I’ve been looking at planning our nursery in a similar way to how we planned our wedding — we had a loose colour scheme and a general feeling/vibe we were going for, but the yellows didn’t match exactly, there was some random purple thrown in amongst the neutrals, and there wasn’t really a continuing thread tying every bit of decor together.
I’m not a huge fan of themes, in general. I’ve seen some great themed nurseries, really well put together, be it a nautical theme, owls, elephants, or what have you. But I think something strictly themed would clash with how I envision the rest of our living space — we seem to gravitate toward an eclectic collection of things that go but don’t match, if that makes sense. And, I’d rather have items that make us smile or have a sentimental twist than lamps that match my wallpaper.
Probably the biggest thing stopping us from an overall theme is that I refuse to buy traditional crib bedding. It’s really expensive, and a) you can’t use the quilt/blanket until your kid is older, and b) non-mesh bumpers are a no go in our household (Canadian health organizations recommend against them). I plan to save my money and get one fancy crib sheet, a crib skirt, and some cheaper, solid-coloured backup crib sheets.
With all that being said… I’m not sure what to do for the nursery. 
I thought we’d be going the yellow, green or orange route, and was gearing up to ask Matt if we could maaaaybe consider a neutral, when he came out of nowhere with, “I’m thinking gray for the nursery.” Awesome! I picked out CIL’s Barley Beige on a paint swatch card and really like it — I just have to tape it up in the space and decide if it’s still good (which will hopefully happen sometime in August… that’s another story for another day).
Once we agreed on gray, I started formulating an idea — neutral walls, but lots of colour in the decor! No real theme pulling it all together aside from colour, but a few shout-outs to special things (there are so many cute cat art prints out there, I’ m telling you).
If you want to know the sources for any of this stuff let me know! But most of it is IKEA, including the crib, curtains, rug, light, pillow, and dresser. I plan to use a dresser with a Keekaroo/Cooshee style changer strapped to it rather than a traditional changing table and pad, and I also want to jazz up said dresser with some new hardware. Cute, bright, colourful, and not overly girly — we’re still trying to keep things somewhat neutral so it’s not a pink-splosion.
But… of course there’s a but… while crib sheet browsing I found this really cute woodland themed set. And Matt mentioned (again, out of nowhere), “I was thinking if anyone asks us if we have a theme we should say Northern Ontario kinda stuff… moose, bears, that kinda thing.”
While I don’t want a moose-spolsion as much as I don’t want a pink-splosion, I put together a board based on that crib sheet and a few woodland-esque things that go together but don’t match too much.
Again, mostly IKEA with a lot of Etsy thrown in! I don’t know if the rug really goes with it. This one seems a little more busy, but I love those sheets. So now I can’t decide.
[Having actually visited IKEA last weekend there's a few things we'd switch out now that we saw them in person, like the light fixtures, and both of these are just a guide, not a definite shopping list!]
What do you think? Does either one stick out? Or am I totally off base?
) until the bugs got so bad that nearly everyone had bailed. Matt and I had plans to see a movie so we said goodbye and headed out.
