One part of pregnancy and preparing for baby that I found the most enjoyable (amid all of the nausea, swelling and other less joyous parts of pregnancy) was planning out what the nursery would look like. As a first time mama, I wanted to create a comforting and homey space to bring my little bundle of joy home to. I thoroughly enjoyed pouring over blog posts and youtube tour videos and finding inspiration for my own nursery. I thought I would share our nursery favorites with you, in case you enjoy the planning process as much as this Type A Mama does.
I have always been a huge fan of the color purple (it was one of my wedding colors), and I thought I nice light Lilac shade would be the right mix of femininity, mixed with fun without seeming too childish….a “grown-up” pink if you will. I ended up selecting ‘Obi Lilac’ from Sherwin Williams, which turned out great in the room (pictured below with crib). I will say that I found it just a shade too deep, and when we moved into a new house I painted Parker’s new room ‘Enchant’ instead (pictured above), which is exactly what I was looking for! Once I picked the purple out for the walls of the room, I felt I needed to balance that with more neutral colors since the purple is so dramatic. I knew that gray and white would go perfectly and began looking for furniture pieces in those colors.
Obviously a key component of any nursery is the crib (which my mother-in-law graciously and excitedly insisted she was paying for. Huge thanks to her!). We figured it would be prudent to get a crib that was fairly gender neutral so that if we have a second baby, we knew we could use the same crib again. With that in mind, my husband and I began the search and eventually landed on the Tatum Crib in Gray & Simply White from Pottery Barn. We love it! It is simple and clean in design, well-made, and was easy to put together. It is also convertible into a toddler bed, prolonging the length of time you can use it for your little one (if you purchase the conversion kit…we have purchased the kit, but have not used it yet, so I can’t give you an opinion on it yet). I do have to say that if you are in the market for a more feminine crib, I absolutely love the Blythe Crib Pottery barn makes. Gorgeous!
Now that we had the crib covered, the next item on my list to find was a dresser. Based on what I had heard from other mamas, I did not want to purchase a changing table, which could only be used specifically for that purpose and has a relatively short lifespan. Instead I opted to use the dresser with a changing pad as a place to change the baby in her room. I knew I wanted something white to match the crib (gray would be harder to match since I did not plan on buying the matching dresser to our crib). I ended up landing on this 3 over 4 Dresser in white from Craft Bedrooms with the Diamond Crystal knobs in clear.
While I absolutely love this dresser (it is gorgeous and Parker still has not figured out how to open the drawers at 13 months since they are inset), getting the dresser from the manufacturer was a bit of a fiasco. The first dresser they sent arrived significantly damaged; not talking a ding or small scratch, an entire end of the dresser was completely banged up and hanging off unevenly from the center. They did send a replacement, but it took time, and I really had to fight to get them to come out and retrieve the damaged one. So overall, the company corrected the problem, but it took months and quite a few phone calls.
Our last big item that we needed/wanted was a rocker or glider. Aesthetically, I am a huge fan of the tufted gliders that look like an armchair instead of the big wooden rockers or gliders. I figured I could continue to use the chair in another room if it was’t overly obvious that it was for a nursery. We shopped locally for a glider and ended up picking out the Belmont Glider in O’My Grey made by Castle Home Furnishings with a matching gliding ottoman.
Again, we purchased from a local kids furniture store, but you can search local retailers of this brand if you are interested in buying. Do expect to give a long leeway time to get your furniture. We allowed up to 12 weeks, but still ended up having a delay and not getting until after Parker was born. However, the wait was well worth it. The glider is beautiful, incredibly comfortable, and the fabric cleans superbly well. I also love how high the armrests are which makes it super friendly for feeding a baby (breastfeeding or bottle feeding).
Now that we had all of the big items, we got into the fun of the smaller more decorative pieces. I had seen a lot of super cute elephant related items, which worked well with my gray theme, so I decided to go with it. I started out with this elephant bedding set from Pottery Barn (I registered for this and was gifted it by my incredibly awesome sister-in-law), and also got the matching mobile and super adorable elephant lamp! I picked out this fun ‘Dream big little one’ print from Etsy and framed it. I found this tree wall mural to put on the wall where the crib was going (seen in crib picture). It turned out great, but it was a lot of working putting that bad boy up. Finally I picked out a mirror for over the dresser that I adore from HomeGoods! I think it all ended up coming together great, and I really love her nursery. It feels childlike, elegant, and friendly all at once and it is one of my favorite rooms in the house. Here are some shots of everything put together.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments! I did not link every single item you see in the pictures, but if there is something you are interested in, I am happy to tell you where I got it from.