A simple gender neutral nursery

[AD – our gender neutral nursery features press products kindly gifted by Scandiborn] It’s a lovely gender neutral nursery with pale beige walls and soft green accents.

We didn’t know what we were having – boy or girl – so I wanted to create a simple, understated space that could evolve with us and our baby, whoever they might be or turn into. The result is calm and cosy with enough uplifting and subtly playful details to take it from a functional space to a charming children’s haven.

The space first served as a cosy home office with dark grey walls and picture ledges to display my samples and inspiration for my creative projects. When the pandemic hit and we both found ourselves working from home, we added an extra workspace to the room, creating a neat run of desks along one wall with plenty of storage to hide clutter away.

Much like many young families in compact homes, this room has to be multipurpose and cram a lot of uses into one tight space. The original mood board for our gender neutral nursery envisioned a simple, Scandinavian-inspired look with clean, white furniture, monochrome prints and soft, muted tones. The neutral backdrop was to be animated with cute details and references to some of our favourite things – namely dachshunds, as a nod to our own sausage dog Francis! After all, if we’re lucky enough to get planning and do an extension, this room will be changing slightly and getting a fresh new lease of life.

We’ve also moved an existing IKEA chest of drawers from the bedroom into the nursery to add storage and create a changing table. One strategy for a tricky north facing space is to try to counteract the cool light by adding back lots of warmth with sunny tones.

A soft green on the woodwork (door, window frame and skirting) adds a playful touch and a hint of colour. Green has quite a lot of cool tones in it, so I didn’t want it to be too dominating and make the space feel chilly. If it had been a south facing space I probably could have gone a bit heavier with the green and painted the walls that tone too. As it is, I love the subtle, toned down colour and the fact that with a beige backdrop you can adapt and change the space with any accessories you might choose to add.

The centre piece of the room is this beautiful Oliver Furniture cot bed from Scandiborn (scroll down to the end of the post for the full source list). A Nobodinoz canopy, also from Scandiborn, creates a cosy focal point in that corner of the room and adds a hefty dose of green colour.

I’ve added a peg hook above the chest of drawers so I can display some of her favourite outfits, which seem a shame to have hidden away. I found the Kartell Componibili table on Facebook Marketplace – the curves add softness to the hard lines in the space. A neutral, handmade, textured rug from Sera Helsinki adds an earthy touch to the space and ties in with the beige walls. I love how the natural linen cushions also add tactility to the space to make it inviting as soon as you open the door. If it wasn’t for my husband’s ugly computer and office chair (conveniently not pictured in these shots, ha!!) Please let me know if I’ve missed anything off or if you have any questions about our gender neutral nursery and I’ll reply in the comments.