It makes me so freaking happy that you guys liked the Moodboard Files idea! Hooray for us! I really love practicing making these imaginary rooms. It all stemmed from the Chicago trip where I was challenged to make a moodboard. In that moment I felt so inept. But PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! (or at least better than before! ha!) I feel like that practice is helping me understand a little more about room development when it comes to mixing and matching decor elements. Last week, I asked if anyone had a room that they needed some suggestions for and I loved all the feedback. This week we are tackling a request directly from a reader named Andrea at My Kinda Perfect.
This was her comment….
As you can see…she is leaning toward gray and orange but didn’t really know if she could use it and it still be a calm space for her gender neutral nursery. Orange really is a vibrant and fun color and I think that if it’s your favorite – a nursery is a great spot to use it. My biggest suggestion is to just use your accent color sparingly and then balance it in the room with other saturated colors so that it doesn’t feel like an attention hog. I mean…the world really should revolve around the newborn….amiright? yesiam.
I decided that the best way to tackle this gender neutral task was to create a nursery that would have mix-n-match furniture, a basic color scheme and gray walls. I am partial to more green grays but as always with paint colors – make sure you try the paint samples on the walls first so that you don’t get something crazy with your lighting. All the elements in this room can grow with the child so that you don’t feel like anything expensive was too ‘baby’ as they get older (exception being the stacking toy….your teen might want to replace that later!) And since this was a basic template, you can add more gender specific items later as your child grows. Here is the basic template for the room….
I love the use of that star wallpaper but if it seems too crazy, then the trellis pattern paper is a good alternative. And the dark curtains will set off the room’s walls which would be gray. Also it’s absolutely necessary with a nursery to get good black out curtains. Trust. And I balanced those little splashes of orange with navy, turquoise and a splash of warm colored woods. All of those elements together will tone down the orange and make it feel very natural.
As it is, I totally think it would work as a gender neutral space. BUT if you wanted to make it a little more girly or infused with a little more boy-geared stuff, here are two little ‘extra-accessory’ boards to help take the basic template to completion….
It’s amazing how adding three pieces of artwork and a couple pillows can completely change a space. That domino art is so cute!
And switching it up to make it a little more PINK is super easy with art and pillows too. I am obsessed with that painted abstract print. The colors are tooooo good.
Okay! So that is the one I chose this week and I hope you guys like it! You can click on any of the photos to see more info on that particular item so if you are in the market for a gray & orange (and a TON of other colors! ha!) anything in your nursery – happy shopping! And if you are want to put your name in the hat for the next moodboard – I’d love it if you put your comment on this post. I need to know what the space is and a few specifics or parameters….kinda like how Andrea did it!
I’m curious as to what you use to create your mood boards.
Our entire house that we are building :). Just kidding! I’ll throw out our living room- It is a pretty large “great room” with vaulted ceilings, a French door, very naturally-lit. It will need to flow into the rest of the main level so I’m wanting to go with grey/tan (griege?) throughout. The couch will be dark brown, and I am wanting to use cream/whites and navy or something similar. I am not good when it comes to picking anything out and decorating so I’d appreciate any help to get this house on the right track!
Didn’t she ask that orange be left out????
“I’d rather something calmer than orange”
The grey items are cute, though.
I have a hard one! The room above our garage is kind of like an a-frame. The walls are only 52″ tall before the ceiling starts to slant upwards! It is a long space, with the entrance being on one end and a window on the other. The entrance/window walls are painted navy blue, and the longer walls (slanted) are all painted light gray (including the ceiling). There is hardly any wall space to hang pictures – the wall with the door also contains the closet door, and the wall with the window just has a few feet on each side. How do we transition this from a baby’s room into a room fit for a toddler & beyond? We currently have a dark brown bed/bookshelf and a red dresser. The artwork we hung for his nursery is a baseball theme since daddy played baseball in college. My boy will be 3 in February and he needs a big boy room! How do we incorporate toddler friendly decor to keep it cute but still have his room child proofed?! He’s currently not opinionated on his room decor, besides his Paw Patrol blanket & pillow case 😉 help!
I just did a gray and orange and dark teal nursery for my baby boy! Love it! Great color choices!
I’m loving your mood boards so far! I have a relatively new-to-me house that could use a mood board for each room! Ha! The previous owners’ design and paint choices were totally the opposite of my preferences.
Anyway, there are good quality hickory cabinets with a natural stain/varnish in my tiny kitchen and I would like to avoid having to paint them. However, I am at a loss for a paint color to go with them and the current black (with specks of tan) counter tops and tan tile back splash. Eventually I would like to re-tile but that is not in the plans for any time soon. I am not a fan of the red or yellow that have been used in the room. I tend more toward gray/blue/white tones. My dilemma comes in that I want to subdue the more orange tones of the wood cabinets while avoiding a color too similar to the cabinets. I would also love to add some sort of mid century vibe, if possible, but don’t know how to accomplish that with the current more modern look. Any suggestions? I’ll take any help I can get. 🙂 I am more than happy to provide pictures, if you’d like!
So I am in desperate need of your mood board and design assistance. I am trying to transition my sons nursery to his big boy room. The walls are painted with matt Key Lime from Valspar but has gloss stripes for a subtle effect. I really love the idea of using the madras pottery barn quilt in some fashion but am at a loss for how to not make the room so bold considering I am nervous about the work/energy of repainting a striped room. I have allot of gray and white accents for the room as his nursery was grey and white but cant seem to see how to incorporate the madras quilt or if I should go in a different direction. So green walls and love of madras quilt has me perplexed…
Lisa
Love this. Great finds!
I don’t know if you could do one for this, but What about a mood board for Christmas decorating? In the past I’ve always done the more “glam” whites, golds, and silvers, but this year I’m craving something more traditional. Thinking whites/cream base, but with plaids and greenery in more traditional colors to cozy up the space. I’m just having a hard time finding the line between a more modern cozy/traditional and going full blown rustic 🙂
I need another set of eyes on my LR. I’ve got all the other rooms done but my LR has remained untouched for 5 years bc I just can’t come up with a plan. My curtains and two chairs have to stay. Help!
We just moved to a new home and my 6 year old girl and 4 year old boy share a bedroom. Its small and I’m drawing a blank when it comes to ideas on how to organize and decorate the space. We’re probably going to get them a bunk bed soon (right now they’re in toddler beds) but we’re having a tough time even choosing one! They’re started spending more time in their room now rather than the playroom because their little one year old brother bothers them and tries to take their things or mess up their games. I love lots of white with punches of color but other than that I have nothing. I would LOVE help figuring it out!
Hi Katie!!
The hubby and I just closed on a cool mid-century modern foreclose. The house has a long livingroom that is flanked with pairs of french doors – one leads to a deck and the other to the back yard. In the center of the room, there is a cool half-circle fireplace that passes through to our dining room. The majority of the house (livingroom included) has this funky natural cut slate that we hear was all the rage back in the day. We don’t super love it, but we realize we will just need to make it work until we can change it. Our style is a little eclectic – like we love mixing traditional, modern, new, and old pieces together. We would loveeee to have you whip us up a moodboard… and maybe even a few layout options if you’re up to it!
So great! I have a mood board request if you have time. We’re expecting boy/girl twins in March. I’m a little stumped on how to bring the room together. The existing wall color is Anonymous by Sherwin Williams, which we can’t change right now, and the cribs are pottery barn Elsie spindle cribs in black. Any thoughts or insights? I have loved all your children’s rooms.
So cute! After I miscarried and was trying to get pregnant again, I thought it would be therapeutic to have a project, so I worked on a gender neutral gray and orange nursery too! The walls had to stay white because apartment dwellers can’t be choosers, but the color combination turned out cuter and less crazy than I thought, and my son has loved his room for the last two years.
I’m not much of a photographer and it’s much brighter and fun in real life, but I have some pictures on my blog for family to see. http://danimariesthoughts.blogspot.com/2014_06_01_archive.html?m=1
Well aren’t you the cutest pregnant girl?! So fun! I loved seeing the orange in a nursery 🙂
xo – kb
I took that as “It’s my favorite color but I don’t wanna paint an accent wall that color”….I figured she mentioned it because she really loved it at heart but didn’t know how to use it in a calm way 🙂
xo – kb
I could use some help with our master bedroom. It’s the last room we have left to redo and I’m terrible at selecting accessories and bedding. Right now the room is white with one deep teal accent wall and espresso furniture and a brown leather recliner. I know, not very inspiring. Help!
grey, orange, and navy is the color scheme in my son’s room. love it!
You are so good at these! I struggle when it comes to putting colors together. I would love for you to create one for my rec room in the basement. It is a blank slate since we remodeled it from an in-law suite. I want to do gray walls and a light wood floor. we have 2 smallish windows so I am not sure about the window treatments (maybe roman shades?) There is a fireplace on the outer wall and we need to fit in the TV (gaming station), couch, and 2 chairs along with a foosball table. I like a modern/retro feel with turquiose/gray and maybe even a touch of pink.
You just completely described my kitchen! The pieces by themselves are decent (not my first choices but I can live with them) but together none of it really goes – at least in my house. Ideally I’d rip out the back splash and paint the cabinets white, but if I hold out for that it will be years before anything happens. I’m struggling with finding a nice neutral to paint the walls that both goes with that cabinets and doesn’t clash with the tile. The struggle is real.
Well, Katie Bower, you hit the nail on the head! =) This was totally the vibe I was going for, but figuring out where to start was paralyzing. And, giraffes and stars are a fan favorite of mine, so you really out-did yourself without even knowing it. I was so excited to see the title “Neutral Nursery with Orange & Gray”, and then I saw you literally did it because of my comment. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Exactly what I was thinking! =)
Cute nursery, I love the curtains!!
Katie, we are moving into a new house and I would love some inspiration for my daughters room. She’s three, so she was still in a gender neutral nursery at our last house. Her request is pink- I was thinking of a blush color on the walls, and I bought the pillowfort unicorn from Target to hang above her bed, but haven’t been able to find bedding/Headboard/art/accessories yet.
So glad you like the vibe! I loved this challenge so thank you so much for the comment!
xo – kb
I have to just jump on and comment again. My husband and I just found out our offer was accepted on a house (our first!)…so now this moodboard can REALLY become a reality! It’s so exciting to think about bringing our baby home to OUR HOME. Thank you again for the inspiration to make a cozy little nursery for our baby. XOXO
YAAAAAASSSSS! I am so excited for you! That is amazing news! And definitely send me a pic if you make this space a reality! I’d love to see it 🙂
xo – kb
I struggle with decorating our master bedroom. We rent an apartment (so we can’t change the floor or walls) in an old house and the master is a cool attic room with slanted ceilings. The wallpaper is a light pink damask, the ceilings are white and the floor is light pine. How do I work with the pink without making it too feminine for my husband?
Love your nursery board! I’d be interested in a mood board for a light but masculine home office. My husband works from home and he has a nice little home office (approx 10′ x 10′, with 2 windows on one wall, French doors to the foyer, paint color is Edgecombe Grey with chunky white crown molding) but the space is relatively dark and small. We want something that is light and airy but not too feminine. Most inspiration pics for men’s office spaces are very dark with large or heavy furniture so I’ve been struggling to figure out what to do! As long as he can display some Pittsburgh sports memorabilia in there he’ll be happy, but I want to make it a special space for him that he looks forward to spending time in. Thanks!