Typically, when one thinks of nurseries, powdery blues, pinks, and yellows come to mind. But nurseries can be beautiful in darker colors, too. Plus, babies just might appreciate it, too. Just think — they enjoyed hanging out in a pretty dark and cozy space for a while before joining the household! Plus, colors and whites alike will really pop in contrast against such dark walls — yet another thing newborn babies really like!
INSPIRATION ROOMS:
1. Apartment Therapy's winner of the Small Kids, Big Color contest last year.
2. House of Honey
3. Apartment Therapy
4. Elements of Style
5. House Tweaking
PAINT COLORS TO GET THIS LOOK:
1. Iron Ore by Sherwin Williams
2. Iron Mountain by Benjamin Moore
3. Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore
4. Down Pipe by Farrow & Ball
5. Dependable by Pratt & Lambert
6. Steel Wool by Pratt & Lambert
7. Almost Charcoal by Valspar
8. Seal Gray by Glidden
9. DKC-98 by Donald Kaufman
10. Mercer by Ralph Lauren
(Images: as linked above)
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ooo pretty! I like the first 2 the best :)
I think this works quite well for those nurseries that often double as a guest room.
I can't help but think this trend will become a regular feature on http://unhappyhipsters.com
Gray's a classy, sophisticated color. Nurseries can be both. I find nothing unhappy or jaded about the nurseries featured above. Babies are inspired by social interaction- hopefully they're not spending most of their waking hours in the nursery, anyway, so it's definitely a parents' prerogative to enjoy the style while they can- baby will start expressing preferences soon enough. :)
Gray is beautiful, but in the frozen north we get too much of it for too much of the year. There's a reason "Scandinavian" style features brilliant white walls - to reflect light when it's dark before 4:30PM. Darkness combined with slushy yucky snow = a recipe for depression. I don't mind it as an accent color, but a whole room would make me nuts.
Not biased at all, as we painted our baby girl's nursery dark grey, but I think this look is wonderful. Cozy and warm, where brights just pop off the wall and whites are crisp. We paired our dark walls with an orange dresser and a Jonathan Adler lamp, a white Ikea crib and a bright pink butterfly mobile, a sofa with lots of bright patterned pillows. Skylights keep the room from feeling too dark. This room will serve as a nursery now and then will become the master when our infant graduates to her big girl room on a different floor at two years old. We made the color choice one that works for the long term, but I don't believe we sacrificed our baby's inspiration.
We know babies vision isn't fully developed when they are new and that they don't immediately see color. We know they see contrast. Dark gray juxtaposed to contrasting, bright, cheerful colors is actually not a bad color strategy for nurseries. Like most things color, it's all about proper balance.