Today I am excited to finally share our little boy’s nursery, where I added a DIY board and batten wall treatment last year! I used beadboard paneling for the boards, and I love the texture that it adds to the room. This room was definitely a labor of love- it took me until our little guy was nearly 7 months old to build! My goal for his nursery was to create a room that had an old-world feel and was one that could grow with him. His room also has touches of a nautical feel through the lighting and artwork, elements that can easily be changed as he grows. Read on for more of the design elements in his room and for the before and after photos!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for the items I used in our nursery design. This means that I may earn a commission should you chose to make a purchase through my link.
Window/Door Trim and Batten Placement
This bedroom is the smallest one in our house and was previously our daughter’s nursery. Her room was the first DIY project we did inside, where we used 1×4 MDF to add a board and batten treatment around the existing window and door trim.
By the time I was ready to turn this room into our son’s nursery, we had already started upgrading that existing MDF window and door trim everywhere else in our house. I knew if I didn’t redo his trim now, it probably wouldn’t happen for at least a few years! We replaced all of the MDF trim in his room with a more substantial wood trim, and that alone added so much character!
This time around I also wanted to change the spacing of the vertical battens to make them feel like they were working with the window trim rather than just around it. I located vertical battens on each outside edge of the window trim and tied the window apron into them. If I could do this detail over, I would have used a regular 1×4 for the window apron to match the battens, rather than our typical apron profile with the bead detail. Other than that, I am so happy with how this detail turned out!
The board and batten wainscoting carries up to about 2/3 of the height of the wall. If you’re trying to decide how tall to make your wainscoting, a good rule of thumb is to set it at 1/3 or 2/3 of the ceiling height. Following this “rule of thirds” will give the most aesthetically pleasing proportions to the space. Personally, I love the look of the 2/3 high wainscoting, because it has so much presence and brings a lot of character to the space!
The Reading Nook
This is my favorite view in the whole room! This corner seemed like the perfect location for a bookshelf, but any bookshelf I found was too deep compared to the space available. Instead, I opted for a hanging wood bookshelf from Target. It is the perfect size and also allows the books to face forward. This makes it really easy for our now little toddler to pick out his favorite books at bedtime! The bookshelf came as a natural wood color but had two downsides: the back was made from several strips of finger-jointed wood (rather than being one solid piece), and the color had a definite yellow/orange tint. After some failed attempts at staining the shelf, I decided to paint it a seafoam green color- pretty cute, right?!
Nursery Furniture and Decor
The Art
When I first started piecing together the design for this room, I had my heart set on this whale weathervane wallpaper from Sara Fitz. She has the prettiest coastal watercolor art, and I loved the color and classic feel of those little whales! Unfortunately, we didn’t have the budget or time to incorporate that wallpaper into the design. Instead, I ordered one of her note cards and cut a custom mat to frame it. The color of the bookshelf was actually inspired by the colors in the whale print, and I just love how they look together!
While I avoided hanging art above the crib for safety reasons, I did create a few pieces to hang above our swivel glider recliner! After loving some adorable fish prints that I saw on Pinterest, but not being able to find the source, I was inspired to draw these two little guys in Adobe Fresco.
To frame the art, I decided to invest in custom frames from Frame It Easy. This was after debating on, buying, and returning multiple other options from Amazon and Target! What really drew me to Frame It Easy was the ability to customize the size and the fact that they come with acrylic rather than glass. I’m very safety-conscious (read: constantly worried) when it comes to my kids, and I just felt so much better about hanging frames this large if they had acrylic. I was also able to completely customize the frame style and size to choose a scale that felt right above the wainscoting. I also had them print my artwork, so everything came completely assembled and ready to hang! When I weighed out the cost difference, it wasn’t a huge cost increase to go for the custom frame.
The Furniture
For our little boy’s nursery, we decided to re-use the same crib and dresser that we had used in our daughter’s nursery. Lucky for her, this meant she received a new “big girl” bed and closet makeover! The nursery furniture is the Kendall crib and dresser from Pottery Barn Kids. Both have held up well over the years, but I will say that the drawers on the dresser are not the smoothest to operate. It has definitely been a good value for us, though! The changing pad and cover also came from PBK, and I did choose this pretty “indigo” color for a new changing pad cover. (A Mom tip for anyone who may find it helpful? We also use these changing pad liners on top of the cover so that we can just switch out/wash those, rather than the more decorative cover every time!).
The glider was a Target find, and I couldn’t be happier with it! We had a rocking chair in our daughter’s nursery, and I knew this time around I wanted a glider instead so that it did not constantly slide around. I debated purchasing the Pottery Barn Wingback Swivel Glider & Recliner, until I found this glider recliner for a fraction of the cost (plus free shipping and free returns- my love language!). The color is a beautiful neutral beige color, without pulling yellow, and it is firm but comfortable.
The Lighting
The ceiling light fixture is from Amazon and as soon as I saw it, it just struck me as having this vintage, nautical, almost lighthouse feel that was perfect for the space! I don’t typically lean towards gold in lighting and accessories, but I just love the combination of gold and a dark navy.
Paint Colors
Speaking of dark navy….isn’t this paint color gorgeous?! While I have historically kept the paint colors in our house very “light and bright,” I was really drawn to this Hale Navy color by Benjamin Moore for the board and batten.
This room is on the north side of our home, so it doesn’t receive a ton of natural light. One design dilemma I ran into with the white board and batten that was in this room previously, was that it always looked gray because of the lack of light. This time around I decided that instead of fighting the dim lighting, I would embrace it and go with a bold, dark color. The room feels so cozy wrapped in the navy blue wainscoting. The color on both the upper wall and the trim is Sherwin Williams Extra White.
I hope you enjoyed this little nursery tour and that it inspired you to add some of these design elements into your own home! If you have any questions leave them below!
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