Gender Neutral Nursery

What pregnant woman in mega nesting mode doesn’t get excited to decorate the nursery?  I was one who was beyond excited to decorate our nursery as soon as I saw that big ‘ol “+” on the pregnancy test.

My husband and I didn’t want to know the sex of our baby and I wanted to have a modern, gender neutral nursery in black, white, and grey.  These are great colors for a nursery because newborns can only focus about 8 to 12 inches from their face, and they see only black, white and gray.  I figured I could always add pops of color to the space and this nursery could be used for any other babies that come our way!  I had so much fun decorating this gender neutral nursery but first, we had to build the room!

Making More Room and Nesting

It all started with an open loft on the 2^nd floor of our house.  Before we moved in, my husband and I thought this would make a perfect space for an extra bedroom and would make our upstairs three bedrooms instead of just two bedrooms. (*hint*hint*nursery*)

It wasn’t until I found out I was pregnant with our first, two years after moving in, that the urgency to create the loft space into a bedroom became a sense of emergency.  I was about 35 weeks pregnant when the walls were finally up and built.  At this point, I was freaking out.  We had been showered with adorable baby stuff and nothing excited me more than the idea to put it all in place in the baby’s room.  My urge to ‘nest’ was in full force!

Painting an Accent Wall

I wanted the nursery to have a focal point and decided to do a herringbone pattern accent wall.  Burning the midnight oil, I painted the base color one night and then the next night, taped the herringbone pattern.

Taping Tips:  Be sure to use Frog Tape, it’s better than the blue painters tape.  Use credit card or popsicle stick to smooth and seal the tape once applied.

After the taping is complete, you can paint over the tape.

I still had to touch up some spots with the white paint because there was some bleeding but it wasn’t too bad.  Take tape off slowly and as soon as possible.  This helps prevent bleeding underneath the tape to give that clean, crisp paint line. Be sure to check out my post on ‘How to Paint Stripes on Wall’ by clicking HERE and watch my video tutorial at the end of the post!

Nursery Decor

Most of the art I made myself.  I used a lot of Ikea frames, craft canvases (similar canvas here), magic markers, and black paint.  I found a French provincial dresser on Craiglist for $70 that I thought would be perfect for nursery and could be used as a changing table.

Gallery Wall

The dresser I found on craigslist and used a high gloss white SPRAY paint (yes, that easy) and spray painted the handles a high gloss black.

My gallery wall was a collection of finds that I pieced together.  The studded mirrors are from Ross.  The black lion’s head (similar here, comes in different sizes and colors) and giraffe mask (similar here) were purchased from Homegoods.  The round mirror (similar here) and lighted “J” are from Target.  The smaller frames are from Ikea (similar here) and photos inside are DIY art were made by me.  I was inspired by simple animal art on Pinterest and used computer paper with magic markers to create similar black and white art.  The “Don’t grow up” was made using a white canvas and high gloss black paint that I brushed on.  So easy.

**Be careful about your gallery wall above changing station.  When your baby gets older, they will start reaching for any objects in their arms length away, so make sure objects are secured to avoid anything from falling on baby or scratching your walls.

Pictured above, I had purchased a narrow canvas from Michael’s and with high gloss black spray paint and stencil numbers, I sprayed birthdate for more simple black and white art. Rhino head from Homegoods, another canvas with DIY baby birthday art used with spray paint and stencils, Ikea dog tail hooks (found here).

Pictured below, the “Loved” picture is DIY Pottery Barn copycat.  I made it using stick on letters from Michael’s and a large Ikea picture frame. Rug was purchased from Etsy.  Crib, rocking horse, black and white blanket, and elephant hamper were all from Amazon.  (Links to Crib,  rocking horse, black and white blanket, and elephant laundry hamper).

We had a baby boy and I still love the nursery to this day. We are pregnant with baby number 2 and we decided that we are going to keep the nursery, the nursery, and make our third upstairs bedroom into a big boy room for our little man.  Details on our big boy room coming soon!

xoxo,  Rachael