Real Nursery: Nature Inspired Gray Baby Girl Room

Hints of nature were accents  Belinda of the Happy Home wanted for her baby’s nursery. She loved the simple, minimal appearance of her grey and white room and wanted the space to easily adapt to either gender with a few simple additions and nominal changes. “I was pretty sure I was having a boy and that’s probably why I was leaning towards all the grey,” Belinda confesses. “I love it with icy blues. But I also knew that if I had to have pink, and, there is no avoiding it in the way I have the room with clothing on display, I’d need the grey to counteract its ‘pinkness’!” After falling in love with the colors in a picture of a J.Crew Crew catalogue of a little girl lying on the ground surrounded by lollipops, Belinda had her color palette for her nursery. “They reminded me of another nursery I’d seen with peaches and pinks so I thought they’d go perfectly with my beloved grey.”

“A nursery doesn’t have to be completely baby focused,” Belinda advises. “You don’t need to purchase a change table, a specific feeding chair or children’s decals, nor do you have to be matchy-matchy with linen, curtains and accessories. I get ideas from other grown-up spaces, fashion and nature. If you’re inspired by something, don’t copy it entirely, but put your own spin on it to make it unique.” Take a look at how Belinda created her nature inspired nursery.

With limited space, the room needed to be compact but still maintain some personality. While the cradle was a hand-me-down from her cousin’s baby, Belinda has customized it for each of her children, painting it a different color for each one. But the real focus of the nursery is the driftwood branch closet.

After seeing several hanging branches as clothes hangers, Belinda loved the idea for her baby’s room. As their clothes are so small and cute, it only takes a few favorite pieces to make it a feature in the room. “My son and husband came back from kayaking one day and Zak had brought me a whole bunch of driftwood as a surprise. This was the perfect shape, color and weight for the hanger.” It took a few eyelet screws in the ceiling, looped wire, and the driftwood was a an outdoor hanger closet. A few padded hangers were dressed up with a range of neutral ribbons and presto! “It’s a pretty spin on something practical – my favorite combination!”

The rocking chair plays a special part in baby Imogen’s nursery as a family heirloom. “It’s not the most comfortable thing to sit in, but once you start rocking, you instantly relax. And it’s nice to have something that mum loves so much – it’s come full circle. It was a gift from my sisters and dad to her years ago and she can’t bear to part with it because of that.” Now that Belinda’s sister is now pregnant, it will be a gift to her when her baby arrives.

“The print (www.lemontreelane.com.au ), little horse (katefinn.com.au) and cushion–actually a tea towel from oliveandjoy.bigcartel.com I turned into a cushion–were all gifts. The sheepskin is Ludde from Ikea and floats from room to room in my house! I painted the cradle, hung the driftwood from the ceiling with wire, made the paper garland and paper boat, and stuck the other piece of driftwood on the wall as a mini shelf. I also turned a tea towel into a cushion for the rocker.

 

{Images by Belinda Graham for The Happy Home}

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