Neutral Nursery Ideas

by Harlow and Thistle - 15:57:00

I'm sharing some cute baby room ideas for a neutral nursery because I'm feeling nostalgic as my baby boy is slowly growing into a little man. He will be moving up into a big boy room soon so I'm going to soak in this cute baby room for as long as possible.

As background, before the birth of our second child we decided to keep the gender a surprise (which I wouldn't recommend to any control freak designers out there) before he was born I must have painted the room three or four times before I settled on beige and white (ironically where it began). I was so crazy, I literally had two shopping lists ready to go, one for a boy and one for a girl.

In hindsight, I should have focused on a neutral nursery because that's where I settled in the end. Here are some cute baby room ideas for a neutral nursery:

Neutral Nursery Colors

This one may seem obvious but baby nursery colors can be tricky. The reason I repainted the nursery so many times is because the mint green looked too blue and the orange-peach looked too pink. Here are some of my fave neutral nursery colors:
Para Paints Fort Garry Grey (P2140-01)
Behr Paints N550-2-Centre Stage
Behr Paints N350-2-Sawgrass
Greek Villa by HGTV Home Sherwin Willaims

Nursery Paint Ideas

I truly believe we can have more fun with baby nursery decor. In my son's nursery I used two different wall treatments (i) hand-painted herringbone (note, you can also buy herringbone wallpaper) and (ii) star burst decals from Walls Need Love. Other cool nursery paint ideas include a hand-painted mural, buffalo plaid, stripes, stars etc. I think the key to any of these looks is to keep the colors neutral and with minimal contrast.

Mix Patterns

In addition to this nursery you can also check out my other son's nursery where I used stripes, chevrons and chain links altogether. It really worked because they were different tints and shades of the same hue. And don't forget the floors, layer the rugs, use lots of texture. For the next nursery I design I'd like to include this great faux deer carpet that Christine Dovey used in her amazing One Room Challenge Basement makeover. Whatever it is I love the idea of mixing patterns in a baby nursery, it's a great way to add a bit of whimsy and playfulness without the use of color.