This room turned out approximately 1 billion times differently than I originally envisioned…

When I found out I was pregnant I immediately started brainstorming nursery ideas, but knowing our baby would sleep in our room for the first few months, I put off making any major decisions. EXCEPT, I added a crib to our registry, which was generously gifted to us. I didn’t put much thought to it other than “oh this one is nice, it’s simple”… I didn’t have any design concept in mind at the time.

Flash forward to when Westley was ~4 months old and we were ready to reclaim our bedroom/move him to his big boy crib, I experienced quite a surprise.

By that time, the concept I had in mind was all boy, Americana, Western, cowboy(ish). Think: cowhide rug, rustic changing table, Pendleton blanket, shearling pillows, navy walls, American flag, etc. I had thoughtfully repurposed pieces we already had and the look was coming together so well.

Until…

The night we put everything into place, I went to bed before Mike had unboxed the crib to put it together. I woke up feeling so excited thinking the room was completely finished… but when I walked in, the crib was a completely different finish than I had remembered selecting and the whole room looked terrible as a result! Everything was suddenly so mismatched and disjointed because the crib (as pictured) is this bright natural whitewash.

I felt disappointed, less so because I was attached to the Americana/Western theme, but more because I felt like I was starting from scratch again… and I am deeply bothered by unfinished projects… :)

I was in the shower mulling over what to do - replace the crib or rethink the entire space? - when it occurred to me that we had this random dresser we got for FREE off Craigslist a few months back when we needed temporary clothes storage… I realized it matches the crib PERFECTLY! A few minutes later, wet hair and all, I dragged the dresser across our apartment and voila - it fit as though it was always meant to go there.

The next thing that came to mind was these three glass cabinets we had on hand that were supposed to go above our media cabinet but couldn’t because the fire alarm is hardwired and unable to be moved… So I figured they would be great little display cases for baby knick knacks.

So I had a whitewashed crib and dresser-turned-changing table, white display cabinets, a grey rocker glider and light grey walls to work with. (Painting the room didn’t appeal as we had a 4 month old who was not sleeping at night…). I recognized the two focal points of the room would be the floor-to-ceiling windows and the giant wall that the crib sits on.

I decided to frame the window in soft velvet curtains to infuse a cozy vibe given the raw feel of the concrete pillar and ceilings. I also knew I wanted to do something fun with the wall above/alongside his crib, because it’s visible from the common space in our apartment when the door is open. I wanted it to be unique and fun and not necessarily too little boy-ish… so I decided on a neon sign spelling out his name! And boom, the design started to come together…

More from my decision-making thought process:

The colors I had to work with were light grey (walls), light blue (practically every blanket we were gifted - which I LOVE), white (picture frames & cabinets), beige (carpeting), whitewashed wood (dresser and crib, which pairs well with the beige family), dark grey (chair), and brown (bear).

I lightened the weight of the dark grey chair by tossing a few different blankets over the back and the ottoman and integrated silver accents (mirror & reading lamp) to mimic the grey but bounce off more light.
To balance out the heaviness of the cabinets and the presence of the neon sign above his crib, I needed something above the chair to make the design feel more evenly distributed along the whole wall. I opted for a small gallery wall, filled with photographs I sourced from a calendar. The images are sweet animals, made up of natural colors - grey, white, beige, black, brown.
Because of our beloved giant teddy bear, Gerald, I needed some more dark brown to help support him so I incorporated my whiskey decanter (vase) of pussy willow branches that have traveled with me from my New York days.
I expected the rug to turn out more ivory than beige, so when it arrived and I committed to keeping it, that’s when I overlaid the faux shearling rug and integrated the beige crib sheet and beige throw blanket on the ottoman.

I’m thrilled with how it turned out because it feels minimalist and mature - meaning, delightfully pleasing to the senses and not just a zone filled with primary colors and kid stuff. DISCLAIMER: many of his toys/play things were removed for the shoot.. so it’s not completely free of kid stuff. I’m also proud for having completely pivoted and repurposing a lot of what we had (dresser, basket, lamp, marble stand, vase of branches, all throw blankets, cabinets, etc.).

What do you think?! What would you have done differently?!

Until next time,