A Gender Neutral Nursery…

Yep, you read that right!  To answer what you’ve been wondering since last week – Chris and I have decided to not find out BB’s gender until he or she makes an appearance in December!  We’re so excited for the surprise, and I really think we’ve made the right choice.  It definitely wasn’t he easiest decision to come to, but we’re finally there and hopefully won’t change our minds!  We went back and forth for a while, but what sealed the deal for me was when we saw my parents last weekend and we were about 98% sure we weren’t finding out.  I told my Dad, and he thought it was a great decision and said he was glad that I was a surprise when I was born.  That really sealed it for me – there’s something about your Dad’s approval, no matter how old you are!

On that note, I’ve now turned my attention to the colors for the nursery.  Since we’re in an apartment right now and will likely be moving when our lease is up in February (more on that another time), we won’t be painting the room or attaching anything permanent to the walls – it all has to be able to be taken down pretty easily for the move and put back up wherever we end up.  Once we move, I’ll get to paint and really add a lot more detail.

I’ve started looking at colors, and I fell in love with this color combination, found here:

I love it because it’s bright and will go well with the dark wood furniture I’ve chosen.  If you follow the link, you’ll notice that this set is not cheap, and it’s definitely more than I wanted to spend.  Here’s the great part about all of it though – my mother-in-law, Ann, has offered to MAKE it all!

Ann is really talented and sews and quilts all the time (she did our wedding guestbook quilt, and we have another 2 or 3 quilts she’s made), and I’m THRILLED she’s offered to do this for us.  It’ll be an amazing keepsake and one of a kind since I’ll be able to pick out the fabric for it.  I’m going to start scouring fabric stores soon, and she can even make matching curtains and a throw pillow for whatever rocker we decide on.  I love that my BB (and future ones if there are any) will have something unique and gender neutral, and I’ll be able to use it for years.  I think I’m going to go with plain white crib sheets and have everything else be color – that way I can buy crib sheets with no worries (Ann said they’re more trouble than it’s worth to make, so we’ll be buying them).  I’m so excited to see how everything turns out!

As for the rest of the furniture and the nursery, here’s what I’m thinking so far.  Chris and I both tend to gravitate toward darker furniture, so I have this crib on my registry.  I’m only 5’3” 1/2 (on a good day, haha) so it was really important to me to have a low-profile crib.

The dresser I’ve chosen matches:

The rest of the nursery is still up in the air.  I want to put up some fun artwork and find some sturdy shelves, but some of it will depend on our move timeline.  Some ideas so far (all from pinterest, click the picture for my pin):

What do you all think?  Any suggestions on what I need for the nursery and how to make sure it’ll be bright and gender neutral?  What do you think of the colors?