Pepper Design Blog

Project Nursery: A Painting Party Weekend

I was looking forward to creating some pretty neat animal wall decals out of fabric or wallpaper for the new nursery (see the inspiration board here), but then I received the most wonderful surprise from Kevin’s mom and aunt. They offered to drive all the way from Phoenix to help paint the nursery just this past weekend – in any design that we’d like!

His entire family is filled with amazing artists and his aunt is especially talented as a professional home muralist (Palette of Possibilities). Because of the short notice and the gender-neutral theme, I stuck with my original animals and asked them to paint several zoo/safari style characters around the room.

They’re so talented! Here they are in progress:

They spent an entire Saturday from dawn until well after dusk finishing the room and I was so impressed with how fast the colorful animals came together. And then, just as quickly as they had arrived, they zipped away back to Phoenix leaving us with a beautiful nursery.

If you’re on the hunt for some easy-peasy not-so-hands-on mural ideas, here are a few of the resources that I love:

Jiving Jungle Pals fabric stickers by Pop & Lolli (completely reusable – just peel off and stick anywhere) are whimsical and adorable!

My Wonderful Walls has created a neat line up of wall stencils (such as the safari animals above) and they work with local children’s hospitals to help decorate bare rooms. Beautiful art for a good cause!

The original designs that inspired an animal theme for the nursery were these beautiful patterned wallpaper decals by Inke over in the Netherlands. Shipping might be expensive but it would be well worth it!

For more Project Nursery posts, click the Home Makeover button on the right sidebar. The nursery is almost finished!

Project Nursery: Inspiration Board

Project Nursery is well underway – we have four weeks (if babe decides to come on his/her due date) to button up this space and I’m all too anxious to get it finished.

The gender-neutral color palette is tan, brown and red with splashes of aqua, yellow and other bright, cheery colors. We decided to work with darker furniture since we were planning on incorporating an already owned dresser (Craigslist find) and Expedit bookshelf (Ikea). Here’s a rough idea of what I envision:

Nursery breakdown:

1. We were gifted this very comfy Stork Glider and in order to save that nearly-white fabric (as well as add pattern to the space) I’m hoping to create slip covers in an aqua print. That way I can pull the covers off for a quick wash should spit up or other fun liquids find their way onto the cushions.

2. A fun, bright lamp like this one from Cape Cod Brass would be a great addition.

3. I’m loving these soft pastel prints by Thibaut, Dandi and Serena & Lily – they would look lovely as curtains, bedding, fabric book pouches or as a valence in the room.

4. Back in May I made over an everyday Expedit bookshelf from Ikea by adding fabric to the backdrop, it has now found a new home in the nursery!

5. Vintage accessories in the form of rocking horses, wood blocks and prints are timeless and full of character – I’d love to weave them into this space.

6. With so many recalls and warnings out there we chose our crib through careful consideration and after much research. This Babyletto is a 3-in-1 (grows with baby), is environmentally sound (sustainably harvested wood) and passes all safety standards (non-toxic finish, lead & phthate safe, JPMA certified and tip proof) plus it’s extra wallet-friendly (considering all of it’s features)!

7. While most of the furniture has a contemporary/clean lines look, I’d like to add this Jenny Lind changing table to mix things up. Maybe with a coat of paint?

8. The biggest dilemma of designing this room? The rug, actually. I really struggled with what pattern of rug to shop for – with our new striped wall a striped rug felt a bit over the top, and without knowing baby’s sex, patterned rugs screamed too feminine or too masculine. When I found this burnt orange/red rug on eBay by Pottery Barn, I fell in love. It was a solid, bright pop of color made of soft wool that was comfy enough to crawl around on and sturdy enough to last years. Then I was outbid of my budgeting range (and the rug is discontinued by PB) so I’m back to square one. Do let me know if you see something similar! We might have to find a more neutral option soon…

9. Animal decals on the walls would really liven up the space, Inke from the Netherlands has the neatest selection of vintage wallpaper options but I think this would be a fun DIY project too! (Thanks to Kelsey, a reader who emailed with the source!)

10. I love the idea of fabric storage bins to organize toys, blankets and even laundry. These animal-themed bins by 3 Sprouts over at Layla Grayce are adorable! If I can find a neat way to build my own out of canvas bags I just might take this on as a DIY project too…

And there’s the space! Let the shopping/assembling/crafting begin. Here’s a quick link to the other Project Nursery posts: Inspiring Rooms, Striping an Accent Wall and the Before Pictures.

PS Don’t forget to enter the Tiny Prints (for adorable Holiday cards and other invites/announcements) giveaway! Ends tonight!

Project Nursery: Inspiring Rooms

My usual decorating process goes something like this:

1. Collect inspiring images into a folder on my desktop (over days or months)
2. Identify and pull from those images what resonates with me from each room (maybe a beautiful chair or wallpaper pattern)
3. Compile an inspiration board of furniture & general aesthetic from the images
4. Use the inspiration board to inspire colors and patterns
5. And finally DIY and search out components of the board until the room is complete, tweaking to incorporate great finds and changing tastes

Try as I might, I’ve gotten as far as step 2 for the new nursery over the past 8 months (yes, 8 months!). That darn room has changed so many times in my mind that as soon as I’m ready to commit I change my mind again.

But here’s a look at step 2. Here are the images that have resonated with me over the past year for this reason or that:

It only adds to the conundrum that the room has to stay fairly gender neutral until baby comes. We’re both excited to wait for ‘the big surprise’ but it’s difficult to build a design concept that doesn’t inch too much towards masculine or feminine.

I’m pretty certain the basic colors will stay in the neutrals (white, tans, browns) with splashes of red accents. From there, baby blues and yellows can build up a more colorful backdrop and I’m excited to use a decent amount of playful patterns in various fabrics for crib bedding, window valences (to corral those three awkward windows), curtains, pillows, fabric decals and the like.

Here I go, back to the drawing board. If I don’t have a pretty descriptive inspiration board to help guide my choices I end up doubting and returning more than I’d care to admit! Laying out pattern and color choices in advance makes for a fun design process – and pulling all of the pieces together is always my favorite part.

Stay tuned!

Inspirational rooms from above: Ohdeedoh, Samantha Pynn, 6th Street Design School, Ish & Chi, Isabella & Max and others from months and months ago…