Ideas For Cool Nursery Themes????????

[elvisfan]

I thought I'd start a thread where we share our ideas for *different nursery themes*. I think that the Beatles Yellow Submarine wuld make a good theme.Think bright yellows and blues. A mural of a submarine on the wall alongside a vintage movie poster(of Yellow Submarine)..any other ideas?

[jenniedee]

Great idea. I have stumped my mother-in-law because she can't find anything to match my "theme". I am having a little boy in July and wanted to give him a room he can grow into, nothing too baby-ish or coordinated. So, after rejecting my husband's "Star Wars" idea, I thought of the vintage (1940's-1960's) space publications for children. After some searching, I found several examples of illustrations from these books, and they are great!

I am painting the vaulted ceiling a dark blue/black. Then I will paint dots to represent star constellations visible in the summer. On the main wall with the tall ceiling, I am painting a mural of a beautiful shiny red rocket, blasting off from the moon which I will paint at the bottom of the wall. In the circular window of the rocket, I will paint our beloved "daughter", our dog Maggie. The background will start out as the dark blue at the top, fading to a lighter color at the bottom. The main colors I am looking for are blues, bright yellow-green, and an orange-red, with splashes of medium gray.

I have found some funky space-age lamps at Target (brushed steel with 5 heads) as well as modular storage in gray with silver accents. I will attempt to create an indoor awning to be placed over the arched window on the opposite vaulted wall out of an opaque corrugated fiberglass sheet. I have an old wooden dresser and a vanity (without the mirror that I will convert into a changing table area) that I plan to paint to look like robots or some kind of mega-computer. All this is just a theory so far...we are moving at the end of March into our new house. I hope I can get everything set up in time!

Any ideas about a rocking chair? I really dislike the way the gliders look and am thinking about an "old-fashioned" rocking chair.

Another idea I had for a girl's room:
I found these 1940's children's kimonos at an antique mall when still in college and not even thinking about children. I snatched them up and was thinking about painting some of the whimsical scenes from the vintage fabric onto the wall. Trying to find cribs that aren't so embellished with clean modern lines is a little difficult.

Not all parents are into pastel!:7

Go to http://www.reprodepotfabrics.com for some fun inspiration.

[C99]

I did mine in Kate Greenaway illustrations, inspired by the My Book House series edited by Olive Beaupre Miller

[Jen841]

Do you or your husband have a favorite children's book?

My husband LOVED Curious George, so we are doing a Curious George theme which is not super unique, but not easy to find accessories for. We fortunately found fabric at Walmart that my mother is using to make bedding accessories (bumper, quilt, bed skirt,...) We are finding little do-dads along the way. I don't want overkill on the theme, so it works for us. We don't know if we are having a girl or boy, so if it is a girl we will add more red bows.

Another idea is the alphabet. There is a lot you could do with bright colors, blocks,... This was a second choice for me.

Have fun putting it all together. We have the pieces, and now need to put everything together after painting the room in 2 weeks.

Jen
Due 05/25/03

[atlmom]

"Any ideas about a rocking chair? I really dislike the way the gliders look and am thinking about an "old-fashioned" rocking chair."

I hated the look of the gliders and they made me motion sick, but couldn't find a rocker that was comfortable. I am nursing my son so comfort was really important to me, particularly early on when I was up to feed him every few hours.

I did not have a rocker by the time my son was born, so I moved an upholstered chair and ottoman from my living room as a temporary solution. I was sold. It was so comfortable and I could put my feet up, put on the nursing pillow (my best friend, not the bobby) and doze as my son nursed. We eventually purchased a slipcovered chair and ottoman for my son's room and now we can read to him in it and he can use it as he grows up.

[mary b]

HI Jen, we did DD's room in Curious George as well due to my husband's love of the monkey as well. You will just look at the room and love it when it's done, I am sure! After almost 2 years, I still think it is awesome! We went to Home Depot and they scanned the book and we painted it that bright yellow (4 coats later!), then we found someone to come in and paint the most amazing scenes from the books.. I agree on not overkilling the theme, so we found some bedding from California Kids and incoropated solids with all the other CG stuff in the room. My bro went CRAZY on accessories from Ebay so with the walls and the accessories, it is plenty but not too much George. (My favorites are the rocket bookends!). We painted old furniture white with primary color accents. We didn't know what she was going to be and I find it is find for a girl or boy. I am actually due with my second in Sept. and they will be sharing a room so it is prefect for either gender. It's funny when people see it, it is such a contrast to all the PBK pretty pastel themes but it works for us and I am so glad we did it!

Take care!
Mary

[colleenfs]

I am a children's librarian, so I obviously adore children's books. I have had an extensive collection of plush children's book characters for years, and they're now on display in Julia's room. (Lily from "Lily's Purple Plastic Purse," Anne of Green Gables, Curious George, Really Rosie, Corduroy, Eloise, Curious George, Peter Rabbit, etc.) I also have lots of prints and posters of book covers, so they decorate her walls. Her carpet is light sage green and her crib bedding is periwinkle and sage with a little bit of rose. Grammie (also a children's librarian, incidentally) made the bumper and quilt, as we just could not find anything we liked. I just added solid fitted sheets in the same colors. Her room is so sweet, and she is already a little bookworm!

Colleen
Mama to Julia 1-10-02

[Jen841]

I am so excited to hear of another CG room! Our's will be painted this weekend.

Walmart has great fabric for $3-4 a yard. My Mother made a quilt with scenes of a book that they had there. It turned out GREAT!

I purchased a rubber stamp at Michael's of just George that we hope to put on pegs for the wall. The stamp was used by a friend for the invitations for my shower, and I have made Thank You's with it.

I'll check E-Bay for items. Thanks for the idea!

[rainydog1]

I also was searching for a "unique" theme for our baby's room and went through the list of characters as well, Curious George, Babar, etc. Finally, I chose our colors and a good friend who is very talented artistically offered to paint some characters on the walls. Since we have two dogs and a cat who have been our only "family" for many years, I decided to have her paint the animals in cartoon character on the walls, along with their own dog and cat houses. The animals are 2/3 up on the wall and appear to be "looking down" at baby. The houses are on floor level. We also picked out coordinating fabric for a window treatment, crib bumper and comforter cover and are having those made. I thought it was easier than picking a whole "matching" theme and it looks great! I think the baby will love it...we do!