Need inspiration for neutral nursery look, crib bedding

[nitaghei]

Hi!

We did the same thing!

We went with dogs - which I would do anyway. I'm *just* a tad dog-crazy. We have a dog wallpaper border, and watercolors in my chosen breeds as well as a dog lamp. I went with plain bedding and natural beech furniture, though, because the room is tiny.

Another option is a clestial theme - stars and moon. I love this look - and it's something that could easily grow with the baby.

An alphabet theme is a possibility - there are some really cute alphabet cards that one could frame. And there are great options for wallpaper and bedding.

I'm sure you'll get more suggestions from the very talented people here. Do check out some the previous threads about nursery decorations.

HTH

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[amp]

We didn't really go with a theme. We painted the walls 2 neutral beigy colors (think mocha and cream), divided by a white chair rail. The valance was blue gingham check, as was the crib skirt. No bumpers. Quilt was handmade by MIL in yellow and blue. Sheets were a variety...yellow, blue, animals, etc. White and blue lamp with stars, and stars on the wall. White furniture. Pretty cute, but not very imaginative. Worked well for us.

[smilequeen]

Well...we actually want to find out the baby's sex, but as of yesterday, he or she does not seem to want us to know...if we don't find out at our quickie gender check in a few weeks...we're going to go ahead with a gender neutral nursery too :)

These are some of the ideas we have so far...

http://www.poshtots.com/pt/catalog/product_detail.asp?category_id=109&heirarchy_id=604&product_id=2743

http://www.poshtots.com/pt/catalog/product_detail.asp?category_id=109&heirarchy_id=604&product_id=1722

http://www.poshtots.com/pt/catalog/product_detail.asp?category_id=109&heirarchy_id=604&product_id=2290

http://www.poshtots.com/pt/catalog/product_detail.asp?category_id=109&heirarchy_id=604&product_id=3103

http://www.babybox.com/camcribbedco.html

I'm getting lost in all of this :)

[classyt]

You may want to check out Pottery Barn Kids and Land of Nod. A lot of their bedding is very neutral. You could go with a theme (we chose the Velour Animals Bedding from PB Kids, although we know we're having a boy, but I still think it could work for either) or choose just simple colors and patters (their ric-rac bedding and gingham bedding is adorable).

As for painting, we chose to paint the room a total of 4 colors, but primarily 2 with accents of 2 others (all pretty neutral). If you like yellow, there is an AWESOME color called Applesauce by either Glidden or Behr that is delicious. The PB Kids catalog provides nice inspiration for simple, graphic painting techniques also.

Good luck and have fun!

P.S. I too love Moons and Stars, and PB Kids has a very nice celestial theme.

[Joshuasmommy]

We didn't find out the sex either so I painted the walls a pale yellow and the ceiling sky blue with white clouds. My mom made a quilt with duckies on it and we bought a few accessories with duckies but nothing permanent so we can change it to be more boyish since we had a boy as he gets a little older.

[strike71]

we also did not find out the sex and got PBK Jungle Animals bedding.

[KBecks]

Our baby is being shy too, we couldn't find out the gender at the last ultrasound -- maybe we'll find out at the next one.

Even though I want to have a boy or girl feeling, a lot of the stuff we purchase will probably be neutral so it could be re-used for future babies. I like the PBK velour animals, but will probably do something less expensive. Will definitely get a yellow, green or white fleecebaby sheet, and a yellow, green or white changing pad cover.

KBecks

[jodi b]

I like children's literature so I considered several different children's book themes for our nursery, but I knew we had a winner when my husband told me he had a set of toddler dishes his grandmother painted for him using Beatrix Potter characters.

We'll display the dishes and my (er, the baby's, I mean) Beatrix Potter books, frame some Beatrix Potter prints, and use other Beatrix Potter accents.

Our nursery already had beautiful white eyelet curtains when we bought the house. We're going to use a white eyelet bedskirt and white sheets. The furniture has a natural finish. The walls will be painted a light to medium toned blue. (The selection of the 'perfect' shade of blue is a critical topic in our house right now!)

There are SO many children's picture books out there that would make great nursery themes! A lot of books have illustrations that would be easy to tranfer to a mural. Another option would be to buy an extra copy of the book to pull pages out of to mat and frame.

Happy baby-planning!

[HallsofVA]

Here's what we went with. We originally chose this design and the barnyard theme when my son was being shy for the camera(s). Our thought was that it was neutral, or could be made more boyish or girlish with some minor tweaks and accessories.



http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/9257.jpg

[writeleigh]

We didn't find out either. We did an Ark theme - there was this beautiful quilt I fell in love with. It is a very neutral set and I can reuse it. The colors are rich - rich browns, turqoise, yellow, etc.

Leigh

[bostonsmama]

I have always loved the John Lennon Real Love bedding set by Carter's. Baby Bargains gave them a pretty stellar review for having good, quality stitching, cotton threads, wash/fade resistance, elastic all around the sheets, and 100% cotton/200 thread count items. They have the most beautiful pastel shades of blue, green, yellow, pink, purple, and orange with the most endearing animals...very similar to a jungle theme and could easily turn into a Noah's Ark theme. I have everything from the collection (comforter, sheets, skirt, bumper, valances, lamp, organizer, mobile, receiving blankets, toys/rattles, wall border) and everything is extremely gender neutral. We figured when the baby came we would paint the top half of the wall yellow and the bottom half either blue, green or pink.

If you're looking for a more upscale look, check out Susan Turner bedding. They have the most adorable bunny motif, including all sorts of toiles and checks. I think toile is perfect in red, black, light blue, light green, and yellow....so nongender specific. She has her own website, and the Bellini in Atlanta, GA sells some of her bedding and accessories. Frankly, though, after seeing them in person, I cannot justify their outrageous expense: $1500-$3000 for a 4-piece set. The fabrics were stiff and somewhat scratchy, not soft at all. But that's just me.

[decbaby04]

Hi...saw your message, hope this helps:
Our baby was also camara shy when we went for U/S. Tech says "probable girl", hope to find out this week for sure. Anyway, my husband and I fell in love with Carter's Joy Hide N' Seek Bear. This is available at Babies R Us. It is sage green gingham & white with pink, yellow and blue. Has litte bears & bunnies playing hide and seek pattern. They carry all accessories for this theme too. Really cute. 4 piece crib bedding runs about $139.
www.babiesrus.com

[babymama]

Hi there! I have an example of what NOT to do.
We didn't want to know gender either. So in a moment of bad judgement (pregnancy brain), we chose light green and lavender.
The lavender is looking pretty girlie now. Wish we had gone for another color scheme. We'll probably paint again soon.

Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03

[sniknshelb]

My wife and I also decided to go with a neutral theme, and there's alot of baby bedding to look at.

We found and both very much liked "2" designs by Lambs & Ivy.

Their "Tuscany" and "Verona" themes...both share the same color palate.

The Tuscany which is an exclusive at Babies 'R Us has little lambs, ducks.

The Verona has Star & Moon.

We decided to go with the Verona :)

http://store.yahoo.com/dreamtimebaby/verona.html

Good Luck...

Todd & Sherry
Toledo, OH
edd: 10/02/04

[KrisM]

We didn't find out either, and figure any future kids would be sharing the room anyway, so neutral was good. We painted the walls and ceiling a pale blue, just to have a bit of color. Other than that, we're using primary colors plus green - hey the room will soon be decorated by Fisher Price, why not start now!

The dresser is white, but we painted the drawers in blue, red, and green. The background of the book case is yellow. We have solid color sheets in blue and red. The crib skirt and valance are polka dots of blue, red, green, and yellow.

We put quilted wall hangings of balloons on the walls.

I really like it and it doesn't scream baby's room, which I also like.

Kris

[kitmama]

Our nursery is mostly a celestial theme in yellow, blue and white. I was inspired by the stars and moons bedding from PBK- several things in the nursery are from that PBK line, but I bought it all on ebay. We have bedding with stars and moons, or clouds. The curtains have stars on them, I have a sparkly star mobile over the changing table/dresser, and a blue star chenille rug on the floor. The lamp and nightlight both have stars. The room was already painted as a nursery when we moved in, and luckily I love it. It is painted in yellow and pale beige, in vertical stripes about a foot wide. The alphabet is painted along one wall, and on another wall is an adorable mural of the "Hey, Diddle Diddle" nursery rhyme. Both murals have lots of stars, so the celestial theme seemed like a natural extension that I would enjoy.

It has really come together nicely, but it's still a work in progress! (Since I get so much stuff second-hand, it can take me awhile to pull it all together). I have a quilt that I will hang on one wall, and I still want to get my hands on a particular curtain rod from PBK. Also, I need to organize ds's toys and books. really, though, it's one of the nicest rooms in the house to spend time in. I LOVE the whole stars and moons thing. Very gender neutral, and certainly doesn't scream "baby".

I will try to take some pics for you in the next couple days and get them up.

[hwin708]

I like this set for a gender neutral room.
http://www.yummybaby.com/webeehoevaf.html
It has a frog prince on one side and a frog princess on the other - perfect!

[noahcraigsmom]

We didn't find out the sex either (although I was pretty sure I was having a boy, which I did) so we went neutral.

We found a great border at Babies R Us called 'Believing in Dreams' - it's actually an Eddie Bauer pattern. It has tan, mocha, maroon, navy, sage, etc in a series of stars and moons. We painted the walls two different tan colors and put the border up about 2/3 of the way (put the border out of baby's reach - I know so many people who's kid has peeled the border off once they are older and bored in their crib). The room looks good without even needing to hang pictures on the wall.

As for bedding, I just picked up some plain color sheets and bought a valance separately that went with another set from Kohls.

The attached picture doesn't show the border, but it's the bedding that goes with the border, so you can see the patterns. We love it and I don't feel like we'll need to redecorate the room the minute it's no longer used as a nursery (it'll become an office eventually).

[Lissa24]

We are not finding out either, so I wanted something very neutral, though I really think I am having a boy. lol I really have that gut feeling. Either way, we decided to go with the "Bee My Baby" from Brandee Danielle, however, we didn't buy it, I bought all the material from Hancock Fabric and made all the bedding and vallances and throw pillows and even a small throw blanket. I was going to have the bee embroidered on, but decided I liked it without, this way I am not restricted with the accent decorating. We have Boyd's Bears we are going to put as decorations and once the baby is here, we will accent with more gender based things. We are painting the nursery green on the bottom (almost a sage green) and the top half a light yellow (with a chair rail??? seperating the two colors). I went out and bought 4 little boyds bears (6" high ones) and am putting those on a cheap mobile. And later on can change the items on the mobile to fit if we have a boy/girl if I chose. If we have a boy it will end up being more outdoorsy (fishing ect...) and if we have a girl we will decorate it more girlie (but this was a good base to start with). Anyway, I have a total of $70 in the material and this was my first ever sewing project and it all turned out great. We don't have a nursery yet, so I can't show you a picture of how it turned out, but I will show you what we are basing it off from.

http://www.toncray.com/Lissa/beemybaby1.jpg
http://www.toncray.com/Lissa/be_1.jpg

[helaina]

I know I'm having a boy but I think our nursery is fairly gender neutral. The top third of the walls are light blue to represent a sky and DH is going to paint white clouds on it. The bottom 2/3 of the walls will be green with curved tops to look like mountains. We chose natural stained wood furniture and our bedding is Lulu the Lamb from babystyle.com. The only thing boyish we're doing is a wall mural of a train from wallnutz: http://www.wallnutz.com/PhotoGallery/Customertrain.jpg

Attached are the photos of other gender neutral nurseries that inspired me.

[almostamom]

I just got the new PBK catalog and they have a new gender neutral nursery set. It's called Chamois Lambie. I thought it was quite cute! Here's the link:

http://ww1.potterybarnkids.com/cat/pip.cfm?src=shpab%7Ccbdgnbd%7Cda%7Crshop%5Fb%2Fshp ab%7Ccbdg%7Cda%7Crshop%5Fb&pkey=cbdgnbd%7Cab&gids=k3016&gids=k3016


~Linda~

[carrie_geiger]

Thanks for sharing the Chamois Lambie bedding! I hadn't seen it yet and the sage green color plus the khaki gingham will match the nursery walls and curtains perfectly! :-)

~Carrie
due 24-Nov-04

[almostamom]

Oh, I'm so glad you liked it! We had already purchased the "All Aboard" set from PBK for our little guy or I probably would have gone with that set too! I received so much help from others, I'm glad to finally be able to help someone else out. I just noticed on your signature that our babies are due a week apart. Our little guy is due Nov. 17th. Is this your first?
~Linda~

[kitmama]

Well, it looks like you found what you were looking for, but I took these pics so I thought I'd share.

This is the moons and stars theme that is still a work in progress- LOL, I didn't realize how not-so-pulled-together it looks until I took pictures! But you can see the cute nursery rhyme and alphabet murals, and my starry additions here and there.

I want to hang the quilt over the dresser/changing table, and I have a cross stitch I did with a sun and moon that has ds's name and birthdate. I also want the pbk architectural star curtain rod for the curtains on the window, and I'm thinking of making a quilted cloud wallhanging to cover up the hanging cord from the star and moon Christmas lights. Etc etc.

ETA: Ooops! I thought I made these small! I'm sorry!

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10095.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10096.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10097.jpg

[carrie_geiger]

Linda,

Yes, this is our first and we can't wait for November! :-) How about you... this your first?

This board has been great for ideas and help.

Good luck w/everything!

~Carrie
due 24-Nov-04

[C99]

We did the same thing. I decided that our options for colors were really either yellow or green (although blue would work too, I suppose). I don't like yellow generally, so I went with green. I painted murals projected onto the wall, and made a green crib skirt (and was going to make bumpers, but the little one showed up a month early). All the furniture was neutral (white and natural woods).

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10408.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10409.jpg

[C99]

I love that mural. It's great!

[sidmand]

It is hard to find gender neutral things. We're adopting and won't know the sex of the baby. I thought I had done the room gender neutral, but more and more I'm thinking I have a boy's room! And I'm ending up with a lot of blue things thinking it's easier to have a girl in blue things than a boy in pink and people will ask if it's a (boy/girl) no matter what, right? Anyhoo...maybe this will work for someone else.

Debbie
Maybe matched for the third time and keeping fingers crossed...

[almostamom]

Carrie,
Yes, this is our first. I've had so much fun this summer. Finding our we are having a boy and decorating, buying clothes, etc. I'm a teacher and tomorrow is the first day of school. I'm dreading going back. I've spent so much time reading and posting here, I feel like I have to leave my "friends" and go back to work. It's only for three months (although my mother swears these will be the three toughest because of the aniticipation!) :) How are you doing with the waiting and getting ready?

~Linda~
Baby #1 due Nov 17, 2004

[vdrake71]

We also did not find out the baby's gender and decided to go with Wendy Bee's farm bedding. We painted the bottom half of the room green and the top half of the room blue, along with the ceiling. In between the blue and green with made a chair rail that looks like a fence. We also painted grass on the lower half and I found some jumping lambs that we place in the "grass". On the top half and the ceiling we painted clouds. We defintely love it.

Sorry no pictures. I really need to take some.

[helaina]

Caroline, I really like your nursery. Which paint did you use on the walls and for the border of your murals? I really like that green and how it goes so nicely with the natural wood crib.

Thanks in advance,
Helaina

[lolobaby]

Hi folks,

We decided not to find out the baby's sex and now we are struggling with what crib bedding to buy and how to paint/ decorate the nursery.

Any ideas/ photos you folks can share for something that will work for a boy or a girl and be a pleasant room for an adult to spend time in?

thanks