib sheets – in Spelt
- Glider – in Natural Oat
- Dresser – We had the Idanas series 6-drawer dresser but that’s no longer sold in the US. Here’s a similar one.
The Details
- 3 tan colored frames – in Light beige
- White dragon – Snow Dragon in Large
- Woven basket – from Home Goods
- Brown frame – 11×14″ matted to 8×10″
- Schnauzer print – gifted by my sister and brother-in-law
- Floor lamp
- Side table – from Facebook Marketplace
- Checkered blanket – in Camel & white
- Curtain rod
- Blackout curtains – in Thatched Tan
- Blackout Roman shade – Custom from TwoPages in Ivory CL12
- Circle mirror – gifted but here’s a similar one.
- Touch lamp – in crystal & gold
- Baskets under dresser
- Hanging shelves – DIY spice racks turned upside down and stained
- Bat stuffie – purchased in Salem, MA
- Wooden hangers
- Wall bookshelf (not pictured) – from Facebook Marketplace in walnut but here’s the same one in white.
- Dragon carving – Hand carved by Drew’s dad
- All other blankets – Handmade and gifted by family and friends
BONUS: Owen’s Outfits
- Dinosaur overalls
- Striped 2-piece set – Old Navy
- Blue romper – Old Navy
- Green button-down – in Olive Through This
- Striped jumpsuit with hat – in Green/White
- Both pairs of shoes – Old Navy
I’m so excited to see Owen grow in this room and hope he loves it as much as we do. It was a labor of love (pun intended) but fun to see it all come to life.
Vivian
