Arthur’s nursery is included in this season’s edition of Dulux Let’s Colour Magazine that is available for free from DIY stores! [Photography by Anton Rodriguez]
Hi All,
You know by now that we had a baby boy, Arthur Grey, 11 weeks ago and it probably comes as no surprise that we went to town on decorating his nursery!
Our inspiration came from our trip to France
and Spain two years ago when we trekked the Camino Trail (or you may know it as Camino de Santiago). We loved the idea of painting mountains on the wall so I found some left over paint in my shed for the mountains and purchased some teal coloured paint for the rest of the walls. We chose Proud Peacock from Dulux as it is fresh, bright, bold and gender-neutral! (We didn’t know Arthur was a boy before he arrived).
We had a great weekend overhauling the room and we were pleasantly surprised at how simple it was to paint the mural using Frog Tape and good quality Harris brushes with a nice angled tip.
Once the walls were complete I set about styling the furnitureand accessories. I don’t like ‘themes’ but it wasn’t until the room was complete that I realised how many animals I included in the room! There’s the amazing bear cushion from Amara (it’s huge! It’s about 40cm tall), the poster of a kangaroo, koala toys, parrot puppets, donkeys, hares, owls, a wolf and the list goes on.
I picked up the incredible berber-style rug from West Elm on Tottenham Court Road for £100 in the sale (bargain!). It has a chunky silver thread running through it.
Then there is the change table from Ikea. It’s from the Hemnes range. Ikea do such brilliant items for kids rooms as they make their designs quite compact. This one fits a change mat perfectly on top with space for a radio and the drawers are deep to maximise storage. Then I bought the Skubb drawer dividers to make sure I use the space efficiently. What I did to make the drawer fronts feel bespoke was to replace the standard knobs with ceramic owl knobs that I sourced from the internet. We also purcashed the Mosslanda picture ledges from Ikea to showcase some of Arthur’s lovely books. I think books are so important in a childs life! I was obsessed with reading as a kid and hope Arthur is too (fingers crossed!) The crib is fantastic too. It is from a company called Mokee. They make and sell things without the extortionate price tag. This cot was only £69 and the quality is brilliant.
The nursery has evolved since these images were taken and now include a hot air balloon mobile and lots of other bits and bobs- and I’m sure it will keep evolving as he grows. Exciting times ahead!
Here are some of the key pieces below to help you on your way:
Lx
Cot, Mokee | 2. Mr Bear cushion, Amara | 3. Scandinavian Design Centre | 4. Regents Park Zoo print, King and McGaw | 5. Ruark music system, Ruark | 6. Proud Peacock paint, Dulux.