When we moved into our house 2 years ago, it was a great time to revamp my son’s nursery. I never really liked it to begin with, and it’s all because the walls were a terrible shade of yellow that we weren’t allowed to paint because we were renters. I tried to roll with it, but it was definitely not my thing.
So here’s a little about how we reworked my son’s nursery into a black and white woodland/tribal room (is that a thing? I guess it is now).
The first thing I did before we moved into our house was paint his walls a soft grey. HUGE improvement over the yellow. Then I slowly started to transition things in his room to fit the modification.
We kept some of the tribal feel, but I moved into more of a black and white color scheme and added more antlers and woodsy touches.
Isn’t his dresser swoon-worthy? My father-in-law found it years ago and refinished it by painting it white, but leaving the drawer fronts in the original wood. It used to reside in my daughter’s room, so I made it slightly more masculine by adding some leather drawer pulls from Hobby Lobby.
This bookshelf was never supposed to be in this room… I bought it secondhand to create built-ins in our living room. But I realized it was too big and wouldn’t work, so I moved it up here. And there it remained. It has come in handy for holding his toys and diapering items.
I also found a box of toys after we moved in that belonged to my husband when he was a kid that I had completely forgotten about – and it turns out, they were a perfect fit for Graham’s room. Things like black iron trains and trucks, a Davey Crockett hat, a toy gun, and a little logger truck from Oregon.
Black and White Pillowfort Nursery Bedding
I didn’t have big plans to purchase new bedding when we transitioned his crib to a toddler bed, but of course Pillowfort snuck into my email inbox with cute stuff and I couldn’t help myself. As you can see, this bed is well-loved; I didn’t even bother to photoshop the scratches on it. We’ve had it since our first baby seven years ago and used it for all three children! Way to go, IKEA.
Woodland / Masculine Touches
I added small details like wood slice closet door knobs and leather strap handles (both from Hobby Lobby) to add a masculine feel to little man’s room.
And while a big stuffed dinosaur rocker doesn’t exactly fit the theme of this room, I can’t bring myself to get rid of it.
He was just 18 months when we got it for him and his feet were no where close to the floor. Now he tips it over from rocking so hard. It’s one of those things that will take me a while to part with… *cue pathetic mom tears*
Black and White Tribal / Woodland Artwork
The artwork has been collected over the course of the last two years. Some discounted prints from Children Inspired Design, word art from Hobby Lobby, a Colorado hand drawn print from a craft fair, a few DIYs… Would you believe the “SMILE” banner over his dresser was in the Dollar Spot at Target?
[ ^ Eco-Friendly Wall Art from Children Inspired Design ]
[ ^ Bind my Wandering Heart DIY here ]
[ ^ Black and white arrow print on top shelf from my line ]
Black and White Baby Book
Because I like to keep memorabilia on display so it doesn’t collect dust on a shelf, I like to incorporate Graham’s baby book from my line into the room as well. It fits perfectly on his wall book shelves, and looks just as cute sitting atop his dresser (though I don’t like to leave it there since my almost three year old would likely rip it to pieces – it’s a phase we’re dealing with…).
I find it’s a good reminder to pick it up and take a look from time to time, because we so often forget to look back at these books. We work so hard putting them together in order to preserve memories, we might as well remember to look and enjoy them occasionally!
So that’s how this room has evolved. It will stay this way until Graham moves downstairs to be with his brother. And then our oldest girl will get her own girly room and the decorating will start all over again!