Gender neutral nursery (yay or nay)

[simpsongal]

Okay H&G moms, what do you think?  I'll find out the sex in 4 weeks.  The logical side of my brain says to go gender neutral with the walls b/c we'll use this room as a nursery for the next kid.  The designer/H&Ger in me wants to be gender specific, especially if it's a girl.  Incidentally, if it's a boy I'll probably be back for inspiration b/c I'm at a loss. 

The crib is white, the dresser will probably be white too.  I would really like to do a wall stencil - I was thinking an all-over stencil in a morrocan trellis type design.  For neutral, it would be pale green.  But it would look soooo pretty in pink for a girl (like the background wallpaper for this website, also our crib).  I'll keep the big ticket items like the furniture, rug, and glider gender neutral, probably beige.

Thoughts?  Talk me into the right call.  Obviously it's easy to paint over pink, but painting over a pink wall stencil would be heartbreaking, right?

[emjacobs]

I prefer gender neutral nursery's in general with touches / decorations that make it more girl / boy.

Honestly, there is no "right call", there is just your call. Paint is easy, if you want to go pretty in pink for this then do it.

[emoflamingo]

I think you can really go either way. If you did pale green and your next was a boy, would you keep the patterned wall or do you think you'd change it up? I think if it's a girl and you love it, go pink. Paint is (relatively) cheap and I'm okay with changing it up if I fall out of love with something.

[spankswife]

TBH - I did the gender neutral thing, and I wish I would have gone all out girly girl. Not sure about having #2 yet, but if it is a boy, I'll never get that experience. If it's a girl, I'm going all out. DD is 3yo, and it still lingers with me. Paint is paint, but you have to live with it for a least a few years, ykwim?

[AmyRI]

We knew we were reusing the same bedroom for the nursery because it's next to our master. We didn't want to have to do a nursery twice. We did gender neutral and added boy/girl accents accordingly and I'm so happy we did. We still get to do the "all-out boy" room for DS, just for him as a 2-year-old instead of a newborn. It's worked really well for us. I can't wait to do DD's big-girl room in a couple of years!

[simpsongal]

Maybe I should just wait 4 weeks and make the call at that time? Some of yall are right though - there will be a toddler/kid bedroom in the future too. So it's not like this is my only shot.

Does anyone think a green moroccan design would look bad in a baby boy's room? That's my other concern.

[new2this]

I like a combo. For baby girls nursery the walls and all furniture / big ticket items are gender neutral. We don't do bedding sets since you can't use much of them. Just crib sheets. All but 1 are gender neutral. The one we will use primarily is pink. We have some girly decorations here and there.

We will probably try for a third baby soon after this one is born. If that happens and we have a boy it will be easy to add a few boyish decorations and swap out the crib sheet.

[ssmjlm]

We started gender neutral, so furniture and main wall color. Then I did a striped wall in pink and added pink touches around the room once we found out it was a girl.

I didn't want over the top boy or girl, but I wanted something.

[Deleted]

You can do what you want.
I did pretty much gender neutral because I hate to paint and they get to be "big kids" faster than you think. I wasn't going through all of that again, esp. with a kid or two in the mix.

I am also just naturally drawn to things like bold greens, reds etc. that are pretty neutral by nature.

I did get cheap easy things like girly picture frames and blankets. When we're done we're done.
Now at 2 I don't regret. I changed 3 pictures and now we have a big kid girl room.

[wildfloweragain]

Moroccan pattern is not bad for a boy.

[simpsongal]

Thanks all. After much mulling, I think I'm going to go green for the walls. But I'm probably going a very plae green with irridescent morrocan stencil, so it will look soothing and neutral. Pink accents would look lovely and pop. I'll cross the boy bridge if/when I come to it.

I ordered this stencil: www.cuttingedgestencils.com/moroccan-stencil-pattern-3.html

Thanks!

[lys]

I would go with a light green wall color
Boy - add Navy accents
Girl - add Pink accents

[TBM]

Aug 5, 2013 16:16:58 GMT -5 lys said:

I would go with a light green wall color
Boy - add Navy accents
Girl - add Pink accents

I love the idea of navy or another blue as an accent accent for either boy or girl.



I wonder who started the color = gender thing? 

I only thought about it because I was thinking about all of the gorgeous Moroccan tile that is used in buildings there, and that people just use it because they like it, not because it is feminine or masculine.lol

[pitterwoo]

Aug 5, 2013 15:43:59 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Thanks all. After much mulling, I think I'm going to go green for the walls. But I'm probably going a very plae green with irridescent morrocan stencil, so it will look soothing and neutral. Pink accents would look lovely and pop. I'll cross the boy bridge if/when I come to it.

I ordered this stencil: www.cuttingedgestencils.com/moroccan-stencil-pattern-3.html

Thanks!

sounds good!  any baby, boy or girl will appreciate a soothing nursery

[heygrey]

i'm planning what will basically amount to a gender neutral nursery colour-wise, even though we'll find out the gender. i just don't like pink and that seems to be the one colour that is decidedly "girl".

it's more or less grey and white with accents of yellow, aqua, navy, and red. we're using a windowless room so keeping it light and bright is essential. 

[tarheels]

Aug 5, 2013 16:57:24 GMT -5 TBM said:

Aug 5, 2013 16:16:58 GMT -5 lys said:

I would go with a light green wall color
Boy - add Navy accents
Girl - add Pink accents

I love the idea of navy or another blue as an accent accent for either boy or girl.



I wonder who started the color = gender thing? 

I only thought about it because I was thinking about all of the gorgeous Moroccan tile that is used in buildings there, and that people just use it because they like it, not because it is feminine or masculine.lol

www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html

[TBM]

Aug 5, 2013 18:43:38 GMT -5 tarheels said:

Aug 5, 2013 16:57:24 GMT -5 TBM said:

I love the idea of navy or another blue as an accent accent for either boy or girl.



I wonder who started the color = gender thing? 

I only thought about it because I was thinking about all of the gorgeous Moroccan tile that is used in buildings there, and that people just use it because they like it, not because it is feminine or masculine.lol

www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html

Thanks!  That was very interesting.

[pitterwoo]

Aug 5, 2013 19:02:01 GMT -5 TBM said:

Aug 5, 2013 18:43:38 GMT -5 tarheels said:

www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html

Thanks!  That was very interesting.

I knew I had heard before that pink was said to be for boys because it's a stronger color.  But I had no idea that little boys and girls were both in dresses for so long.  Only christening gowns and such, I thought.  Interesting.

For the nursery in my head I would go more with soft and pretty things that I like and have it be more for me than the baby and would plan to redo for a toddler room when he/she starts expressing likes and wants and incorporating character bedding and all that stuff.

[tarheels]

So this blogger is pretty much my favorite one in the universe. She cooks as well as Martha Stewart (try her mac & cheese, just TRY it!) and her home is so serene and elegant (with a kid!), but she's super down to earth and accessible. And NO sponsors for obnoxious "buy this" posts.

In their first house, she gave her baby girl a powder blue room. It was a nice change of pace (and pretty much my favorite nursery ever in the history of nurseries): jennysteffens.blogspot.com/2012/01/emmas-nursery-soft-cuddly-nursery-pale.html

They moved to a new house and did cream with touches of pale pink: jennysteffens.blogspot.com/2012/12/emmas-room-soft-pink-ivory-room-with.html

I think they're great examples of how you don't have to Go Big or Go Home unless you want to.

[aweilba]

I love a gender neutral nursery.  But I'm not huge into dressing/accessorizing your kids in gender specific things all of the time either.  I mean, don't get me wrong, little girls look freaking adorable in big bows and dresses, but it certainly doesn't bother me if I see a baby girl in all blue either.  This belief sort of started after I took a gender studies class in college that really changed my perspective on gender a bit... But I think that green will totally work for both genders, and so will that pretty stencil!  I really like it when nurseries aren't painted blue or pink.  

[simpsongal]

Aug 6, 2013 9:17:04 GMT -5 aweilba said:

I love a gender neutral nursery.  But I'm not huge into dressing/accessorizing your kids in gender specific things all of the time either.  I mean, don't get me wrong, little girls look freaking adorable in big bows and dresses, but it certainly doesn't bother me if I see a baby girl in all blue either.  This belief sort of started after I took a gender studies class in college that really changed my perspective on gender a bit... But I think that green will totally work for both genders, and so will that pretty stencil!  I really like it when nurseries aren't painted blue or pink.  

Thank you! That pattern really caught my eye and my friend agreed.  I just ordered this rug from Overstock.  I'm hoping the green works so I can pick out the paint colors this weekend.  I figured a simple rug would be good since I'm going to have pattern all over the wall - but I like the little bits of color on the edges.

I'm guessing we'll go with a beige chair, canvas/white curtains w/green trim. 

[downtoearth]

Our first two nurseries/toddler rooms (the first 2 boys shared from day one) were a pale green. The trim and curtains were white. Since I had boys I added bright blues and oranges as accents and it was fun and bright.

Last year, I painted our third nursery BM's Revere Pewter and it's awesome. I love the fact that I can add blues/turquoise/greens and if I had a girl, I would have used pink, etc. to accent. Right now we have it sort of like this - my almost mood board. Guess I haven't actually taken a picture of the room. Oh and the furniture works in there. We have the crib under the window (south wall), the futon on the west wall, the changing table on the east wall and the rocker near the NE corner and closet on the north.