Our Green Woodland Nursery Reveal
Transforming an outdated bedroom into a peaceful green woodland nursery with cozy vintage vibes perfect for our baby boy James.
9 months in the making..............no not baby James -- our nursery! LOL
I'm all for slow thoughtful design, but I'll admit this nursery renovation and decoration dragged. In the end though, I'm glad I spent some time caring for a newborn in this space before we committed to certain fixtures like the crib, dresser, and bed. It allowed me to make better choices and create the best possible layout in the room. And oh did I try the room configuration so many ways! Haha...S. is standing by shaking his head and bemoaning his back!
Now we have a gorgeous serene space that perfectly reflects the whimsy, tradition, and joy I wanted to create for James. The nursery is also functional and durable. Dare I say it is rather handsome! Of all the rooms I've designed this one came together just as I imagined!
Here is my original vision for the woodland nursery in green:
The room itself really went through a drastic transformation. When we moved in it had boring wallpaper, dated carpet, and a wall of mirrors. Let's take a look...
Boy's Nursery Renovation
We didn't do anything to the space other than replace the carpeting with Shaw Faint Intent (color is Champagne Toast) in 2022, so we really had a big task to transform this room into a green woodland nursery for baby boy!
We started by clearing everything out, removing the wallpaper, and treating the walls to get rid of the mold stains. Then we had the gorgeous wallpaper from Borastapeter I picked out installed, and S. put up the shiplap wainscoting.
The wallpaper from Borastapeter really sets the stage for this space both in terms of color and theme. It is the perfect combination of calming soft greens. I love the serene toile like scene it depicts with deer peeking out around the bushes surrounded by big oak trees and a meadow in the distance. The wallpaper gives subtle woodland vibes without being cutesy.
Next came painting, which S.'s family graciously did for us. We were only about half way through putting High Park from Benjamin Moore on the walls, when James decided to make his grand and surprising entry into the world 6 weeks early! That unexpected arrival meant work had to go in to hyperdrive and other projects in the room got postponed.
I've really come to adore this color on the shiplap wainscoting. I let S. pick it out from a choice of three, and at first thought it was going to be too dark, but I love it. High Park is a soothing sage green just perfect for a boy's nursery.
Are you ready for the after photos? Drum roll please..............
Our Green Woodland Nursery
Major transformation, right?!?!
All About the Fabrics & Patterns
To compliment the green toile wallpaper I chose a handsome plaid in taupes and camels with a soft stripe of blue and green. Then used it on the Roman shades and bed pillows. I love pattern mixing and think these two work together beautifully. The plaid gives the space a masculine note and continues the country theme.
Since the walls and window treatments are so busy, I kept my furniture choices more simple, choosing a twin trundle daybed in a basic taupe and dark wood elsewhere. This bed was a smart choice because it is highly functional. For the first several months I or S. slept in the nursery with James every night, and now only when he is having a difficult night, but it can eventually serve as James' bed. The trundle underneath can hold storage for toys, etc. or another mattress for guests.
As a designer I love a good pillow pile with fun fabrics, but for a nursery I knew I needed to restrain myself. At the same time, I wanted this trundle daybed to be comfortable as extra seating. I had 3 large Euro pillows made in the plaid that can also be tossed on the floor for play. Then I took two regular bed shams to my local embroidery shop and had the fun phrases "rise and shine sleepyhead" and "goodnight, sleep tight" embroidered on them. This is such an easy way to personalize basic shams and it added a really fun dose of whimsy to the bedding.
The duvet is an elegant yet cozy floral that channels historic William Morris patterns. I wanted to introduce a small scale floral to the space (yes boys can enjoy florals too) and balance out the larger scale toile, but keep it natural and simple.
Nursery Lighting & Art
Moving around the room, you can see our dresser and diaper changing station. The antique dresser is a gorgeous inlaid piece that I found on Facebook Marketplace. It's the perfect scale for a kid's room and holds rather a lot. I wanted a piece that really added to the handsome-ness of the design and could grow with James.
For lighting, I embraced more whimsical choices with this darling bunny lamp and a vintage semi-flush light that was a thrift store find I revamped. Hanging from that is a playful origami mobile with sweet forest animals in pretty papers from France.
The art in the room is an eclectic mix that I've been collecting for years ever since S. and I started trying for a baby. I can't tell you how much it means to me to hang these pieces in James' room, since it looked like we would never have a reason to decorate a nursery. You can read about our infertility journey here. There is a landscape painting that looks like my favorite mountain view from my family's farm, there are sweet woodland animals, and playful heirlooms like the airplane music box.
Nursery Furnishings & Decor
Opposite the wall with the twin daybed I positioned the dark walnut crib from Novogratz and our glider, which I've practically lived in the past 7 months. The glider was my major splurge for the space with custom upholstery in a taupe herringbone. It is a N.C. made piece from Craftmaster that is proving its durability and worth every day.
This crib is not the original one I planned for our green woodland nursery, but another Facebook Marketplace find that saved us a lot of money. While I love the spindle details on that first crib, I decided to keep it simple and go for the budget buy!
Hung on the wall are our storytime shelves, which I can't wait to curate James' book collection and decorate for the seasons. Next to the shelves is a shadowbox I created using S.'s Boy and Eagle Scout memorabilia. The Scouts were a significant part of S.'s childhood and he has such fond memories of his time hiking, camping, canoeing, and learning wilderness skills. I wanted to bring these wonderful memories into the space and hope father and son can connect over a love of the outdoors.
I've still got a little work todo on the shadow box, adding more memorabilia, and we are debating changing the glass for plexi or whether we just pull James' crib farther from the wall as he grows and can reach beyond the crib sides.
But other than that...we are ready to just enjoy the room with James and play to his little heart's content!
Woodland Nursery Sources
Please feel free to contact me if there is a source I missed. I shop a lot of second hand sources like thrifts and estate sales, so some items are not readily available. I’ve tried to link to similar versions on eBay or Etsy when they could be found. *Includes affiliate links*
Fixtures
Green & White Wallpaper // White Brass Sconce // Scalloped Shelves
Furnishings & Fabrics
Craftmaster Handsome Fabric // Thibaut Milanese Plaid Fabric // Acorn Fabric // Craftmaster Glider // Crib // Floral Duvet // Blue & White Shams // Carpet from Shaw, Faint Intent, Color Champagne Toast // James Pillow // Twin Bed
Decor
Woodland Animal Plates, Vintage Moonlight Interiors Decoupage // Rabbit Lamp // Sheep Footstool // Origami Mobile // Blue Bunny // Small Framed Art under Light
This turned out so cute!! I love the various patterns and colors you worked in. That Boy Scout display was such a great idea.
Thanks Sara! We’ll see if it encourages him to love the great outdoors like his dad!
The nursery is so wonderfully designed! Baby James is so fortunate to have a mom and dad who took so much time to think about what was in his best interest to have in his world that he will spend so much time in playing and being read to and played with. It’s so adorable. I love everything you two chose for his nursery.
I did not see you mention where and who the carpet is from in the nursery! Love it and am thinking of changing our bedrooms carpets. Another issue was wondering about does the pattern on the carpet cause your shoes to get the heel caught in this little square?
Love your style of decorating.
Thanks
Thanks so much Judy! It truly was a joy to design and create this space. The carpeting is Shaw Faint Intent and the color – Champagne Toast. No, I’ve never noticed my shoes getting caught.
The nursery is certainly handsome and baby James is adorable! I love the wallpaper and the plaids together. Great choices. James has a beautiful room to grow in.
Thanks so much Miche!