Name: Noelle (3 months)
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
We wanted our baby girl Noelle to have a nursery with a color theme that wasn't overly girly and landed on shades of grey with accents of coral. I'm not sure if it was the nesting instinct or an obsessive compulsive crafting instinct, or the fact that grey and coral décor is not so easy to find, but I have to admit I went a little crazy with DIY projects for the nursery.
Here are my "confessions":
1. I made my own birch tree wall decals from a roll of white contact paper.
2. I refinished an old glider to match the color palette (it was a typical white and honey oak glider that I sanded, grey-washed and reupholstered in a coral print).
3. I made her little mobile with hand-sewn little stuffed animals (Owl, Giraffe, Whale and Elephant!) and hearts.
4. I designed and printed all the art on the walls. Except the one with the mommy and baby giraffe, which...
5. ...I painstakingly punched out colored circles from paint chips and glued them down to make the giraffe artwork.
6. I made the little hot air balloons in the corner. (The corner just looked empty to me without them.)
7. I sewed her an alphabet pillow, "N" for Noelle, and the crib skirt
8. I painted a basket and some pinecones grey to match the color palette.
Most of this happened when I was eight months pregnant. My husband thought I was crazy, but when it all turned out so pretty he told me I should put some of the items up at my Etsy shop in case I can save some other very pregnant women from doing some of this themselves!
Source List:
• Crib and rug: Walmart.com (I have to say, I know everyone loves the grey Oeuf Sparrow, but this grey Babymod crib from Walmart is way more affordable and much sturdier)
• Dresser, shelves and white standing lamp: Ikea
• White frames: Pottery Barn
• Red standing lamp: garage sale, but they told me it was from Crate & Barrel
• Glider: refinished with coral fabric from DwellStudio
• Wall prints, paper hot air balloons, alphabet pillow: Right at Helm Etsy shop
• Knit blanket: Urban Outfitters
Thanks Cheryl - well done! Readers, visit Cheryl's Tumblr Right.at.Helm.
(Images: Cheryl/Right.at.Helm)
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This looks great and very sophisticated but I do have a question that goes beyond this room. What are the effects of color or lack of color in child development? I think this could be something that Apartment Therapy could do a feature on.
I'm no child sight development expert, but according to this guy who is (http://www.ski.org/Vision/babyvision.html ), while babies can see colors, "Infants reflexively prefer to look at high-contrast edges and patterns." Contrast is something that this room has a lot of, in addition to being fantastic and filled with all sorts of objects made by hand with love. From my personal experience, babies spend very little awake time in their rooms anyway. The rest of the world has plenty of color for them. Great job on the room!!!
@Stevenportland, thanks. As anecodotal evidence, we have an infant who is drawn to our black frame/white mat artwork/photos in our living room. We also have a toddler who wants everything pink and I would love to know where she picked up this preference. It was definitely a color we did not push on her. To expand on my question, with my travels I find the color palette in the USA to be pretty mute (beige) compared to other cultures. I'd be curious to see how color is introduced to kids in those other cultures.
This is the first ever nursery featured here I actually like and ever commented on. Good job overall, and in particular in staying away from the ubiquitous pastels.
Wonderful! Noelle is a lucky girl!
gosh, what a lot of talent in one person...great job
The color scheme is fantastic!
Really lovely room and I am inspired to try your paint chip art!
This is absolutely gorgeous, Cheryl! I love all the art work you created - the giraffes really caught my eye - and am very drawn to the mix of neutrals with subtle pattern in the bedding.
Congratulations on your baby girl!
Perfection! The giraffe print is seriously incredible. You're so talented!
The giraffe print is awesome...so many cool details. I can't believe you made the birch trees. One talented artist mama!
beautiful! Love the colors and all the handmade things you did - esp the giraffe artwork. Would love to see a DIY on that one!
thanks guys!! appreciate the love!
@duanehill - i had the same concern about using muted greys and neutrals and then read that it's all about contrast for infants, hence the use of strong prints and graphics.
@alainnotebook and @ek76 - I'll post a DIY on the giraffe picture soon, it was super fun to put together and strangely therapeutic!
Giraffe art and hot air balloons are totally darling. But the glider!! That piece makes the room, and I can't believe you handled the color and upholstery yourself when you were 8 months pregnant! When I was 8 months pregnant, I mostly handled getting the ice cream out of the freezer.
It's a beautiful room. I eventually plan on painting my youngest daughters room gray. But it can't just be me who looks at these beautiful nurseries and laughs...either one of my kids would have destroyed that in a week. Still, its nice to look at other peoples pretty rooms!
Love the crib bedding, can you tell me where you purchased?
We're expecting baby #1 in October and we'll be sharing our bedroom. It's currently ruby, espresso and off-white--and I want to add in light grey and yellow for baby :)
Hi I was wondering what is the grey that you used? I really like this shade.
@jladin - Congrats on baby#1, I love the grey+yellow combo! The bumper and sheets were both from walmart.com. I don't think they carry that bumper anymore unfortunately. (we also don't really use the bumper for safety reasons, but I love the design!) The sheets were just plain white ones. And the skirt I sewed myself. There are some great grey+yellow combos at landofnod and target also.
@crystalb - we used two shades from home depot, Glidden "granite grey" for the lighter parts of the room around the glider, and Glidden "dark granite" which was darker and worked better with the tree decal wall around her crib.
Yes, please post a DIY and more pics of the giraffe art. That is seriously cute!
Great room! I like the hot air balloons -- and the Amy Butler paper they are made from. I do a lot of crafts with paper for my own Etsy shop, and that was one of my favorite collections.
Hang onto your bumpers. If Noelle is like my son, she will begin gnawing on her pretty crib at some point -- and I folded the bumpers over the top edge, all the way around the crib, as a "teething rail." :)
Sorry to sound negative, but I can't really applaud anyone who buys a crib at WalMart. WalMart!! Come on! They kill American jobs, factories, and mom and pop stores, and are terrible to their employees. It would have been better if you bought a used crib on craigslist and then painted it grey yourself.
This nursery is a dream! Great job on keeping it classy sans pastels!
Here is the link to the tutorial on the giraffe paint-chip art:
http://rightathelm.tumblr.com/post/27175465334/diy-paint-chip-art