Hi friends! It’s Courtney (Melissa’s daughter) here today. I’m excited to be here today sharing the design mood board I’ve created for our baby boy’s nursery!
If you are new or catching up, my husband and I got married about a year and a half ago in July 2022, and are now expecting our first baby due on February 14 (Valentine’s Day!). This last summer we moved out of our small apartment and into a rental townhouse which provided us with plenty of space as we prepare to welcome our baby boy.
Here’s a photo of the nursery below before we moved in. The little window seat is my favorite part!
We have a lot to do before I can show you photos of the nursery all set up, but today I wanted to share a bit of the design plan!
I appreciate many interior design styles, but one I seem to always gravitate to when designing my own spaces is what I’d consider “cozy Scandinavian”. I think over time my style could evolve to more of a cottagey transitional look (as I collect new and old things over time, and especially the possibilities that will open up when we own instead of rent!), but for now I embrace what I love about that cozy Scandinavian inspired style. 🙂
For the nursery I envisioned primarily neutral backdrops and key elements…but with plenty of pops of color, pattern, texture, and cozy layers from accessories. I want it to feel calm and restful, but also fun and whimsical. I don’t have a specific “theme”, but I did find myself choosing lots of nature inspired pieces. We live in a coastal city in the Pacific Northwest nestled between the forest and sea, so I loved incorporating elements that nod to our surroundings like sailboats, botanicals, wood tones, and muted colors.
Below is our design mood board!
Below I’ll share all the mood board sources, why I chose them, plus some additional elements we’ll incorporate that aren’t shown in the mood board!
This is the sweetest muslin baby quilt we kindly received at our baby shower. I absolutely love the little cross pattern and it’s even more beautiful in person! It reminds me of a mini version of this reversible blanket my mom has…which I’m tempted to buy and maybe fold up on the window seat in the nursery…we shall see!
I haven’t decided where we’ll hang this cute bunting yet (potentially on the wall over the crib), but it will add such a fun whimsical element! I loved the mix of muted colors and there were more colors and other adorable nursery items in this shop,
Green ‘Explore’ Pennant Banner Art
This just felt right for our baby boy’s room! The shop is currently on a break but they have lots of other fun pieces.
Ikea Sniglar Crib – (click here for the other crib sources above)
There are so many crib options out there! We ended up going with the Sniglar crib from Ikea (top right in the above graphic)! It’s much more affordable than some and has great reviews, it’s made out of solid untreated beech wood, and can transition into a toddler bed. I think it’s the perfect simple style. I linked the other cribs we considered in the graphic above here. There are lots of other beautiful cribs (maybe a future blog post!) but all the ones I shared here are under $400 (or much less) at the time of me writing this post.
Mobile – Wood and Crochet Stars and Clouds
I absolutely love this mobile! We had originally been inspired to make our own, but we decided instead to get this pre-made mobile that we could easily add little things to customize it if we’d like. The quality of this one is really nice with thick wood stars, moon and clouds, and the crochet pieces are such a sweet added texture. We’ll be setting it up with this stand.
You might remember this room above if you’ve been a TIR follower…this was the basement “apartment” I lived in at my parents’ house during 2020! I am hoping to use this washable rug in the nursery. The room is carpeted, but I think the rug will work over it and add some nice color and pattern.
I’m not sure if I’ll order this exact tree or not, but I do know that every room needs some life in it (or even ‘faux’ life with faux plants, ha!). Once we get the room arranged I’ll see what size of plant works, but this olive tree looks really pretty and has great reviews.
Ikea Ektorp Chair with This White Slipcover
We have an Ikea Ektorp Chair (handed down from my mom!) with this white slipcover, so we are going to use that for a cozy corner chair in the nursery. I know some would say a rocker or glider is a “non-negotiable”, but they are quite spendy, too! At least for now we are going to use what we have and if we find we truly cannot survive without it, then we will revisit. 🙂 See more details about the chairs and slipcovers in this blog post.
I’ll have some sort of table next to the chair (possibly something we already have) but this is a nice versatile side table to consider! I also have a leather pouf like this one (another hand-me-down from my mom!) that I’ll tuck in by the chair if it fits.
Black Floor Lamp (linked a similar one)
I’ve had this black metal floor lamp for several years, I’m thinking it will be perfect by the chair. My exact one is no longer sold, but this is a similar lamp from my mood board, and you can find more floor lamps in this blog post.
Wood Blanket Ladder (linked a similar one)
We have some adorable blankets (one is handmade and so sweet!) that I’d love to hang on our blanket ladder if I find a good spot for it. The ladder I have above is not available anymore, but here is a similar one!
Black and White Stitched Curtains
We may be using these lightweight curtains we have on the outside of the window seat in addition to something more room darkening on the windows. We recently hung other curtains in our house with command hooks so we’ll do the same in here (see that easy tutorial here).
Botanical Art (similar)
I have two really pretty botanical art prints I may use (these are what I have, different from these ones in the photo above). You can see photos of the ones I have here (they used to be in my mom’s house!).
Vintage Wicker Elephant – Similar: One // Two
I stumbled upon the sweetest wicker elephant at a local antique store recently (above) and thought it would be such a cute accent in the nursery for holding little items. Here are two similar wicker elephant baskets: One // Two. I definitely will be on the hunt for more antique finds to counteract some of the Ikea in here, ha!
Wood Sailboat with Animal Toys
Isn’t this sailboat with wood animals the sweetest thing ever? I love watching sailboats go by where we live, and my husband used to be on the sailing team so sailboats are meaningful for us! We both LOVE little wooden toys like this. We have other items from the same brand, you can see more of their adorable toys here.
I purchased this watercolor sailboat art print as a little ‘housewarming’ for ourselves when we moved into this townhouse. The scene is of Annapolis, but it reminds me so much of where we live (particularly the town we lived in for our first year of marriage). I think it’s the perfect colorful art for the nursery!
Speaking of sailboats, this sailboat muslin swaddle was love at first sight. I’m sure we will use this often, but when not in use I think it’s too pretty to not be out on display somewhere (maybe on the blanket ladder!).
Ikea Hemnes Dresser with These Wood Knobs
We already had this dresser and are using it as our changing table with this cute wipeable changing pad on top. Excuse my messy process photo above 🙂 but here you can see I was testing out some unfinished wood knobs I got on Amazon that I’ll be switching the rest of the black knobs for. The new wood knobs will look great with the mobile and crib!
Teddy Bear – (linked a similar one to mine)
One of the very first items we bought for baby before he even existed. 🙂 This is the one I have but I sadly heard they don’t make the exact anymore. This bear is by the same brand however and looks very similar!
That’s all for now, friends! I hope you enjoyed seeing a peek at our plans. I look forward to sharing the final result when it’s done!
Would you like more nursery inspiration and baby gift ideas here on The Inspired Room? 🙂 I’ve had so much fun gathering all the baby things as we prepare, and am sure I’ll have lots more recommendations as time goes on. Let me know what you’d like to see!
You can also follow along with me here on Instagram for more of my home and life!
Looking for gifts for babies or kids, or anyone else on your list? You’ll find lots of cute ideas in our curated gift guides!