Julie is a renter and blogs about decorating and design plans she'd fulfill if she owned a home. We think she's proven that a rental home can be just as thought out and beautiful. She shares her baby son's room: This is Abe’s nursery in our rental apartment in Newton, Mass. We wanted the room to have a classic and uncluttered feel to it, with no real theme except “colors” and “baby.” It was important to us to have a relaxing space that we’ll all enjoy in the early months, and that will be able to evolve as his personality starts to develop.

The two starting points of inspiration were the yellow and white checkered rug (which was a great deal – it’s from the remnant section of a great rug store in Cambridge) and the Coyuchi “George” bedding line. I loved the vintage look of the embroidered animals on the bedding, and the ratio of white and other colors was just right for the look I was going for. The blanket in the crib was made by my grandma in the late 1970s when my sister was born.

The next step was curtains. I shortened a set of white canvas curtains that hung in the dining room of our old apartment, and added panels of blue and white striped fabric to the bottom. Then, for a touch of whimsy, we went with a green pom-pom trim along both sides on each panel. We used the same blue and white striped fabric to make a crib skirt and slipcovers for the daybed in the room. We were liberal with the number of pillows on the bed to make it a nice comfortable lounging spot for baby Abe and for us. The pillows are a mix of homemade and store-bought – Homegoods and Amazon were our sources for the matelasse shams.

One of my favorite items in the room is the vintage rocking chair, which my mom bought at a flea market in Denver. She reupholstered it and then made a slipcover for it before it made its cross-country trek to its new home. I love the scalloped edges and the red and white piping.

For our wall décor, we wanted to stick with things that were in line with our “classic” vision. I love the framed poster of the little girl and boy – it’s colorful and cheerful and brightens the room. The animal prints above the bed are by Toast. They are nice and crisp looking, and the wood trim showing on the side brings a modern touch to the room. (The wood trim is also echoed in the knobs we added to the Ikea Hemnes dresser, the Ikea storage cube and the hooks on the wall) Over the crib, the paper mache giraffe bust from Anthropologie will give baby Abe something to look at when he’s lying in his crib … at least until we find the perfect mobile!

The room itself is not very big, so we had to make the most of every corner without filling it up and completely overwhelming the space. And, since it’s a rental, we didn’t want to buy too much new furniture or install things like bookshelves on the walls (since we’re not fans of filling in holes when it’s time to move out). In the end, the only new furniture we bought were the crib and the Ikea dresser. We’re so happy with the final result. The white walls really make the textiles and textures in the room pop, from the stack of baby blankets to the pom pom details on the curtains.

Overall, I think we achieved our goal of creating a nice, bright space filled with handmade touches for baby Abe to enjoy.

Thanks Julie! Readers, find Julie blogging at Filed for Later.

(Images: Julie/Filed for Later)