When I first found out that I was pregnant, I immediately started clearing out our guest bedroom to make it into the baby’s nursery. The closet in there was a combination linen closet/catch-all, and I had been storing my fabric stash under the guest bed. I couldn’t wait to start designing the nursery, but I needed to wait until I found out the sex of the baby before I could make any final decisions.

Finally, we got word from our doctor and ultrasound tech that we were expecting a boy. I knew I didn’t want to go overly cutesy with the design for a few reasons. One, I wanted him to be able to enjoy the room for at least 3 or 4 years. Secondly, since I would be spending a lot of time in the room myself, along with my husband, I didn’t want to get sick of some cutesy baby design. Lastly, I wanted it to fit in with the current aesthetic we have in our home. I didn’t want walking into the baby’s room to feel like you were walking into a different universe. I still wanted it to feel like a baby’s room, though.

I was having a hard time deciding what I wanted to do. I’ve had good luck in the past drawing inspiration from designer fabric collections, so I hit up some of my favorite quilt fabric online retailers and started looking at their new releases. That’s when I saw it!

I fell in love with the Hello, Bear by Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery Fabrics line. I immediately saw a nursery that fit in with our home: greys, greens and golds along with warm, rustic brown wood tones.

We painted the room a green color, Flora by Behr. My in-laws were kind enough to help us out with that and they also replaced the baseboards, since we had some left over from another project. I would have liked to replace the carpeting, right now it’s a renter’s grade beige (since our home was a rental property before we bought it). But it’s in decent shape for now so that’s a project that will wait for another time (if ever).

The first piece I bought for the nursery was this dresser. It will double as his changing table for now. I found it at a local antique shop. The changing pad cover is Adventure Springs HBR-4438 (as mentioned in this post). The artwork above the changing table was made using a stencil designed by Bonnie Christine. I had intended to stencil a whole wall with it, but being a stencil newbie I couldn’t get the hang of the process. I panted some old canvas white and stenciled it instead and it turned out great. The hamper on the right is this OXO Tot Flip-In Flex Lid Hamper in Gray/Green and the cart on the right is the IKEA RÅSKOG cart in turquoise that I am using to store all his diaper changing supplies. When he’s out of diapers it will be perfect to store toys, books, etc.

Here is a better look at the IKEA RÅSKOG cart. The bag hanging off of the dresser is a Planet Wise Hanging Wet/Dry Bag in Gray Chevron I will be using for cloth diapering. As you can see, my relatives and friends couldn’t resist giving me some disposable diapers anyway, so we’ll use those when we’re traveling. The floor lamp is this Threshold™ Mosaic Wood Look Floor Lamp with Square Linen Shade from Target, and the grey basket with the toys were all gifts so I’m not sure where they’re from, sorry 🙂

The second big piece for the nursery is, of course, the crib. I had a tough time finding exactly the right brown I wanted for the crib (not too cherry, not to blonde, not too chocolatey…) and I finally landed on this (reasonably priced) crib, Stork Craft Tuscany 4-in-1 Convertible Crib in Dove Brown. I had originally envisioned using a Jenny Lind DaVinci, but the chunkier lines on this one felt better to me. The sheet I made myself using Oh, Hello Fog HBR-4430. The pillow isn’t going to live in the crib permanently, it is usually on the glider but daddy was using it. I made the artwork above the crib using a tutorial from the Young House Love book (I was a HUGE fan of their blog). I’m leaving some room on the walls to add some pictures, either of the baby or of family.

The last big piece I needed for the nursery was a rocker/glider. Here is Daddy modeling it for me. I knew I didn’t want the standard wooden spindly one (you know the one I’m talking about) and I had the perfect one picked out on Amazon when it suddenly went out of stock. I scrambled to find an acceptable replacement (grey ones are so hard to find!) and ended up with the babyletto Madison Swivel Glider in Slate. For the ottoman we are using a grey floor pouf purchased from Amazon, the side table is a simple IKEA Lack end table we’ve had forever, and the lamp is one I got from Homegoods that used to live in the living room. The “Be Brave” artwork is a reclaimed wood piece I found at an antique shop.

Another piece I created for the room was this little wooden bookshelf. I had the wood in the garage (left by previous tenant) so all I had to buy was the stain and the brackets I used to hang it. The brackets were silver but I spray painted them gold to match the rest of the room. All his books fit perfectly. The grey crate was a gift and it holds Mike’s lamb from when he was a little guy. The frames on the wall were another antique shop find and I used gold paint pen along with the Bonnie Christine stencil to paint the trees on the wall.

I love the curtains and the curtain rod I created for the room, but what a project they were! I’ve had good luck with curtains from Urban Outfitters in the past and they came through for me again. I found these adorable Assembly Home Birch Trees Curtains. They do not block light at all so we left the blinds on the window as they are still in good shape. The arrow finials are also from Urban Outfitters (specifically, Magical Thinking Arrow Finial Set), but buyer beware! They are ONLY designed to fit into UO curtain rods. Unfortunately, the window I was covering was too wide for their curtain rods. I was able to jerry-rig the finials into the existing rod I had for the window, but I ended up spray painting the rod & finials so they would all be the same gold color. Also, the finials had a green enamel detailing in the centers that isn’t pictured online.

Here are a couple more pictures of the nursery: