Our Baby’s Neutral Vintage Farm Nursery

This post has been nine months in the making, and an absolute labour of love I must admit. From the moment I found out we were expecting a baby, I was planning our little one’s nursery. Actually, truth be told I was planning before we found out we were expecting – but that’s just crazy-baby-lady for you. After officially discovering we would be becoming parents though, that first night was a sleepless one for me – so many thoughts bouncing around in my mind, I remember getting up at 2am and perusing Pinterest…and down the nursery inspiration rabbit hole I fell!

But first, I’ll let you explore the space and let the pictures do the talking before I bombard you with the details. So, here is our babe’s sweet space, in all it’s neutral, farmyard-touches, handmade details, touch-of-mint glory…

Throughout my pregnancy the vision that I originally had for the space evolved somewhat (you can see my original inspiration moodboard here and my nursery Pinterest page here). The obvious big change was that we moved house! Originally the planned nursery was a big, drafty bedroom with high ceilings and crumbly limestone walls in our South Australian farmhouse. Despite the change in scenery, the main components for the nursery that I didn’t waver from was a neutral colour palette of white, taupe and mint (as we don’t know if we’re expecting a baby boy or a baby girl) as well as touches of farming nostalgia and agriculture references sprinkled throughout. Hopefully it’s not an overload of a ‘matchy-matchy’ themed nursery, but rather a subtle nod to our child’s farming roots and eventual country childhood.

The overall layout and furniture pieces did change somewhat after we moved, as the nursery literally shrunk in size by about half! We still really wanted to incorporate a spare bed in the room – our home isn’t large, we still needed a bedroom for guests (and the baby can come sleep with us, and will be for the first little while anyway in the bassinet). A bed space in the nursery will be handy for lying with baby, feeding, wrapping baby, or if I sleep in the nursery during those unsettled nights. It just so happens that the bed is a beautiful old iron family heirloom too, perfect for our nursery, the older double size rather than a full queen sized bed meant more room in the now smaller space I was working with also. The white cot and change table were my sisters and has served her three girls well over the past seven years. We were lucky enough to get so many baby items given to us by our older siblings and friends with children – we really haven’t had to buy anything! Very, very grateful to our beautiful ‘village’ who surround us with generosity, we’ve been overwhelmed with the offers (in fact, I have been offered no less than SIX bassinets!)

Many years ago I had my eye on the rocking chair which used to be Matt’s grandfathers, I knew that one day it would come and live in our baby’s nursery. Even in the smaller space I was adamant that the rocker be included, I’m so glad it’s made an appearance as I’m sure I’ll spend many, many hours in it! My Queen Anne drawers which I painted mint (you can see their transformation here) play the part of storage for baby clothes, blankets and cot bedding. Hanging space was non existent in our no-wardrobes house, so an idea was formed to create just a small spot when I remembered we had an Ikea shelf in the shed gathering dust. A simple construction of towel rail holders with a piece of dowel screwed under the shelf and we had a mini-wardrobe of sorts for little tiny clothes.

Out of season and bigger sized clothes I have stored under the cot, originally I didn’t plan on having a cot skirt but given I needed the space for storage I sewed a simple non-ruffled skirt from linen. For even more storage, I made a fairly simple but useful pocket organiser of sorts which hangs on the back of the door, and is in easy reach of the change table when the door opens. I made the pockets to fit things like nappy rash cream, baby wipes, nappies, cotton wool, singlets etc. Along the top I added a ribbon and wooden pegs to hang up little socks and booties, probably not the most practical but it looks cute!

Some farmyard friends for our son or daughter are dotted around the nursery – a pig ‘Slush’ knitted by my mum, a Jemima Puddleduck crocheted by myself, a clucky hen I made from felt and a stuffed horse trusty steed. A simple wooden tractor with trailers of ‘milk’, ‘wheat’ and ‘eggs’ sits on the shelf, along with a sheep shaped teether and ceramic goose figurine I bought in an op shop two years ago for our baby’s nursery! (Told you, crazy-baby-lady). The wooden piggy bank was actually made for me by my brother in his high school woodworking class about 20 years ago, he’s always called me ‘Pog Dog’, ‘Huge’, ‘Massive’ (due to my *ahem* chubby stature as a child) and as such I have an affinity with pigs and gifts from him. On the vintage crates, which serve as a bedside table and book storage, there is the beginnings of a Schleich animals collection, as well as a bunny night light to keep baby company through the night.

Artwork throughout the room includes a goose series by Sharon Montrose (which I’ve had for about six years with the intention they’d go in our baby’s nursery one day! Crazy baby lady strikes again.) There’s also a photo I took of a Charolais steer, vintage flashcards of farmyard animals displayed with vintage clothes hangers, embroidery hoops of mint and taupe fabrics, a farmyard scene from a 1940’s children’s book, the sweetest ultrasound snap of our little Blueberry and my favourite from The Wheatfield – the sweet pig illustration. We also put the removable wall decal above the cot ‘I love you beyond measure’ which has a metallic gold finish. I wanted a lot of the artwork to be interchangeable for when/if we tire of the farm theme or want to make the space more girl or boy orientated as our child grows.

Just ‘a hint of mint’ was my mantra in decorating the nursery, I still wanted a majority white or neutral toned space. I introduced mint through the tissue paper pom poms above the bed, the change mat minky cover (which my mum made), the pear fabric embroidery hoop and cushion, the felt horse silhouette cushion and of course the chest of drawers. I’ve also made some mint muslin wraps, stretchy jersey wraps and the baby’s clothes include a lot of unisex mint onesies, singlets and leggings. My sister’s boyfriend’s mother made us the beautiful mint bunny mobile which I love – it perfectly fits the nursery.

The nursery has a lot of other handmade items throughout, either from myself, my mum or other handmade businesses I tried to support as much as possible. The white doily rug I crocheted myself, as well as the cream woolen blanket hanging on the cot. All of the cushions (except the burlap ‘bonne nuit’ one which was an Etsy purchase) I sewed myself, as well as the curtain tie-back bunting with pom poms. The baby’s shoe collection has begun with some gorgeous handmade leather moccasins from the crafty girls at Hubble + Duke, as well as some obligatory farm boots!

A labour of love indeed, our baby’s nursery is complete – just in time to meet the little lad or lass who will call it their very own. I’m so pleased with not only how aesthetically the space came together, but the practicality too. Hopefully little details and a bit of forethought that I’ve put in will make the room easy to use for late night feeds, nappy changes and rocking to sleep our little one. The fact that the space is full of items I love, a lot handmade or gifted to us also makes it pretty special. After literally years of daydreaming what our baby’s nursery would be like, it seems that the wonderings, musings and peeks in the spare bedroom and imagining have lead us to this point…now we just need one more very special piece of the nursery puzzle to make the picture truly complete.

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A list of items from the nursery and where they were sourced, please let me know if there’s anything else I’ve missed or any questions you have about the nursery…

Cot and change table: secondhand from my sister / Rocking chair: was Matt’s grandfathers / Bed: family piece / Drawers: secondhand and painted / Shelf: Ikea / Assorted pom poms and honeycomb balls: JoyAus2009 on eBay, Reject Shop and Lanternshop.com.au / Block-out curtains: Spotlight / Curtain bunting tie-backs: handmade by myself / Linen and doily cushion: handmade by myself / Burlap ‘bonne nuit’ cushion: The Nest UK on Etsy / Pear cushion: handmade by myself / Horse silhouette cushion: handmade by myself / Change mat cover: handmade by my mum / White bedspread: Ezibuy / Wire basket: Provincial Home Living / Bunny night light: Baby Donkie / Ceramic goose: op shop purchase / Carrot flannel blanket: handmade by myself / Cream woolen blanket: handmade by myself / Leather moccasins: Hubble + Duke / Grey knitted sheep jumpsuit: Big W / Crocheted cream woolen jacket: handmade by myself / Crocheted brown woolen jacket: handmade by myself / Crocheted duck: handmade by myself / Knitted pig: handmade by my mum / Felt hen: handmade by myself / Wooden tractor and trailers: Aero1 Toys on Etsy / Stuffed horse toy: All Creatures Great and Small, Yarragon / Jellycat bunny: Big Dreams / Wooden sheep teether: Little Wooden Wonders on Etsy / Pig illustration: The Wheatfield on Etsy / Vintage farm animals flashcards: 1 Sweet Dream Vintage on Etsy / Book illustration: Words and Melodies on Etsy / Cow photo: Emma Steendam Photography, frame Ikea / Wall decal: Just The Frosting on Etsy