A Gender Neutral Nursery That Isn't Gray & Yellow
For our first baby, I convinced my husband to let us wait until the baby was born to find out the gender. I’m not a huge planner and I love surprises. My husband is the opposite. But even he admits, the anticipation was exciting and worth it in the end.
I set off to design a gender neutral nursery that wasn’t gray, yellow and blah. I wanted it to be fresh but not so “predictable”.
I will link products as I go, but I will link everything I can at the bottom of the blog.
The Furniture
I started with the rug I already had in that room (my office) because I wanted to repurpose it. It’s tan and ivory. Then I happened to stumble across an IKEA SNIGLAR beechwood crib for sale on Facebook Marketplace and I loved the simplicity of it. And thus, the base of the color scheme of my gender neutral nursery was born.
Next, baby needed a dresser. I worked a little bit backwards on this one and first found a project piece on FB Marketplace I intended to put in his closet.
It was painted teal and I wanted to sand and refinish it because I loved the style of it, but not the paint. Whew, it was a doozy, but I absolutely love how it turned out. I wrote a blog post about my 8 tips for refinishing furniture that you might want to check out if you choose to tackle a project like this, too.
Next I found a dresser for a changing table. Also on FB Marketplace! (The best place for project pieces!)
This dresser had a shiny white paint on it that I didn’t really like, nor the hardware. I filled the hardware holes and drilled new ones (aka my husband did this), replaced the hardware and repainted the dresser (I did this part).
I don’t have a tutorial for the painting process, but I followed a chalk paint tutorial I found online using White Behr Chalk Paint and Behr Wax Finish, plus a technique where I splashed some water on the dresser before the paint to avoid streaks. It worked really well and was quite easy.
The nursery chair was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, nursery design decision. Some folks prefer a glider, some prefer a rocker. We ended up going with a rocker/recliner from a local baby store called Baby Bloomers. I was adamant about being able to sit in it before buying it. I can’t find my exact one but the Kersey and the Tryp by Best Chairs Inc are very similar. Mine is that brand. It’s comfortable, it’s wide, and a nice neutral color and design that could possibly translate well into a living room some day. Baby Bloomers can get it for you if you’re local!
The Decor
Next was putting together the wall decor. All this designing was happening during Quarantine, so I had lots of time on my hands. I decided to get really ambitious and do some cross-stitch pieces for above the dresser. I shared my love of arts and crafts with my Grandma and she taught me how to cross-stitch when I was young. I hadn’t done it in years but it’s pretty easy to pick up. I found an Etsy seller that had some designs that I liked and I figured they could work for a boy or a girl, and I asked her to switch up the color scheme for me. This is where I did use a little sage green and yellow.
This shop sends you the whole kit for you! It took me many, many episodes of Longmire to get these done but I love them. Pretty proud of myself TBH!
I needed something else with green to play off the green in these cross-stitch animals. I decided the curtains across the room would be a good place to bring this color together. I found this really pretty magnolia (very popular flower in South Carolina) black out curtain. I went with the floor-to-ceiling length that would prevent light coming through the top to ensure a dark-as-possible room for baby sleep.
Now, what to put above the baby’s crib? This one took a lot of searching. I didn’t want to put clunky frames on that wall incase they ever fell off while the baby was in the crib. I found a quote from one of my all time favorite songs as a print on Etsy. This is a line from Elton John’s “Your Song”. I saw it and teared up a little and the decision was made.
The little end table was another FB Marketplace find. I bought an ottoman in a similar color to play off that dark gray.
The white book shelves by the recliner were repurposed from my office. My husband built the other ones :)
Of course I needed more shelving for art and miscellaneous cute baby items. This ladder bookcase has been perfect for this small room.
Below I’ll link some of the art you see on this bookcase.
I hope this blog gives you some inspiration for a gender neutral nursery that is fresh and calming but not totally predictable and blah. This gender neutral room has been perfect for our son Wyatt for 17 months! I am just now starting to add some blue and boy-ify it a little bit. I honestly won’t make too many changes because I do really like the way it is now. Stand by for an update on the refresh!
