I am pretty sure that if you played one of those psychological word association games, and someone said "statement wall" the first thing you thought of wouldn't be "baby room", however I happen to think these two things... statement walls (and ceilings) and baby rooms kind of go hand in hand.
Why am I thinking about baby rooms you might wonder? No, I am not with child.
My sister and one of my best friends are both pregnant, and due very VERY soon! With babies on the brain, I've been mulling around the idea of my own future baby's nursery. And by "mulling around" I really mean, giving WAY too much thought to. So much so that I even have a super secret baby board on Pinterest - it's private, and yes, that is actually it's name. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm hoarding my baby room ideas, but more that I don't want my friends to think I'm accidentally pregnant before Kris and I get married this summer.
I digress.
Anyway, this post was born, after I was aggressively pinning to my super secret baby board over the weekend. I was in a food coma after too much pasta, and a not so great Paul Walker movie, and found myself just pinning away... nursery after nursery, bunny eared hat after baby moccasin (yes, baby moccasin's are a thing). 45 minutes into my pinning frenzy, I realized something. About 90% of all the baby rooms I loved had one thing in common.
Statement walls, or ceilings. Yes, a statement ceiling is a thing now too (along with baby moccasin's), and they are AWESOME.
Example one:
This nursery, albeit beautiful is a little bland. Grey and white galore. It's nice - clearly the parents have good taste (or a talented, yet, color averse designer) but just as you're getting all judge-y about how this poor baby's nursery is so completely and utterly neutral, you look up and bam.
That ceiling.
Those stripes.
It just gets me. And I bet same goes for the baby.
It makes so much sense to paint the ceiling something cool... that baby is lying in the crib, brainstorming how to escape, and all the while, staring at the ceiling. It (the baby) will probably log countless hours staring at the ceiling, so why not make it something worth staring at. Plus the stripes will probably confuse the baby and make it sleepy, which is the ultimate goal, right??
Anyway, I have one more note about stripes that I want to add in.
Warning: Some of you might hate me for what I'm about to say, but in my (very humble) opinion, stripes on a wall are SO DONE. Please people, for the love of god stop painting stripes on the wall... at least for a minute.
BUT on the ceiling?? Stripes on the ceiling = awesome.
Also, I wanted to add for good measure that I actually love this nursery - monotone colors and all.
Ok moving on... if grey isn't your thing, you'll LOVE this one. Hello color! And a wall mural!
Can you just imagine all the fun little games of pretend your kids could have in a room with a mural that conjures up images of the "It's a Small World" ride from Disneyland???
And the magenta next to that yellow???
It's just too good.
I will say, this room is much better suited for a small child (and probably a girl) as opposed to an infant, but it could be a magical solution for a room shared by baby and older sibling, or even in a playroom.
And if the last room wasn't whimsical enough, check out the wallpaper on this ceiling!
Some of you may be familiar with this print from one of my favorites, Jenny of Little Green Notebook - she recently did the ceiling of her girl's playroom in this exact wallpaper, and it is just so darling. I love the little swallows flying around in the clouds, and the various shades of blue would work equally well in either a girl or boy's room.
More striped ceilings, and this time in mustard yellow. Now THAT is a statement. Luckily, I happen to love it.
And with the dark walls? Sooooooo good. Can you imagine if the dark paint was also chalkboard paint? Some people feel the same way about chalkboard paint as I do about striped walls, but you know, we can agree to disagree here.
For a kid's room what could be better than encouraging that kind of creativity and freedom to create?? It's their space, let them go all Picasso on that wall!
Not to mention, you get to look like the cool parent with extra amazing taste. So there's that.
Speaking of great taste, is there anything better than this animal wallpaper?
There are giraffs. There are birds. There are geckos... The entire animal kingdom is representing here, and the black and white almost makes it like a modern, and kid friendly toile, letting you play with color in the bedding and rugs.
Also don't get me started on the Little Darlings prints. They are so lovely I've almost ordered them multiple times for our place... and we don't have kids. They are just that cool.
More little darlings framed in this room! And how hip are these walls (why do I feel so old and "not hip" using the word "hip"??)
Anyway, I'm not going to lie, this arrow print could be a little dizzying, but for the hippest of parents (omg, I need a new word other than hip, help me!), this would be really awesome. I'm not sure I'm cool enough for something like this (clearly), but I like it anyways. And I think it's good to have aspirational design.
Perhaps this is what our baby's fabulous nursery would look like in our southwestern adobe villa in Arizona one day. You know, for when we are alternating between Aspen, Hawaii, and the Southwest for the winter??
Actually, back to being serious for a second.... this is wallpaper in the photo, but I think you could totally replicate something like this with a stencil, or even a good eye and a steady freehand.
Just throwing it out there....
And then simply because I cannot resist its charm, the lovely swallow wallpaper again. It's just so sweet!
And I know it's hidden down here at the bottom, but it doesn't make it less important. On the contrary, this birch wallpaper has been a LONGTIME favorite of mine. And it WILL be in my house one day.
Whether in a nursery or in our badass powder room, or walk-in closet. It will be mine. It's so chic. I never get sick of it.
And finally, how sweet are these clouds??
Another simple stencil idea on a simple grey wall. Yeah, that mom has good taste - that's what he's thinking too, as he's all cozied up on his bed, refusing to take a nap.
So what are your thoughts on statement walls and statement ceilings in a kids room?
I already know my mom's thoughts on the topic, and she's totally on board.
As kids, my sister and I had a room with rainbow wallpaper. It was so cheery and fun. Kind of perfect for a kids room, and let's be honest - if you can't be whimsical, and take some major risks and make a loud statement in a kid's room, where CAN you??
Side note, I tried to find a similar wallpaper to the one we had in our room as little girls, and the result to a google search for "rainbow wallpaper" is a total throwback to Lisa Frank. To you 90's kids out there, you KNOW what I mean!
