Nursery Dilemma

As you know, we're expecting a baby boy in May.  Naturally, I've been thinking about what I want to do for a baby boy's nursery.  I've known for a while that I would not want to do the traditional PBK trains, planes, or baseballs.  I don't like the traditional primary colors or the baby blues and browns.  I knew those things, but I honestly had no idea how hard it would be to come up with an idea for our baby boy's nursery.

As of right now, I still have no idea what I will do in Baby Boy's room, but in the meantime, here are a few boy nurseries I've seen online that I actually like.  Of the hundreds I've looked at, these are the ones I really like.

One of my favorites is Jenny Lyons' little boy's nursery.  Jenna is the Executive Creative Director for J.Crew.  You can see her whole house here, but here's a shot from Beckett's nusery.  I adore the striped ceiling.

Another nursery I like is from one of the head designers at DwellStudio.  Take a look at her little boy's fun and functional nursery.  You can view other pictures from her home here.

Interestingly enough, both of those nurseries have colors that I normally wouldn't be drawn to, but it's the way they're used that makes me really like them.  Since I will probably not be painting stripes on the ceiling, and I certainly don't have the type of space featured in the DwellStudio nursery, I am trying to figure out what will work for us.

We have some definite limitations.  For one, the room where Baby Boy will live has white board and batten on all the walls, to a height of about 6 feet.  There is a nice picture ledge at the top of the board and batten, that goes all the way around the room, so we do have that space to work with.  Also, I have dark brown nursery furniture, and (gasp) it all matches.  We bought a set from Bellini over 4 years ago, paid way too much for it, and at that time, I wouldn't have dreamt of putting non-matching furniture in a room.  My tastes have changed, but for the sake of the resale of the furniture, I do not plan to paint any of the pieces in the nursery.  So, white walls, dark brown furniture.  The top 2 feet of the walls are currently pink, so we'll definitely want to change that.

So far, here are two bedding sets I've seen that I like.  Both are from Serena and Lily.  The first is my personal favorite, and it's called the Rye collection.  The second I also like, and I think Derrick prefers it.  It's called the Ben.

I am definitely drawn to the turquoisey shades of blue.  I like the orange as well, and I think both of these sets would work well with the white lower walls and the dark furniture.

If I don't go with either of those bedding sets, it may just be a thing where we pick a color combination and go with it.  I like this idea of the letters of the alphabet on a ledge around the room, with each letter varying in style and color.  The colors featured below aren't what I would do, but I definitely am considering this idea.

Last, but not least, I really like the ideas used in this nursery.  Fun framed art.  Colorful vintage pieces mixed with modern.  I found this one on ohdeedoh, thanks to my friend Lanie Beth.  She's the go-to source for great blogs!

So that's about all I have.  Kinda sad, huh?  I'm going to keep thinking though and keep searching.  I'm kind of hoping I'll happen upon an old book or a fun print or something else that will just grab me, and I'll know it's exactly what I need for nursery inspiration.  We shall see.  I'll be sure to keep you updated as we go from a nursery dilemma to a beautiful boy's nursery!