The second I found out I was pregnant I started imagining what kind of mural I wanted to paint in our baby’s room. Even though my parents weren’t ‘artists’ they both painted murals in my brother’s and my room when we were growing up. My first mural was a pretty straightforward – but awesome – rainbow with clouds that my mom painted. My brother’s was a life size outline of 1980’s tennis champion Ivan Lendl. As I recall, my dad painted it as a surprise when my brother was away for a few days at tennis camp. He loved it! I’m not sure he was quite as thrilled when my dad went on to surprise him a second time by painting a gigantic Nike stripe on my brother’s white car a few years later when he was in high school. It looked like he was driving around in a sneaker. Regardless, we felt the love and I always knew I would paint something for my own child. I just finished a small forest of birch trees on the walls our little one’s nursery.
My husband and I live in an apartment in a three family home. We own the house, and only plan on living here for a few more years, so I didn’t want to paint anything too involved or something that we’d have to worry about painting over when we rent the apartment. I stumbled upon a great stencil that could be projected on a wall from jenloveskev on etsy.com that was perfect! I just drew the birch trees on the wall freehand, but wanted to at least buy her stencil since I was using her idea. It’s a great drawing and would make it easy for even the least artistically inclined person to create a beautiful mural.
My husband and I each added a few things to the room that express our interests. My husband likes outer space and installed a great ceiling fan that features rocket ships and planet Earth. He also put an Uncle Milton Moon in My Room on our baby registry which was given to us by some friends at our shower. It’s a light that shows the 12 phases of the moon and even comes with a 15 minute guided tour of the moon CD.
I hung a branch that my dad and I cut from a tree in my parents’ backyard. We loved the Blessing Tree idea that we saw here on Offbeat Mama and hung prayers and wishes from the branch that were written for our baby by some of our closest friends. It’s like a beautiful mobile – only better – because it doesn’t need batteries or play awful music.
A happy yellow, green, blue and teal nursery with DIY touches and hand-me-down toys
We wanted a bright and cheerful room for our child's nursery, and it definitely needed to be fit for a boy or girl. Instead of... Read more
The one thing we did spend a lot of time researching was the furniture because we wanted something that would grow with our child and we were hoping to find something that was made in America. We opted for a crib and dresser from Stanley’s Young America line. The crib is equipped to turn into both a toddler and day bed and eventually converts into a full sized bed frame! It’s made really well and we love it. I’m sure our child will grow tired of it before it wears out.
The biggest challenge with creating our baby’s room was keeping it fairly simple. There are so many themes out there and so many useless things to buy! We listened to a great pediatrician on a panel who advised new parents to limit their children toys to 3 or 4 things. He said that if you overwhelm them with too many ‘things’ they’ll never really explore or learn how to use any of them. It can be tough to do that with all the gifts given at baby showers and holidays, but we think it’s a great philosophy and plan to adhere to it as much as we can. For now, we’ve got a great selection of books, some nice soft toys and a wall of picture frames ready to be filled with photographs of everyone who loves our soon-to-be-born son or daughter!
That is so beautiful. I am in the same camp about limiting toys. It is nice to see this beautiful simple nursery design. I want to paint my future child's room as well, this is great inspiration!
I have also always wanted to paint a mural in my future child's room — and I love the blessing tree! Thanks for the inspiration!
The walls are gorgeous. I can see myself wanting something like that in my own room.
We have the Moon in My Room in our grown-up adult room! We love it.
oh gosh it's so pretty.
can you come over? and bring your paintbrush? 🙂
Beautiful! I may steal this idea for my own bedroom. 🙂
Wow. You drew those trees freehand? They are awesome. Such a beautiful, peaceful nursery!
I love this room! I had an old moon like that when I was little, but back then it didnt have a remote and it plugged into the wall… so much better now! And I love the idea of limiting toys and agree… handing over a new toy every few minutes definitely seems to make the toy interesting only on a temporary, surface level.
i am salivating at this gorgeous room you have created. it feels so peaceful even through the pictures. thanks for all the awesome product recos. someday, maybe i'll put them to good use… 🙂
oh man, i want to redo my boys room now! i love the moon light!!
Julie, You are so so creative and I always love seeing your creations come to life! I cannot wait to meet your newest creation once he or she gets to enjoy that beautiful room! xxooxx, Amy
Gorgeous and serene!
Wow! What an amazing baby room. It's exquisite! So peaceful. What a lucky babe you will have.
awww i love it!! i'm in an apartment so we aren't able to paint the wall but i'm planning a canvas painting for my baby due in july… of a giraffe eating from a tree…. and everything made up of circles… might submit to photos when the baby's room is done.. 🙂
beautiful room!!!!! i want birch trees in my bedroom, too. what a lucky baby.
Your room is beautiful! Love that its such a calming but fabulous place for a baby!! Is there anyway you could tell me what paint color you used!? i have been desperate to find the perfect shade of grey/green/blue and i think this color may be the one!!!!!! any info helps, thanks!!!
I realize that I’m late to the party on this one, but I just had to say that I love your tree-branch idea. My daughter’s mobile is a similar idea. At my baby shower, everyone wrote down hopes and prayers for my baby, and then my friend made them all into origami cranes which she made a mobile out of. It is really beautiful, and it reminds me that I have a whole host of people supporting me and my little one.
Wow, that is just beautiful!!! I love the room, especially the trees!
What shade of green paint did you use?
I love the softness of the color. Picking the paint colors for the walls can be so tricky. Fantastic ideas/ job on the room. You can tell there is a lot of love waiting for your baby. Thanks
I just found this googling for “birch tree mural.” I love it! It’s exactly what I want in my kids’ playroom! We have an awesome birch tree rug and I wanted to continue the theme. I’m in Massachusetts, too. Any chance you’re a muralist for hire? 🙂
I love the mural, the trees are subtle and that wall color is so refreshing!
I too painted a tree mural in my sons room, I finally got around to posting it, would love your thoughts on it:
http://simplynamoured.blogspot.com/2012/03/room-tour-noahs-room.html
Love the mural. What color did you use. Love the mint green for a boy or a girl. We find out this week.
I can’t find the name of the paint color you used on the walls, thanks for the help. I love it!