Blue Bird Nursery Idea

by Amanda Barkey
(Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

My Blue Bird nursery idea was inspired largely by a beautiful quilt that my Aunt made for our babe. I picked out the fabrics with her and then loosely based a 'theme' around some of them.

I didn't want the room to be too 'themed' (like Winnie the Pooh or Disney or Cars) because that’s just not me. I also wanted it to blend in with other decorating styles in the rest of the house and have an innocent baby feeling.

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I added a natural touch with warm wood pieces, rattan and birds used in the decals around the room, the mobile and small touches like bookends and statues.

The paint color is Benjamin Moore's Cabot Trial. The blue bird wall decals featured around the room add a nice pop of bright color. I featured them on all of the walls in the room because I wanted the room to feel like the birds were flying all around.

I have heard mixed reviews about decals and their ability to stay up but these have been up for over a month now and aren't peeling or falling off. They are also great because they can just peel off when we move or want to replace them.





I got this shelf as a gift but it had some pretty 'cutesy' pastel colored frames on the pegs so I spray painted them brown and then put swatches of quilt fabric in them to tie that element in and I just love it.

The frame was a $3 Winners find by my Mom and I simply recovered the matte and added some ribbon and it’s totally transformed. The hamper is from Ikea and matches the little book basket that I have hanging on the wall in the opposite corner. The basket on the dresser is all full of bum changing necessities!





We were on a pretty tight budget for the room so we bought the crib, dresser/change table, shelf and rug from Ikea. Most of my storage in the room is in the dresser.





I love the bird bookends that I found at a cute little shop in down town Abbotsford on a shopping trip with my sister. They will be well used over the years I'm sure- I just love them!

Other pieces in the room, such as the recliner, were re-used from other areas in the house.





I made the pillow covers (minus the one in the back, its from Ikea's 'as is' section... gotta love a $3 pillow and case! good find Mom!) and they coordinate with the quilt that my aunt made me. I am especially proud of these little pillows because I'm definitely not a whiz on the sewing machine and they turned out really great.

The recliner is in the reading corner with a book basket all ready with books to read to my little guy (when he starts to understand books... probably won’t be for a few months!)

Above the recliner you can see the light fixture I found at Ikea in the 'as is' section for $5. I tied lots of swatches of left over fabric that I had onto it. I like it because its unique and gives off a nice soft light.





I also love how I placed the decals in this corner, because at night when the light is on they just glow softly around the chair.

On the right hand side you can also see an assortment of 'swatch portraits' that I made for some wall art. They are pretty trendy right now and I like the fact that they look modern and tie in with the quilt. They aren't heavy so I don't have to worry about them falling onto the baby in the crib like a shelf or large piece of art might.





They were relatively inexpensive to make, probably $10-15 for all of the hoops and then the cost of material...

I don't know how much it cost for the material in each project but for all of the material that I used around the room for different projects I spent about $50. I left the hoops their natural wood because it went with other details in the room like the wicker baskets.





Above the crib you can see my favorite piece in the room, the 'birds of a feather' mobile that I bought online, my one big splurge and I just love the natural organicness of it...

not a typical cutesy, bright mobile.





These are the curtian tie backs that I made with fabric that coordinates with the baby bedding. They actually are fastened with Velcro and the button is just sewn on for show.





I love the room and I am especially proud of the great finds that I found, how I made or remade things for the room and how it all came together and coordinated without being too matchy or cutsey.

It was a lot of work and took about 3 months to pull together but it was SO much fun to do. My favorite part was seeing it all come together at the end, it even turned out better than I thought it would in my mind!

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