Welcome to Archie’s nursery! Let me take you on a tour & walk (and talk) you through his dreamy space! My first thoughts when I found out I was having a baby boy (besides my initial – “What on earth do you do with little boy bits??!”) was, “Ohhh…imagine the fun I’m going to have creating a beautiful boy space”. Somewhere calm, serene and free of florals (well, almost!). BOOM! – and just like that, my mind trailed off, dreaming of coastal vibes, breezy palms, calming sages, earthy rusts, and natural pines and rattan. And that my friends, was how my vision for Archie’s nursery was born!

Whenever I design a room or style a space, I always start with research – the realms of Instagram, Pinterest & good ol’ Google image search, are incredible sources of inspiration along with your own imagination & creativity. I find Pinterest a fantastic tool & as I search, I pin, pin pin! That way, all your visual inspiration & the direct links to products & businesses are saved right there for you in the one space! Did you know, as you’re Google searching & stumble across beautiful products or room inspo, you can create your own pins, pinning those images directly to your rooms’ Pinterest board. I highly recommend creating a new board for your room, and just like that, you’ve started to create a visual plan. Once I have a clear vision of what I’d like to work toward, I typically create a mood board (I use the Adobe Spark app) that helps piece together the products & shows you what they’d look like in the same space. { Find my original mood board at the bottom of this blog & you can be the judge as to how close I came to my original vision! }

Having been born & bred in sunny Perth, the beach has always been a huge part of my life. The sound of the crashing waves, their mesmerising ebbing and flowing, calms me & puts me at peace. This is what I wanted for Archie’s room, a calming, peaceful space that incorporated elements of the ocean -the beauty of the waves, and the coast – think palm trees. My husband is also a keen surfer so I wanted this space to be a place he also loved & identified with (after all, I’m pretty sure Archie will be plopped on a surfboard waaaayyyy before he’s out of nappies!).

When choosing the colour palette, I opted for sage green as the main colour. It’s such a calming & peaceful colour & reminiscent of the ocean. I couldn’t look past the stunning ‘Sage Palms’ wallpaper from Minnie & Me Interiors & chose to wallpaper one main feature wall. Archie’s room is quite a small space, and using a plain colour to paint the remaining walls helped open up the space & create a larger feel. The wallpaper was so easy to apply being 100% removable, and the beauty of it is, it can be removed & restyled again & again (not that I ever want to restyle this space…well for now anyway haha!). Hubby & I (okay, okay…just hubby) painted & installed the Easycraft EasyVJ wall panels along all the walls & voila, the space really came to life!

When it came to styling the space with decor & accessories (hands down my favourite part of any room creation), I opted for furniture & decor pieces in natural pines & rattan accents to tie in with the calm, natural, coastal theme. I loved the minimalistic design of the beech wood IKEA ‘SNIGLAR’ cot & after hunting high & low for a stylish & affordable wooden chest of drawers, I stumbled across this beauty of a find on Facebook Marketplace which I revamped as it’s drawers were originally painted black! After a bit of sanding back & star treatment with the addition of brass palm tree handles from Pineapple Traders, her makeover was complete – and boy was she glam! I also found the ‘GRONDAL’ rattan rocking chair on Facebook Marketplace for half the price (gee you can score some bargains there if you’re prepared to do your research over time!) & raided IKEA for the white accessory shelf above the chest of drawers, ‘FLISAT’ pine wall storage book shelves (which I painted the front bars white) & ‘LUSTIGT’ wall shelf (which I painted the little green ladders white). The beautiful pine accordion rack from Kids Kulture finished off the chest of drawers/change station space.

It is now time to introduce GEOFF. THE. GIRAFFE – quite possibly my favourite decor piece in Archie’s room tied with the STUNNING natural chandelier from Elok Store which helps to create pure WOW-factor with the mesmerising light patterns it throws around the walls when turned on! Being made of rattan, Geoff ties in beautifully with the natural, earthy theme whilst adding an impressive element of fun to the nursery space. I love that he is also a piece that will grow with Archie & suit an older child or adult space later in life!

When planning a room design & then later, styling the room space, I typically start with the placement of the main/large furniture & decor pieces first (i.e. the cot, chest of drawers, rocking chair, Geoff the giraffe) & once happy with their placement, style the smaller decorative/stylistic pieces around them *cue “faffy” hands* I often become lost in placing, re-placing, arranging, rearranging, and lots & lots of “zhuzhing” (and yes, I had to look up how to spell that! Thanks ‘Queer Eye’ !). I included so many beautiful decor pieces in Archie’s room & have itemised them all & where they’re from, in a product list at the end of the blog. I’m a huge fan of quality wooden heirloom toys, and placed gorgeous pieces such as the wooden rainmaker (The Curated Parcel) & rattan rattles (Babynoise) on the shelf above Archie’s change station. This was deliberate, as they’re often needed quickly during those desperate times he loses his bananas when being changed! I also placed the stylish & fun rattan moon mirror (Hunter & Nomad) on the wall where Archie can see himself whilst laying for change times – he already LOVES this & I’ve caught him smiling at his spunky reflection already!. I love both the style & functionality of the accordion wall rack (Kids Kulture) as it’s handy for hanging little outfits & accessories (hats, booties, swaddles) on.

When styling a small room, you can always give the illusion of it being larger by creating small “zones”. Although Archie’s room is on the (very) small side, I used the circular shape of the incredibly soft Hunter and Nomad rust dot rug to create a small ‘play zone’. There’s more than enough room for him to play under his play gym (Nester and Cub) & as he grows I can already imagine him spending hours upon hours wheeling around his little wooden cars & building cities where the dinosaurs roam. Placing storage options like book shelves & wall racks on the walls, saves on floor space & helps maximise a small space. I love the very affordable IKEA options & used the ‘FLISAT’ wall storage book shelves (I painted the front rail white to make them ‘pop’ a little) & the ‘LUSTIGT’ wall shelf (I painted the little green ladders white to tie in with the room) to display Archie’s little wooden vehicles (The Curated Parcel) which were too cute not to have on show! Books are a HUGE part of my little ones’ lives (our little Matilda is already a real life Roald Dahl ‘Matilda’ digesting at least 10-15 books a day) & I love displaying our favourites in front-facing shelves & simply rotating them every month or so.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your little tour of Archie’s nursery – I certainly enjoyed creating it! If you’re thinking about designing, revamping or just adding some new little touches to a room, from my styling hands to yours…”happy faffing”! Jem x

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