When we found out I was pregnant with our first child, we decided immediately that we didn’t want to find out the gender. Who cares!? We were so happy to finally be parents that it could have come out looking like an alien and we would have been perfectly happy! So we kept things neutral in the nursery…I found bedding that was “fine” and went ahead and set everything up with brown and green and monkeys. It was cute…very “baby-ish” and was going to work whether Baby #1 was a boy or girl…
Fast-forward six years…we already had a daughter and a son and were expecting Baby #3. Again, we did not want to find out the gender. Since the older two kiddos were pretty settled into their spaces, we decided to turn our guest bedroom into the nursery. I still had the nursery bedding set from before, but I decided I didn’t want to go that route again. It had served its purpose, but what I really wanted was a room that I LOVED. A room that, when I walked through the door, I felt at peace. After all, I would be spending a lot of time in that room…rocking my baby, feeding my baby, playing, changing diapers, etc. I wanted a room for me! This might sound a little selfish, but babies don’t know if you have them sleeping in a closet or a perfectly-themed nursery! And if I was feeling calm and happy in the room, it would likely rub off on the baby.
So I went for it! The room had a terracotta-colored accent wall that I knew needed to go. I was going to just paint it beige like the other three walls, but then my sweet in-laws offered to put up a beautiful wooden accent wall. I took them up on the offer, and boy was I so glad that I did. The wall turned out amazing! It really set the tone for the rest of the room. I wanted to go with muted colors to keep things really soft and calm. I found a simple rug at Lowe’s that went perfectly, and was so incredibly soft. It made me excited for the day I would get to play with my baby sitting on that rug (and in the meantime my 4-year-old laid on it every chance he got!).
Although I didn’t want to get super “themed” with the room, I found this precious woodland animal prints on Etsy that I decided would be perfect and add just a touch of color to the space. I also loved the messages that were on each of them. I found this large piece from Hobby Lobby that I just HAD to get (it was on super sale and the words make me so happy)! Add a floor lamp, a rocker (which we already had in a neutral color from before), the “Feather the Owl” diffuser from Young Living, and we were ready for baby!
And I was right about making it a calm space…we are six months in at this point and our baby boy loves to be in his nursery (mostly) and every time I walk in, even if it is to tend to a screaming baby, it gives me sense of peace. I could sit and rock him in there for hours (if I didn’t have two other kiddos who needed me!). I think all mommas need a “chill” space when their new baby gets here, so why not make the nursery that space? Do it for you!
