Baby's Nursery Tour

At long last, I'm so excited to share a quick tour of our nursery! Even last year, I decided that I wanted our nursery to have soft white walls, highlighting our home's wood floors, and have a gender-neutral, calm and eco-friendly decor plan.



With this being the smallest room in our house, painting the walls and ceiling a soft shade of white made it feel three times bigger than before. The ceiling had dark stained wood tiles and the walls were a dark khaki color. I was relieved that we started updating and painting the room last fall, so the walls and ceiling were actually done by the time Baby came around.

We chose a zero-VOC paint from Sherwin Williams' Harmony line, which is noted as being safe for nurseries and kids rooms because of its chemical-free properties and odor-eliminating technology. I wanted to make sure we were keeping the room as clean as we can. I still remember that as we were painting, I could tell the paint had no smell whatsoever. The shade is Paperwhite, if you're curious (and it looks much more yellow on their website than it does in person). The primer we used is also zero-VOC.

When it comes to the nursery furnishings, we have a mix of secondhand items, new eco-friendly items and conventional items. As with most things, I'm willing to compromise a bit, especially since we have to also be budget-conscious.


The recliner is one we already had in the room and is extremely comfortable and broken in. The side table is from my childhood bedroom and I used it in my apartments back in the day. The lamp is from my parents' house, and the lampshade is from Amazon.

The quilt that hangs over the recliner, one of my favorite pieces and the earliest to go in the room, is from my husband's grandmother, and helped to set the tone and colors for the room.

The purple bear is an extremely sentimental addition to the nursery, as it was handmade for us using one of my grandmother's blouses. It's a unique and touching way to honor her memory and give my daughter something of a very special lady.


The dresser was my husband's grandfather's, and my husband and father-in-law very lovingly and painstakingly painted it this light gray color and replaced the drawer handles. The changing table topper comes from the Babies R' Us clearance sale, and was an easier solution than having a custom topper built, which was the original plan.


The three prints above the crib are also extremely special. The left two come from Pixel and Ink Creative, run by Daneisha, a Lake Charles native I see often at Lafayette's ArtWalk. The print on the right comes from my friend Blake here in Lafayette. They demonstrate exactly what I wanted the nursery to be: unique, local-focused and not traditional pastel nursery shades.

The crib is from Buy Buy Baby (it may not be super eco-friendly, but it was in stock, which was key when I was seven months along already.) It's a convertible crib, so we'll be able to use it for many years to come, which was important to me.

The mattress comes from Amazon and is Greenguard Gold and and CertiPUR-US certified.  Consumer Reports explains the certifications as: CertiPUR-US prohibits certain substances that are in many foams (such as polybrominated diphenyl ether, or PDBE, flame retardants) and requires testing for formaldehyde and other chemicals. The mattress describes the certification as: made without PBDE fire retardants, lead, mercury, formaldehyde, prohibited phthalates and other potentially harmful materials.

Greenguard requires testing of a finished mattress for specific emission limits of formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds. Greenguard Gold has more stringent emission limits on the above VOCs.

Don't even ask me how long I waffled between a spring mattress and foam mattress - but at least both had eco-friendly qualities. Even before your child arrives, parenting comes with entirely too many decisions. Both mattresses that I looked at have dual infant and toddler sides, allowing us to use the mattress for longer before needing to buy a new one.


The rest of the wall art holds special meaning as well. I'm in love with this custom heartbeat painting from my stepmother-in-law. The Cattle Festival poster, shown further down, also calls back to our local roots. Plus, it's been sitting in the house for five years now, so I'm glad we finally get to hang it up on display. The Love canvas above the recliner was a decorative piece from our wedding that we kept, and now it has a place in our next chapter as well.


The blackout curtains come from Target and the soft green shade really pulled all the colors of the room together. They're relatively budget-friendly for curtains, and they work REALLY well at blocking out the light. (Oh, and a sign I might actually be turning into a real adult...I steam-ironed the curtains after we hung them up and it made a world of difference in the room's look! I hate to admit that this was the first time I ever steamed a curtain.)


The rug is a compromise, but one I've come to enjoy. I always wanted to get a custom Flor rug in my chosen colors (that would match the prints perfectly), but my husband wasn't on board with the patchwork assembly style of Flor rugs. So I found this rug from Birch Lane, and it's made of EverStrand PET, a recycled polyester. I still prefer the recycled cotton material of Flor's rugs, but seeing this triangle-print rug in the room does bring me joy. The colors really make everything in the room look cohesive and intentional. In addition, the rug pad underneath is made of recycled fibers.


We've brought a little bit of bicycle flair into the room to tie in our own love of bicycles.


Overall, I'm in love with how the nursery turned out. It's not exactly like my original vision, but it evolved into something even more unique and special. Call it nesting, but I can absolutely be found sitting in here on a regular basis, just staring at every little element.

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