gender-neutral nurseries- help!

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so hubby and i are not finding out who our little bean is going to be until they’re here iA. the problem is, how to design a gender-neutral nursery? i don’t like pastels, i like murals, i love grey, white, black, yellow, orange, fuchsia, and red. i don’t want animals or anything too “baby” and no disney/fisher price themes. i like graphic prints and polka dots, fabric pennants and hanging pom-pom’s. i want this glider gulp@ the price but i’m saving up for it! honest! it will be my one room splurge- i will most likely get it in “charcoal” iA- Luca Nursery Glider Chair | Baby Nursery Furniture by Monte Design.
we haven’t found a new apartment yet so a lot depends on how big the baby’s room will be.

how much storage should i plan for outside of the closet? my plan is to get a crib, and then a mid-century mod dresser (eg: http://www.ohdeedoh.com/uimages/ohdeedoh/2010-04-15-broyhill.jpg) that i want to paint in something bright to use as a change table/display top plus storage. do i need a bookshelf too?

should the walls be light, medium, or dark? is dove grey a pretty colour for a nursery? should i go tone on tone or contrasty?

finding modern crib bedding at non-exorbitant prices is another dilemma. i really wish i knew how to sew :confused: ikea has some gorgeous fabrics.

the furniture will be a mix of white (crib, most likely) and walnut (the dresser, unless i do paint it something bright) or vice versa? if painted, the bookshelf would be white, if not, would it be walnut? the crib i was in love with, was discontinued sniff http://www.ohdeedoh.com/uimages/ohdeedoh/2008-08-14-amy%20coe%20lifetime%20crib.jpg whyyy, oh why? it was perfection! that brown, btw, is what i’m referring to as walnut. now i’m leaning towards this crib in walnut, not the espresso its shown as- http://hi.atgimg.com/img/x/3209/dsa3503-47.jpg

this site- http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/home-tours - has been invaluable in terms of ideas and inspiration but i find myself loving a lot of different things, and not sure how to pair them up together.

what would/did you do?

help!

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

We got a crib + diaper changing station from someone who had bought a brand new one and ended up not using it. It was a light-colored wood, pretty. Then someone gave me baby bedding (Sesame Street) at my work baby shower. So that took care of that.

That’s pretty much it. We lived in a small apartment then, didn’t have an extra room for the baby, so we put the crib in our master bedroom.

Now I’m focused on decorating the girls’ rooms.

I think it’s nice to have neutral tones not just because you don’t know the gender but also because after a while having gender-specific colors makes it boring. I love grey and red. Can you have someone paint a mural on one of the walls…something in light-medium dark grey tones with a splash of red somewhere? Not too much color because when you want to paint over, then it’ll be easier. Then get white furniture. It always looks soothing and clean.

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

Our bright orange works great with pastels as well as jungle themes as well as the random prints we’ve got.

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

^ What kind of orange is it? Is the whole room orange?

I was thinking this grey for the walls… I love it with the yellow- http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/nursery-tours/grahams-fabric-fabulous-nursery-nursery-tour-122307

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

It’s like a tic-tac orange – brighter than I expected, but gorgeous in a matte finish.

I think the grey can look really nice if you have brightly colored graphic prints to decorate.

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

I was thinking to suggest grey and yellow nursery color scheme too but you already posted the pic. It looks great! Just make sure to use the right shades of grey and yellow. Especially yellow paint color can easily go wrong!

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

what about green and brown?

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

I’m all about the grey these days, Reha**… althogh I bought this bedding for the crib already but now I don’t like it as much :confused:
http://www.organicmattressbedding.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/olli-lime-Toddler-Bedding-Collection-.png

I was lucky and got this on sale for a huge discount because they discontinued this line, but now I need something in grey and some colour. Does anyone know where to get non-character’y, mod crib bedding without spending $300+ on the crib set?

Having said that** if I knew it was a girl beforehand, I would have done the nursery in lilac and brown.

CA, you’re right! Yellow can go wrong and grey can look like concrete. I’ll have to test out a few for sure.

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

A friend did her babys’ in a pretty pea-green with block-print motifs on the walls in cream, olive and brown.

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

SGC, check out the pottery barn store at sherway gardens! we got tons of items i.e murals/rugs/decor for the girls, you will definitely find many ideas there…good luck :slight_smile:

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

ooh, thanks for the tip! the PB in Eaton Center is actually closing so there’s a huge sale on now.

i’ve revised the colours to a very pale teal for the walls with orange as the accent colour for a boy, with bits of yellow thrown in, and I’ll add in some hot pink if the Bean is a girl child. I’ll do up a design board and post it here soon.

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

when are you due? :slight_smile:

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

The light gray could look very nice. I have a dress that is gray, with a gradiant of very light to medium gray. Incorporate a light yellow colour, with a salmon pink and torqoise/teal splash and it will look so pretty! (yeah, i get colour inspirations from my clothes. ha ha).

This way, boy or girl, the room woudl still go.

I’m excited for you SGC!

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

My sister did the pale blue (more a seafoam) with hot pink for her daughter’s room (she’s older). She wanted something from the blue family, but wanted to make it girly and wow, do the hot pink accents pop!

She’s got this hot pink feather lamp and these like banarsi saree cushions, again in hot pink with beads. Although these accents might sound too mature for a baby’s room, you could actually put the cushions on the rocker and the lamp, really it could work anywhere in the room.

And if I haven’t said it before, m’A on the happy news and congrats SGC!

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

different colour combos:

http://www.summernicolephotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/nursery-pics-768x1024.jpg

http://www.brightideasconsulting.net/images/baby_nursery_decor_style.jpg

http://sprogsndogs.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/boy-nursery-decor.gif

http://www.creative-baby-nursery-rooms.com/images/modern-baby-girl-nursery-21243030.jpg

http://www.chiccheapnursery.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/IMG_8427.jpg

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

nabz, june iA :slight_smile:

afshi, i get inspiration from clothes too hee hee. LOVE the pics you posted- thank you so much! i particularly love the grey walls with the green/white stripe 3/4 of the way up. that stripe is just perfect.

thank you, sehrysh! i’m really loving the pale teal or aqua or seafoam with hot pink or orange or yellow or even little pops of red.

these are the current inspiration colours pour moi- vintage teal, orange, and yellow.

this is the crib i’m getting-

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/cribs-bassinets/baby-mod-olivia-crib-at-walmart-043519

a friend’s mom is a really good seamstress so i’m going to have her sew me some fitted crib sheets because i can’t find good, mod prints in those crib sets and i’m not planning on using the bumper or crib skirt either.
my current crib sheet covet’s are from this line- http://www.oilostudio.com/Products/BabyBedding.aspx
so i want to find similarly styled fabric and NOT $400 a pop. jeez.

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

You can find solid print crib sheets though in regular baby stores. here are a few others:

http://www.toysrus.com/registry/index.jsp

Love this one for a girl

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

^ Ah bless! Thank you!
I’ve already got a registry started at Babies but it is lacking in crib sheets at the moment.

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

oh this is nice
http://www.creative-baby-nursery-rooms.com/images/modern-baby-girl-nursery-21243030.jpg

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Re: gender-neutral nurseries- help!

i really love what she’s done here- http://blog.hannamac.com/2010/12/26/mias-nursery/

the chalkboard walls are adorable!