I have a confession to make. I am a recovering "sad, beige, mom". Have you heard of this? It's basically safe to say that there is a whole generation of mothers who have fled the scene of primary colors and obnoxious light up toys for a land of neutrals and wooden collectibles. From clothes to nursery designs, everything is housed in white, cream, beiges and blacks.
My son was born in 2022 and here is a glimpse into the items that inspired his nursery design....and while I do still love all of these pieces I found that as he grew into a rambunctious toddler I was trapped into his adorable obsession of Super Mario and Spiderman and of course every toy he loved was for sure void of any neutral color palette.
At the beginning of this year we had to make the transition out of a crib (at a startling young age of 21 months) because my child is half monkey (or maybe just 100% boy) and was climbing/jumping out. If you're a mom you understand my terror in this transition to think of my child being left to a bed without barriers...but i'm happy to report we survived and we actually thrived through it all.
Over the last few months as he has barreled past the two year old mark and now is an expressive chatterbox of a 2.5 yr old, I have been working on changing up his room into a certified "big boy room". When I dove into Pinterest to get some inspo I was surprised to see what images kept grabbing my eye...an eye that previously loved neutrals was merrily pinning adorable kid spaces with pops of bright and bold colors! Who am I?! You can see below a snapshot of the saved photos that we're currently building off of. Modern and minimal with a bent towards Scandinavian/Mid Century design married with fun blues, reds, and greens.
photos sourced via Pinterest
Now, if I've learned one thing in motherhood it's that children blow through phases in about the same amount of time that my regular mascara lasted in the waterpark on our last family vacation. About 2.5 seconds. Kids go hard on their clothes, their furniture, and their bodies (thank the good Lord for Chiropractors am I right?)...so, from my perspective, I wanted to achieve this big boy room upgrade without sinking alot of funds into it.
I know most mom's are in the same boat and I'm happy to share my findings!
Here's where we landed! We're not all the way to the finish line yet but I started by painting over my beloved Benjamin Moore 'Natural Cream' walls to change them to Benjamin Moore's 'Simply White' for that perfect minimal blank slate to start.
A simple channeled back upholstered bed felt like a good neutral base to add lots of color to - we did a queen bed since we already had the mattress in our guest room, and when family or friends do come to town we have a big enough bed for two adults to crash this party.
Instead of smaller nightstands, we opted to flank either side of his bed with these amazing storage pieces from IKEA to maximize toy containment and also bring in some natural light wood tones to play more into that Scandinavian vibe. Since these are so large we chose to just go with these two pieces and not add any other storage furniture (he does have a dresser inside of his closet for clothing storage which helps!).
I love the fun and eclectic pops of art and color throughout all of the inspo that really adds the kid vibes...I found a lot of this shopping in store at Home Goods, Target, and Hobby Lobby but i'm linking what I can!
This table lamp we have in one of the open cubes by his bed - it's a West Elm dupe lamp for under $17 at Hobby Lobby! Such a deal!
I'm loving this minimal, white ceiling light to do something simple that doesn't feel too loud or overpowering - i'm still tossing around the idea of doing some paneling on the ceiling and I love that this light would look amazing either way!
For bedding, I scored and found a green and white box print sheet set at Home Goods for less than $40 but here is almost an exact match from Pottery Barn Teen. I paired this with a bold punch of color in this cobalt blue quilt from Target.
We opted out of an area rug right now (because pet life ya know) but I had my eye on this simple tribal pattern flatweave from IKEA - a great price for the size! I also love snagging area rugs from Home Goods since I can usually find an 8x10, 100% wool rug for $299.
For the art in the room (which is where the personality really shines) I have been collecting vintage pieces off Facebook marketplace mixed with little fun things i've picked up along the way like a kid's cowboy hat and some amazing felt pennants I found in the Target dollar section for $3 each! Another great option is to purchase a digital pack of prints off Etsy and then have them printed in a variety of sizes to pair with vintage or new frames - this set is so fun and brings in a lot of the fun color elements in my inspo pics.
The room is still a work in progress but it's coming along! This season of having a fast growing two-going-on-twenty year old is so fun and it brings me so much JOY to design his space to match his fun and spunky personality.
My closing appeal to the parents out there - don't be afraid to play with FUN design ideas for your kid's bedrooms or playrooms! And if you get stuck or need a second opinion, head over to our website to book a video session and we can gameplan together!
From one recovering beige mom to another...
XOXO
Hannah
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