modern nursery | Almost Never Clever

I’m really proud of how our baby boy’s room turned out! We’ve been working on it nonstop and I didn’t stop to take pictures of our projects in progress.

Is there a theme? No. I’m anti-theme and wanted a bright, colorful room that will grow with him. There are stars. There are animals. There is travel stuff. No one thing dominates the room.

Did I use the room as a vehicle to try every craft project on my wish list? No comment.

Links to tutorials and products are at the end of the post.

Paint and Furniture

My parents helped us paint (1) the room a light grey with a white accent wall. The baseboards and trim were already white when we moved in.

We love the crib (2) because it’s simple and will convert into a toddler bed later. There are plain white sheets because I didn’t think we needed more pattern and because I need a white background for his passport photo.

The bear (3) is pretty random, but I wanted a giant stuffed non-teddy bear for the room. It’s actually quite difficult to search for (“wild bear?”). The hamper is several years old and repurposed here.

The glider (4) is a recliner, no stool needed. Mr. P finally got a recliner in the house!

I looked for an end table (5) to keep breastfeeding supplies close to the glider but also something that could double as a nightstand as he gets older. Next to it is a small trash can (6) for non-diaper items (diapers will go in the diaper pail (7) next to the dresser).

I made the pillow (8) by scanning a Paris Metro Ticket, printing it on fabric, then sewing and stuffing it myself.

The rug (9) is much brighter in person than it appears online. I passed over it until we saw it in the store. I love the colors so much!

The dresser is Mr. P’s dresser and changing table from when he was a baby. He sanded it down and I painted it white. We made custom animal drawer pulls (10) using some toys and spray paint. Finding animals the right size was challenging!

I lined (11) the inside of the dresser to brighten things up a bit.

The Constellation Accent Wall

Mr. P is a stargazer and after showing him several constellation walls (12) on Pinterest, he was sold.

He designed the wall himself and used an overhead projector to shine the drawing on the wall and trace it in pencil. I followed with the silver paint pen, then he finished it off by adding more random stars and the Milky Way (the large band of stars).

The constellations are not haphazardly placed. Mr. P used one of his favorite books (13) to place the constellations so they would appear next to each other the way they do in the sky. I just asked for Ursa Major to be above the crib and he went from there.

Notice the dots for the stars are all different sizes. Mr. P gave me a color-coded sheet — the larger dots are actually the brightest stars in the sky and so on from there.

You may notice that the constellations look a bit different than you’re used to. Gemini (above) actually looks like a set of twins (or two stick figures holding hands). The book is really fantastic because it uses the same stars for the constellations but draws the lines between them so they actually make sense. Yes, it’s the same H.A. Rey who wrote Curious George.

The Ikea Hack Built-In Shelves

Storage is an issue in our house. The boy’s room is pretty large and I wanted a ton of space for toy and book storage as he grows.

The shelves are from the Ikea Besta series (14) built-in and secured to the wall and trimmed with baseboards and molding (15).

We chose Besta instead of the Billy series because Besta shelves are 14 inches deep to Billy’s 11. The Besta units allow us to shelve large children’s books with no problem. The elephant is a bookend (16).

The 14-inch deep units also allow for great storage in the cabinet sections underneath. I want places for toys when he gets older. For now, we have Besta Bins (17) holding baby supplies.

We bought brass hardware (18) separately for the cabinet handles.

I’m thrilled with how the built-ins turned out. There’s not much in them at this point but they should be able to handle a lot of stuff in the future.

Bits and Pieces

The curtains are a navy pattern (19). In the picture below, there’s also a Nest Cam (20) hiding on one of the shelves. There’s plenty of room for baby quilts and blankets from his grandma and great-grandma.

The wall above the dresser / changing area is Star Wars.

I bought and lightly edited an Etsy pattern (21) and framed them in embroidery hoops (22). The project really came about because I needed something to keep me occupied but forced me to sit down and rest. I worked on these quite a bit during my London trip!

Also hiding on one of the shelves is a clock (23). I almost considered going Vegas-casino-style and not having a clock in the room at all. In the end I thought it would be helpful to track feeding times.

On the wall near the clock is a Paris skyline canvas print (24). The clouds are sewn on top of the canvas!