{Jessica Stout Design}: Baby Boy Nursery Design Options

Now that we have announced and everyone knows that we are having a baby BOY, I have been frantically designing a boy nursery. Before we found out the gender, I put together baby boy and baby girl nursery design boards just to get the creative juices flowing. I say frantically because deciding how to design this space and what theme I wanted to go with has been SO HARD for me!! I am so indecisive when it comes to designing my own home. Initially I was all over the place just because I liked so many different ideas! You can see from my Pinterest board of nursery designs for boys.

After hours and hours on Pinterest and every kids rooms inspiration website I knew of, I finally narrowed it down to 2 themes. There were a lot of reoccuring design features that I was liking no matter what the theme was. I just couldn't get my mind off of having a black accent wall in the nursery and having a neutral black, white, and gray color palette with wood tones. So that really helped me narrow down the theme and design direction I wanted to go in.

As soon as I saw this wildlife wallpaper from Chasing Papers, I knew a rustic wildlife theme would be a top contender! Googly eyes for days! I loved it!

@mothermeg instagram

How adorably amazing is this wallpaper?!?!? It also comes in a 'Wild Things' print with safari animals. I have also seen this print as a fabric.

I also found these items during my search for nursery theme ideas and fell in love with a moon and constellation theme. I think this is a very different look for a baby boy. I have said it time and time again, that I am not a fan of "babyish" nursery decor. I knew I could make this theme really fun and adventurous for a little boy and a space that he could grow into and hopefully a space that sparks his imaginination.

from Target's Pillowfort Collection

Celestial Map from Urban Outfitters

These two themes, Wild and Free and To the Moon and Back as I like to call them, really sparked my interest the most. I felt like they could be similar in many ways, with similar furniture just different accessories. I decided I couldn't really decide until I saw both visually through design boards.

The 'Wild and Free' nursery theme is much more rustic with a woodland animals theme, focusing on bears. There are so many fun things you can do with this theme -- wood tones, warm color palette, arrows, animals, fur throws. It has a lot of flexibility and doesn't have to be overly 'themey.'

The 'To the Moon and Back' theme would be all about astronomy with a focus on moon and stars. This theme also has a lot of flexibilty in the decor and I would play up more of the textures and patterns in this space. Keeping the color palette very basic, but mixing lots of patterns with wood tones thrown in for softness and masculinity.

Both nursery ideas would have a black accent wall. I love the boldness of this. Both would have a modern white crib with a two-toned wood feature. I love the dapper gentlemens look mid-century modern furniture lends to a nursery. So a mid-century dresser as the changing table is a must. I have been obsessed with using a dresser like this for a boy's nursery for a while now, so it was a must.

I love so many elements of both of the nursery designs. This is going to be a really hard decision. Here are some real-lfe nurseries and design boards I found online to visually get a better idea of what I wanted for the space. (Can you tell I have been overthinking this for way too long now?!?)

Lay Baby Lay nephew's nursery

black & white nursery from Little Gatherer

Lay Baby Lay Woodland Wonder

Kaiven's Space Nursery

Lay Baby Lay Rocket Baby

After much deliberation and my husband and I actually choosing the same theme, I have finally landed on a decision and a firm design plan for the nursery. But you will have to wait until the next post to find out what it will be..........

Until then, here is a sneak peek of the black accent wall my mom and I painted (yes I used no VOC paint so I could help). I am loving it! I was SO afraid it would be too dark and make the room feel smaller but it definitely didn't. It is just the look I was after. We have no lighting in the room yet and minimal natural light, so this isn't a great picture.