I’ve managed to somehow not accidentally spill the beans on the gender of little bebe-to-be. Yet! Seeing as I’m sharing some design ideas today, spoiler alert: we’re expecting a little girl! We were completely surprised when we found out as I was utterly convinced it was a boy [shoddy early mother instinct]. I wanted to avoid obvious choices for the nursery like pink and flowers etc. Maybe because I was convinced for so long it was a boy? This was one of the reasons I fell into a bit of a rutt …
There are two reasons we hadn’t started the nursery until this week. For some reason [hormones], I had it in my mind that all the unfinished projects in our apartment had to be resolved before I could start the nursery. I made an 8-page list of things I had to do before we could begin. This ranged from cleaning the oven, painting the immersion, recaulking the bathroom, painting the ceilings and everything in between.
The second thing stopping me was the design of the nursery itself. I don’t know how or why [hormones], but I was under the impression [again, hormones] that the nursery had to be wildly different from the rest of our home; a different colour scheme, style and be gender neutral. I don’t know why. Did I mentioned hormones?
Luckily, over the past week I shook myself out of both mindsets. I realised I just want a cute and fun nursery [groundbreaking, I know]. We’re having a girl. Yes, I like burgundy. And pink. This isn’t new. I also like green but I’m not going to reinvent the wheel with our nursery by trying to make it something wildly different to what we already like. I’m hoping to make it fun and cute without it screaming ‘A LITTLE GIRL LIVES HERE ZOMG CAN YOU TELL THROUGH ALL THE HOT NEON PINK?‘. A little bit fun and a little bit Grand Budapest Hotel with gothic accents.
Less typing, more visualising! Onto the design we’re hoping for …
– A lot of the artwork for the nursery will be from what we already have [Bill Murray print, cardboard monogram etc.], will be second hand or from independent artists as much as possible.
– As for wall colour, I’m aiming for a subtle and cheery light grey paint. Fleetwood Paint sent me a gift voucher a few months ago and I’ll be excitedly picking up some tester paints this week. Yeah, grey is a safe shade. I decided on it because it goes with every colour [and I’m hoping to have a bit more colour in the nursery than the rest of our apartment], but also when we eventually move out, a subtle grey paint won’t need to be painted over compared to the living room and our bedroom. Forward thinking.
– Going with my mostly second hand theme, we picked up a standard pine dresser a few months ago for next to nothing on Adverts. I’m hoping to repaint it white at the very least; maybe something a bit more fun. We have yet to find an armchair to re-cover, but im hoping to find one soon. SOON.
– I’m also just hoping to put a lot of fun and cute things in here; hopefully appealing to both babies and adults alike. Some amigurumi creatures, alternative pieces and a handfull of cheeky things that’ll surely make our nursery a lot less worthy of appearing in a magazine [ahem, poo pillow and my ‘Even Katy Perry Poops‘ cross stitch #KeepingItReal].
I don’t have an entirely set design in mind so we’re mostly going to see what we find and do a bit of winging it. But the above are the basics and I’m hoping to build on it as we go. It’s exciting now that we’re about to start, but we better hurry up as we have T minus 9 weeks … ZOMG 🙂
Love your plans, what kid wouldn't want the benevolent Bill Murray watching over them while they sleep? And yay for a girl! I too was convinced I was having a boy first, and I really wanted one cos I didn't really know what to do with girls, but my god they are smart, hilarious little sidekicks.
That's exactly what had me convinced we were having a boy Linda; my friends growing up were all guys so I wouldn't know the first thing really about girls (despite being one)! I cannot wait to start the loveliest of crash courses.
Yay! This is looking great – and I love the chair in burgundy!! Personally, I prefer it to the dark green, but that's just a matter of taste – I'm sure whatever you'd have done would have worked and looked fabulous! I think the pale grey walls are going to look great – and I'm really looking forward to seeing all the cute touches you put in the room! Eeek, not long to go! xx
Oh god I know Maria! The weeks are flying by now. And I agree about the chair, although nothing is set in stone just yet! I'm so indecisive these days which is why I've held off making any big design commitments. I just spent a week deciding on a soother clip, FFS.
You had me at "a little bit Grand Budapest Hotel".
Rock on girl. It sounds lovely. Truly. The decor does not have to scream 'girl'… trust me. The fact that a little girl lives in there will all by itself. Well in little ways, at least. Example, our Canadian Cabin in the Woods theme: Well there are hair bands dangling from the moose antlers, and skirts flung on knobs. It just happens.
I'm still in love with your nursery / Millie's room! You completely nailed the Canadian Cabin look and hell yes it doesn't scream girl at all. Not that girls are bad, I just don't like going down the stereotypical girl route. However, I have caved and gotten the squeest baby girl outfits. Mostly from local charity shops! WINNING.
Totally the way to go. They grow out of everything so quickly in the beginning, it makes NO SENSE to buy new. Besides, your friends and family will delight in buying the impractical things, and you can get the practical stuff second hand. Now THAT, is winning.
Also, variety is the spice of life. Some super girly stuff, some punk-rock stuff, and some lumber jack stuff, it gets boring otherwise (plus super fun, when all of those worlds start to meet).
A LITTLE GIRL!!! SO EXCITING! Your nursery plans sound fabulous, I can't wait to see it when it's all done. Our little boy's nursery is a bright sunshine-y yellow – only after we painted it did we find out that bright yellow makes kids very excitable! Oops.
Aw thanks Holly! It's taking forever but the nursery is slowly coming together. I put so much pressure on myself to have it done before baby gets here, but I'm getting a bit more chill about it now. And yellow! I wouldn't have thought that lovely yellow you have would keep baby awake! Awww 🙂