Baby Girl Nursery: Simple Colorful Neutral Boho Desert Moon Theme

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Our baby girl's official nursery is here! I'm SO excited about this simple, colorful – but still neutral – boho desert moon themed nursery! If you caught her first nursery reveal, you know the room was temporary! The gorgeous moon wallpaper (use code THECONFUSEDMILLENNIAL for 15% off!)was already up when we moved in and it was the perfect transitional room while I worked on her baby nursery. You see, our daughter was a noisy sleeper and kept waking me up. I needed her out of our room sooner, rather than later. With that said, her nursery was far from ready. So we moved her bassinet into the room next to ours with the plan being to convert that room into my office once I finished her nursery!

Quick note: You can shop everything in this post via the links at the bottom! This post also contains affiliate links.

Baby girl nursery color palette:

For her nursery, I wanted to bring in more color compared to her old room, but still keep things pretty neutral. I love the idea of a space that feels calming and soothing, but not bland. I also wanted to keep the moon theme going strong. Fun fact: A lot of the items in this room, I actually bought while I was about 6 months pregnant with her! I got a massive wave of inspiration for her room and ran with it, unsure how it'd ultimately come together.

For baby girl's nursery color palette, I opted for dusty roses, pops of green, natural tones, and loads of brass and copper. Shortly after her name came to us, I got this overwhelming feeling that our baby was coming in as an old soul and we needed to skip the traditional “baby nursery” feel and opt for items that felt a bit more mature and like they'd grow with her and also work in any area of our house.

It all started with a pillow.

Her room clicked when I saw the dusty rose velvet with the evil eye yarn stitching. From there, everything else unfolded. I knew I wanted more of a lux feel to the room with the velvet, and then I remembered these moon prints I had seen about a year earlier. I had always been obsessed with the blend of watercolor and metallic details in the moon phases. Knowing they'd compliment the velvet pillow and add some nice rich detail, I decided to get them for above her crib.

They are always the first thing anyone comments on when they walk into the room. The prints are even more gorgeous in person (if you can even imagine!). Even better, is how affordable they are and how many different sizes and color options they come in! We opted for the copper with gold drops (but they seriously come in every color!). They shipped fairly quick and fit perfectly into the natural wood toned IKEA frames (these come in a ton of sizes too). We got the 12×16 and they were only $10 each!

The IKEA frames really suited the natural wood detailing on her crib bars. I fell in love with the Babyletto X crib. It has a modern feel, but the two tone gives it some character. I wanted to keep the furniture light and airy in here to balance out the pops of color throughout.

Nursery crib and bedding:

For her crib we opted for Babyletto. It's a little pricier than some, but it's more aesthetically pleasing AND it's made from eco-friendly, non-toxic materials backed by GREENGUARD Gold's certification (Screened for over 10,000 chemicals and VOCs known to pollute indoor air, the Hudson meets the rigorous chemical emissions standards of UL, a global independent safety science company). So well worth it.

For bedding, we opted for the Babyletto non-toxic hybrid waterproof mattress. So far we love it, one side is firmer for newborns, and the other side is softer for toddlers. The crib converts to a toddler bed too. For sheets, we opted for basic white organic Burt's Bees, but also got this fun printed sheet with a vintage feel. Since it's not considered safe for blankets, pillows, or bumpers in a crib, we decided to skip all of that. The pillows in her crib are more of decoration and go in her teepee when she's in her crib; and the garland is usually never up (just for photos and guests)

Nursery furniture:

If you read her first nursery post, you know that I've been pretty minimal in my approach to her furniture. R didn't move into this room until she was 5 or so months old. She'd already been sleeping through the night for a few months so I decided to still skip the glider. We ended up moving the IKEA dresser from my office into her room to use as a changing table for a bit, with the plan to move it back into my office.

What we kept in the IKEA dresser:

Top drawer: diaper station! Here we keep her diapers, wipes, and lotions. It's quick and easy to access. We use shoe boxes to organize. Here's an important tip: don't rush out to buy plastic bins to organize your diaper drawer. As your baby grows, the size of their diapers gets bigger too and they will likely not fit in the bin you purchased. We had to upgrade from a small shoe box to a larger one as she's moved from newborn to size 3. The smaller shoebox we use to organize her nail file, spare wipes, hand sanitizer, etc.

Middle drawer: Eric's important work documents (like I said, this dresser will be going back into my office)

Bottom drawer: Clothes she doesn't fit in yet, and household furniture stuff (manuals, spare nuts and bolts, warranty pamphlets, etc.)

Baby clothes organization in the nursery:

Instead for her clothes organization, we still pretty much exclusively use the hanging shoe rack. Her closet already had the adjustable built-in. I just reconfigured it to meet our current needs. On the bottom shelf, I keep her books. The main shelving area has her shoe rack, spare blankets, and her hanging clothes. The top shelf has some extra stuffed animals, my Dopey figurines from childhood, and a couple of baby carriers/slings.

Nursery decor:

The moon tapestry was another item I bought while I was pregnant. I hadn't decided on the teepee and originally planned on putting this in a corner with a bunch of floor pillows as a reading nook.

The teepee:

Impulsively I added the teepee to our baby registry I guess and our friends bought us it! I was SO surprised when it arrived (not remembering I added it to our registry) and was like “how did they know?!” So once the teepee was in our house and I assembled it, I knew we had to keep it. It has such a whimsical touch and we plan to eventually move it into a playroom when she needs more furniture in here. For now, it's the perfect little hangout spot instead of the glider. I added a few faux leaves and flora garlands to make it warmer and more colorful too.

The cacti on the wall:

Something still felt like it was missing in this corner. I brought in faux cacti and it still felt a little… stark. Since furniture is minimal in here, I wanted to bring in some warmth. I kept dreaming about watercolor cacti for this corner, but didn't feel comfortable hand painting them and achieving the watercolor effect I wanted. On etsy, I found these AMAZING Cactus Wall Decals from Pearl Walls.

The cacti wall decals come in a set of six. They are SO easy to apply (I show it in the video above!). You can configure them in any arrangement you want. They come in a tube and you'll just want to let them sit out of the tube and for a day or two so they can acclimate to your climate. Once a couple of days have gone buy, cut out the cacti (they give you a guide if you feel unsure of where to cut, but it's pretty self explanatory). The decals come with a smoothing device. Given the height of the teepee, we opted for the medium size decals. The tall ones in the set were easiest to apply with two people. Starting from the bottom, we just pulled the backing paper off slowly, while I smoothed and stuck the cacti to the wall (see the video for a full tutorial).

We did have to move the one to the right of the teepee since we accidentally put it on too high. It was REALLY easy, we just peeled it off [carefully] and reposition it a touch lower. This isn't advised obviously, but we did it months ago and haven't had any issues with its ability to stick. In other words, if you mess up or get some bubbles, it's not the end of the world to peel off and fix – I just wouldn't do it repeatedly.

Tactile cacti:

We loved this cute little colorful cacti in the group too! We decided to put this one in a more open area and I got felt from Michael's. I cut it out in the shape of the “flower buds” and used double side tape to stick it on to create a little tactile experience for R as she gets older and explores more and more of her room. I had tried pipe cleaners over the cactus “spikes” but they were too dark and took away from how cute this little guy is! So for now we just have the felt for the tactile experience, but may add more details if I find any other textures that don't take away from the aesthetic!

Hanging macrame storage:

Above the dresser/changing table, I opted to move this hanging macrame planter we had in our kitchen to this corner. Like I said, this is the least nursery nursery and we skipped the mobile. Quick note on placement: many parents are opting for mobiles over the changing table instead of the crib in order to keep baby entertained during squirmy diaper changes and limit distractions while falling asleep.

Growing up, I had a hook like this from my ceiling with a chain link and on the links I had a bunch of stuffed animals S clipped. Since we are opting for more intentional and minimal purchases, I decided the macrame planter would be a perfect way to get a little greenery at the top (carrying in the cactus desert theme) and also store stuffed animals (a nod to my childhood room).

Stuffed animals and touches from my childhood and life:

The Dopeys around the room are from my childhood (I was OBSESSED). The Harry Potter books are also from my childhood. Lastly,black stuffed dog E gave me the first time I got sick in our relationships.

The knitted dolls are an absolute favorite of mine too! They are from a brand called Cuddle + Kind. For every doll purchases, they give 10 meals to hungry children! The dolls are all hand made with love by women in Peru. They are SO soft and cuddly that I actually slept with the flamingo for a while. If you are going to get a stuffed animal as a gift, or for your kids room, I'd HIGHLY recommend these! You don't have to worry about button eyes (choking hazard) or questionable chemicals/unethical sourcing. And they're cute too boot!

Brining in the moon-mystical-celestial vibes:

Aside from the giant moon tarot card tapestry, I opted for a celestial banner above her bedroom door. This was a pregnancy purchase as well that I had no idea where it'd go. Ultimately I decided to put it in this little corner to just add a personal touch, but also it almost feels like a good energy charm with the evil eyes watching over her door.

Another pregnancy purchase was the velvet tapestry above her changing table which I LOVE. It's why we decided on the colors of the moon phase pictures above her crib. I became obsessed with the brassy coppery vibe tied with the phases of the moon above her crib and ultimately led to the drum end table. The end table is great, but we do have to move it away from her crib typically because she likes to wake up, put her arm through her crib and hit the table like she's the next famous drummer!

Her fan and pops of green:

We decided to replace the fan in her room since we were having problems with it when we moved in. I LOVED shopping for a new fan/light in here! We decided to go with this retro feeling mint one. The fan blades can be swapped for the lighter brown (shown) or a darker brown. It's hard to tell in photos, but the wall that the moon tapestry is on is actually a very pale green that's pretty close to the mint green of the fan. When I was pregnant with R she kept showing me pale green over and over. Since green and pink are often associated with the heart chakra, we thought these were the perfect little touches to really make the room hers and tie in the greenery on her teepee and from the cacti.

Layered rugs

I decided to keep the layered rug trend into this room as well. The main area rug is actually from my old office, and I paired it with a faux fur runner to give a little softness under my feet near her crib.

Lastly, her window treatments!

For the window in her room, I bought black film (linked below) that stuck to the windows. You cut it and just rub it onto the window like a sticker (though it's not sticky and won't leave any marks like a sticker). I cut 3 pieces to cover the window when she first moved into the room since it got so much light during the day. As she grew more accustomed to the light, I slowly took one panel off at a time over a couple of months. I didn't want her to be reliant forever on a super dark environment, but she was STRUGGLING with how bright it was initially.

For her glass doors, I got this curtain rod that I'm obsessed with! First, it's a double rod. So I have her blackout curtain on the inner rod, and her pink velvet on the outer rod. Next, it wraps to kiss the wall to limit light from the sides! This was SUCH a smart move in my book. The rod only comes in two colors, neither really matched her room, but the curtains basically always stay closed right now so I left it alone. I may spray paint it more of an antique brass or copper someday, but since her curtains are always closed it's the perfect rod for us right now!

And there you have it! R's big girl nursery! We really wanted to keep it minimal, but cozy. A goal of mine is to really let her have a say as she grows up in her room. Thus, I didn't want to spend a lot on wallpaper and furniture that we'd end up replacing. Since it took about five months for us to finally get her into this room, we had already come up with a lot of solutions that made it easy to see what we actually use and will be using through the first year (she's eight months now!).

SNOO Smart Bassinet

Baby Girl Nursery: Simple Colorful Neutral Boho Desert Moon Theme - The Confused Millennial (2024)