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Gender Neutral Nursery Ideas For Your Baby
Image Credit: Erika Wittlieb
Wouldn't it be good if you could decorate your baby's nursery without having to worry about whether the decor was suitable for a boy or a girl? The answer is to choose a genderless aesthetic for your nursery.
One of the fun things that we get to do when we are expecting a baby is deciding what should go in the nursery, and there are dozens of good reasons for choosing a gender neutral nursery for your new baby.
For example, when I had both my kids we did not want to know the sex of our baby and wanted a surprise. Maybe you do not want to assume that your child will adore pink just because they are a girl and will only like blue because they are a boy. Perhaps you are planning to have more children and want to hedge your bets so that you do not have to completely redecorate the nursery if your next baby is a different gender!
So if you do not wish to start reinforcing gender stereotypes from an early age, a gender-free decor scheme will solve all those issues.
Not knowing the sex of your baby does mean that when you set up the nursery for a baby you cannot go all out in pink or blue. So for both of our children, everything that we chose for the nursery had to be ungendered.
Furniture for a Small Nursery
Image Credit: Nynne Schrøder
In a small nursery, you will want your furniture to work really hard for you and be multi-purpose where possible. However the first piece of advice I’m going to give you is something that you should not buy!
You will see for sale a thing called a changing station, changing table or changing unit. These consist of either a table or a chest of drawers, which has a top surface with raised edges that you are supposed to change your baby’s nappy on. There are two reasons not to buy one.
- They are very dangerous. You don’t know when baby will decide that today is the day they are going to learn to roll over! The danger is that they will roll off the table and onto the floor. Baby should always have their nappy changed on the floor.
- Even if baby does not roll off, you will only use it for a few months at most before your little one will try to make an escape bid! So it is a complete waste of money.
All you will need in the early stages are a crib or cot, along with somewhere to store clothing and other baby items. Do not be tempted to buy more furniture for the nursery than you need, however adorable it is, because you want to maximise the amount of space in a small room.
A wardrobe, a chest of drawers and some shelves are probably the only items of furniture that you will need at first – and maybe for several years.
Some people find it useful to have a chair for nursing baby if you have the space.
To make the most of a small room, choose furniture in a pale wood such as pine, light oak or go for painted furniture in your chosen shade of cream, white or grey.
If you already have a dark piece of furniture that you would like to use, or have found a wonderful second hand piece that needs painting, remember to paint it as far in advance as possible. We're going to talk about painting your baby's nursery later on.
Where To Buy Furniture for a Unisex Nursery
- For those planning a gender neutral nursery, or simply looking for some natural, paired back decor for babies room, Scandiborn have a lovely selection of accessories and small furniture items, in pale neutral shades and and blonde wood.
- Smallable bring a touch of European chic to your nursery, with products from top designers from Scandinavia, France and Spain. They have complete bedroom sets for a nursery in white and light-coloured woods along with accessories and bedding.
- If you are looking for complete room sets in neutral, gender-free shades, CuddleCo are specialists in children's furniture, with wood, rattan and a gorgeous range of matching accessories, toys and wall art.
Unisex Colours For A Gender Neutral Nursery
Image Credit: Engin Akyurt
If you are planning a non-gendered nursery, the first thing you will want to plan is your colour scheme. So first of all, what are the best colours to choose for a gender neutral nursery? I would recommend choosing paler shades, especially for painting walls and for the finishes on your nursery furniture. As well as creating a calming atmosphere for your baby, they will reflect light and make a small room seem more spacious.
Here are the best colours to use for a genderless aesthetic in your baby's nursery.
- White is the classic colour for any baby, and is a colour that makes a perfect neutral backdrop for all your other colour choices. You really cannot choose too many white objects as they will all match and will go with anything else that you put in the room. White is a cool colour and if the baby’s room is generally warm, because of how your heating system is set up or because it is south-facing, it will help it to feel cooler.
- Cream is also an excellent colour for a small gender neutral nursery. Again it will match almost everything yet will add a slightly warmer feeling to the room. If you are looking for paint you will be looking for shades with names such as Magnolia, Buttercream, Light Beige or Vanilla.
- Yellow is a wonderful choice of colour for a boy or a girl, and is a bright and cheerful colour to use in a child’s room. This is the colour we chose, because our nursery was north-facing so tended to coolness.
- Green is an excellent choice for gender neutral décor. You can choose to use either warm or cool shades and it works very well with other natural colours and textures.
- Grey is a wonderfully calming shade and works well as a neutral base for many other colours. Once your baby is born it will work beautifully with any blue or pink items that you are given or buy for the nursery once the gender is revealed.
- Brown is an excellent choice for a cosy nursery, especially if you are having a winter baby or love to choose items made from natural materials with a rustic finish. Use lighter shades on the wall such as beige or cream and save darker browns for colour accented accessories in a small room.
Advice for Painting a Baby’s Bedroom
Image Credit: Daria Yakovleva
If you are planning to repaint the room that you are turning into a nursery, consider how far in advance you can get the painting done. As paint dries, even low VOC and ‘breatheasy’ types will create fumes and the smell may linger for a long time depending on how well you are able to air your house.
The advice varies from a couple of weeks to three months, so it is best that you get your painting done as early as possible!
Here are some of the most popular brands of baby-friendly paints that you can choose for your nursery walls.
- GraceMary Chalk & Clay Paint
- The Organic and Natural Paint Company
- Little Knights 100% VOC Paint
- Lakeland Paints
- Retique It Chalk by Renaissance
- Frenchic Paint
The smaller the room that you are decorating, the lighter the colour that you paint it should be. Dark colours will tend to make any room look smaller, so a light grey, cream, white or very pale yellow will make your small neutral nursery look larger, as well as keeping it bright and cheerful.
