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.  

Paint:  Accent Wall - Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black 6258

Main Walls - Sherwin Williams Passive 7064

If you are looking for nursery design inspiration, these are my favorite websites, along with Pinterest of course!

Tiny Me Blog

Lay Baby Lay 

(she has the BEST nursery design boards)

Project Nursery

Little Peanut Magazine

(this is where my niece's nursery I designed was featured)

Boy or Girl Nursery Designs

Way before we found out what we were having, I started to think about designing a nursery for our first little peanut.  I was so excited to be pregnant and to be finally designing my very own nursery.  Since we didn't know if it was going to be a girl or a boy, I had to put some ideas together for both genders.  As a designer and a first time mommy, I wanted to put a lot of thought into this nursery and make it extra special.  I have designed a lot of baby girl nurseries but never a baby boy nursery.  So naturally, I started designing a baby girl nursery first because I had SO many ideas for a little girl.  A baby boy nursery was going to be much more of a challenge for me!  If you saw this post, you know that we found out we are having a BOY!

Initially, I really thought the baby was a girl.  I had every momma instinct that it was a girl.  The old wives tales of the string test, the chinese calendar, all pointed to a girl!  So, to find out I would be designing that boy nursery after all was a huge shock to me.  But now that I have some great ideas that I am really excited about for a baby boy nursery, I feel a little more at ease with it, besides the fact, that I know nothing about being a boy momma!  (I am so used to being around little girls and princesses and baby dolls!)  Now that it has sunk in a little though, I couldn't be more excited to have a boy.  We are over the moon excited to meet our little guy!

As I said before, the baby girl nursery design came very easy and naturally for me.  I have always loved a soft color palette with whites, creams, and soft pinks for a little girl.  I have been obsessed with this rug from Lulu & Georgia forever now, so I basically built the room around the color palette of the rug.  Flamingos are a huge trend right now, and their beautiful pink colors lend nicely to a little girls nursery.  And every little girl needs some gold accents and sparkle in her room.  

Side Table  //  Flamingo Watercolor  //  Chandelier  //  Pillow  //  

Fluffy Pillow  //  Pouf  //  Rocker  //  Rug  //

Crib  //  Dresser/Changing Table

Here are a few examples of baby girl nurseries I found on Pinterest that I loved.  You can see more Girl Nursery inspiration on my Pinterest board NURSERY - GIRL.  

from lulu & georgia

from Country Living Magazine

from Studio McGee

from HGTV's Fixer Upper

from Style Me Pretty

For the baby boy nursery, I still like the idea of keeping the color palette fairly neutral.  I have always liked a monochromatic nursery color palette for boys with woods tones, gray, black and white.  After all, a newborn can only see in black and white and shades of gray at first anyways.

One thing I knew I wanted for a boy nursery was a bold accent wall, whether it be wallpaper, a stencil, or even painting one wall black for a dramatic contrast to the room.  I love little boy rooms that have a very masculine bohemian feel to them with leather accents, wood tones, and dark colors, yet babyish with soft, furry rugs, and bright whites.

Side Table  //  Wall Pennants  //  Ceiling Light  //  Bear Art  //  

Leather Pouf  //  Rocker  //  Rug  //

Crib  //  Dresser/Changing Table 

Inspiration for boy nursery.

from Project Nursery

from Lonny Magazine

from Tiny Me

from Project Nursery Designs Trends 2016

from Tiny Me

Now that we know we are having a baby boy, I have come up with two very detailed designs that I am debating between.  Both very similar, but with 2 very different themes.  So, you will have to wait to see those.  Sometimes I am afraid to even ask my husband's opinion when it comes to the nursery because I usually already have my mind made up before I ask.  (Typical woman, right?)  But surprisingly, he actually cares a lot about how the nursery looks and has a lot of opinions about it.  Luckily, we are on the same page when it comes to designing Baby M's nursery.

If you are looking for more nursery inspiration, you have to read all about Project Nursery's design trends for 2016 here.  And you can see more baby boy nursery inspiration on my Pinterest board NURSERY - BOY or on the board NURSERY - GENDER NEUTRAL.

I have 4 months (hopefully) to put this nursery together, and I will probably need every minute of that time.  It is a lot of pressure to decorate your own nursery as an interior designer.  There are a lot of high hopes from people for this project as I design a lot of nurseries for clients.  I just want it to be the best for our little guy! 

HOME TOUR #TBT

It has been 2 weeks now since we have moved into our new home that we built.  It always takes some time to get readjusted, reorganized, and used to the change.  It still doesn't quite feel like home yet, but each day it feels a little more like our home.  Getting used to a new grocery store, new route around town, new sounds inside the house, finding where everything is, and then finding where I unpacked it, and new neighbors!  All the important things of moving!

So, since it is Throw Back Thursday #TBT, I thought I would post our very last home tour of our last home.  It was the home my husband and I bought as an engaged couple, came home to as a married couple, and where we found out we were expecting our first child.  It carries a lot of firsts for us, and will always be a special home to us, but we know this new home will be so much more special as we start our family here.

HOME TOUR OF OLD HOUSE (not our new house)

just so there is no confusion! 

Our new home that we built, is set up so differently and has almost double the amount of square footage, so it has been a fun challenge to organize and decorate the house.  After only 2 weeks of living there, there is obviously a TON of work to be done yet, so a home tour of our new home will come soon enough when I feel a little more organized! :) 

It was sad to see this house go, but after 5 years of living here, and a baby on the way, it was time! 

It's a......BOY!!!!

Over Mother's Day weekend, we revealed the gender of our first baby arriving in September to our family!!



The big news is out!  I am expecting!!! Half way through at 22 weeks now!

I haven't been able to post on my blog lately because I have had A LOT going on in my life.  In January, my husband and I found out that we will be expecting our first child mid-September.  In January, we also broke ground on our new home we've been working on building the last 6 months.  In the past 2 weeks, we found out our baby's gender and moved into our new home!!  The past few months have been a whirlwind and unfortunately, blogging just has to take a back seat to ensure this busy momma gets the rest she needs right now.  But now that I have so many new and exciting things happening, I can't wait to share everything with all of my followers.

My husband and I found out the gender of the baby at the doctors office about a week and a half ago.  It's been tough not spilling the beans to our family and friends in the meantime, especially when they were asking us a million questions to see if we would slip up and reveal it early!  Well we didn't, and the gender reveal party turned out great!!  It was a great time to have some of our closest family over to our new home and surprise them with either a little girl or little boy addition to the family!!

I still can't believe I'm getting a little baby boy in a few short months!  For some reason, throughout this entire pregnancy, I kept thinking it was going to be a girl!  I have a lot to learn about being a boy momma!!



























My neice Emersyn has always thought the baby was going to be a boy!  And here are some other predictions from my family.






















These pictures crack me up!  You would have thought I was surprised it was a BOY too even though I had known the gender of our baby for the last week and a half before this!  We found out "the old fashioned way" at the doctor's office during the 20 week ultrasound.  I think I was just so excited to finally share the news with our family.  (and maybe still thought pink balloons would magically pop out!  haha!) Meanwhile, my husband is a little less surprised because, duh!, he knew it was a boy!  :)

This Papa Bear is pretty excited to be having a baby boy!! ;)

Luckily, since we just moved into our new house a week and a half before this, we had a ton of boxes to hide balloons in for the reveal.  I wrapped the box in brown craft paper.  Painted a heart on the front with black paint.  Hung a blue banner and pink banner to the front to dress it up a bit, which was just made out of scrapbook paper.  Then wrote all the words on the front with a chalk marker.  Party City has just about every party theme possible, so I bought most of the blue and pink decor from them.  I made the 'BOY OR GIRL' banner out of scrapbook paper.  The "blue drink" was blue gatorade and the "pink drink" was pink lemonade.  The drink dispensers I recently bought from World Market and I love that you can fill the center with fruit.  I had to buy a separate drink stand from Target to go with it.  

Thankfully we moved into our new house just in time to have a few family members over to announce the news.  It made the gender reveal that much more special to be in the new house we will be bringing this little nugget home to!