reveal: baby girl’s dreamy nursery

I’m back!!! Now featuring 100% more children than last year! In retrospect, we have done a lot to the house since last fall. The new nursery was my favorite project by far. I’m excited to share some pictures and links.

My inspiration came from this wallpaper by Rebel Walls, the same Swedish company that made little #1’s wallpaper. It’s called Swan Lake, and I chose it in a purple-blue color scheme called “nightfall”. I was looking for an excuse to use it somewhere in the house.

When we found out that we were having a baby girl (no surprise reveal this time!), I put together a mood board that used the old crib and dresser and the Nightfall wallpaper. The color palette includes indigo, light blue, pale pink and creamy white, with gold as a metallic accent. I was convinced that adding a second child would mean complete chaos (spoiler: it did), so I wanted this room to be a place for relaxation. Here is the inspiration board:

I chose to only wallpaper two walls, since it was more affordable and less labor-intensive. From the doorway, the mural covers the two most prominent walls, and the rest of the room we painted in Sherwin Williams’ Celestial, a blue with purple undertones. We left the (rather ugly) tan carpet and put down the world’s SOFTEST rug from Rugs USA. It has a lovely trellis pattern and is incredibly plush underfoot. It gave the room a hit of fresh white on the floor. The first time she barfs on this carpet I could regret this purchase, but until then, I’ll enjoy it. Some day when they are older we will replace the actual carpet, but it’s nice to not worry about it every time someone kicks over my Coke Zero.

Furniture

I wanted to reuse furniture where possible, including the Lolly 3-in-1 crib by Babyletto. This is a brand that is sold at multiple retail locations including Target. Even though it is generally excluded from coupons, it can be bought on promotion (i.e. spend $400 on nursery furniture, get $50 gift card) and I think I was able to use my registry discount back in the day. It ended up being relatively reasonably priced for the amount of style that it packs, and it came with a toddler rail. I LOVE the two-tone natural & white look. It makes it very versatile if you think you might reuse it for another child. Our eldest got a big boy bed and new dresser when we stole his stuff for his baby sister.

We already had the Ikea Hemnes 3-drawer dresser, which has abundant drawer space and is a comfortable height for a changing pad. I already changed out the standard pulls for brass hex knobs by CB2. I was a little worried about anything with sharp edges in the room, but it has yet to be an issue even with a mobile toddler around. This dresser is plain, yet made of solid wood and incredibly sensible. Since her closet is smaller, I wanted to give her plenty of drawer space.

The bookshelf is by Crate & Barrel from their Arlo collection, and I love that it features one drawer for hidden storage. Unfortunately it could really only go in one spot because of the lack of wall space in the room, so it is turned at a strange angle. This is a style that can easily grow with a baby girl into her teens, and the rounded gold pull is a great touch.

And that just leaves…the glider. I intended to move our original glider from #1’s room to #2…. but it was part of a cuddling ritual during bedtime that I just couldn’t give up! We broke down and bought this navy glider by Babyletto from Crate & Barrel (a custom color for C&B), and I LOVE that it swivels, glides AND reclines. What’s more, it’s a powered chair, and it has a built in USB port for middle-of-the-night nursing / recharging sessions. We sat in a LOT of chairs, and this was the most comfortable, providing full head support, a seat just wide enough for cuddling, and wings that you can nestle your head into. On that note, I originally adored this glider by Leann Ford in boucle (so in!)….and then it was hard as a rock when we tried it in store.

Lighting

We replaced an overhead fan & light with this gorgeous Capiz flush mount from PB Teen. It gives the room a bit of “coastal” feel to go with the water theme, but keeps it glamorous at the same time. The white & natural table lamp by Target is an absolute steal if you can score one that’s not broken on arrival. Finally, the floor lamp in the mood board is also by Target and has lived in about 5 different rooms thus far - just so versatile. It gives off a really nice diffuse light for bedtime reading. I stole it for using downstairs in another room, so for now there is a silver-toned lamp next to the glider. Having multiple levels of lighting in the nursery is a definite must!

We chose to hang affordable “room darkening” curtains by Ikea on a black French return rod. Because the French return “wraps around”, the amount of light leaking at the edges of the curtains is less. We set the rod quite narrow around the window, in order to keep most of the wallpaper showing. They are very effective and just as good as some other brands’ blackout curtains for a lot less!

Details

The finishing touches were a TON of fun. I got this adorable rocking swan with some Nordstrom rewards, and kid #1 has been having a ball with it since last Christmas. The plush swan is from Amazon and was just the perfect size for decorating her shelf or dresser. The mobile is a splurge, handmade on Etsy. The little swans are such great quality and didn’t look cartoon-y.

I wanted to have art that spoke to me and would hopefully inspire my child one day. I framed a customized star chart in Ikea’s Hovsta frame. It shows the night sky on the date of her birth. I also bought a print from Minted and a print from Etsy featuring my favorite quote from Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb”. I still think the walls look a little bare in some places and am on the hunt for a hook rack.

For her linens, I received two soft crib sheets with lovely floral watercolor patterns and added an inexpensive knit blanket by Ikea in a blush color. A floor basket by Target was the perfect addition to corral all the quilts and blankies in her room. The woven cord adds a lot of texture, but it doesn’t introduce any more color to the room. The “cuddle nook” is finished off with an old marble and brass side table. I love that this blends somewhat seamlessly into the corner and provides a place to stack books, water cups and phones. Finally, I used some inexpensive bins by Pillowfort that I already had as places to toss toys. I’ve definitely learned that bins are essential in every play area!

I am totally in love with this room and the tiny person it was designed for. She has actually slept in our room most nights and has only recently started sleeping in her room, but we have played and relaxed in there plenty! Although this is a smaller room than her brother’s, it has an ensuite bath, which seemed like a fair trade-off. You may notice the absence of a diaper pail or changing pad. I suppose that’s second-time parenting for you. I change her in a different room or just on the floor on a washable pad most of the time, and just toss the diaper in the shared pail between the two kids’ rooms.

Stay tuned for more rooms…dining, living, and big brother’s room all got a face lift after we moved in!

Links:

Crib / Dresser / Glider / Bookshelf / Rug / Wallpaper / Paint: SW Celestial

Flush mount / Basket (similar) / Side table (similar) / Table lamp (no longer available)

Hex knobs / Mobile / Curtains / Rocking swan / Plushie / Blue crib sheet / Floral crib sheet / Throw blanket