How to Decorate a Gender Neutral Baby Nursery

Photo: Almost Makes Perfect

When it comes to decorating a gender neutral nursery, there are a lot of different ways that you can go about it. By choosing to incorporate more modern elements like vintage textiles and furniture, mixing a variety of hard and soft textures, and resisting the urge to go all-out on just one color you can create a space that is appropriately neutral and comfortable for both baby and mamma. Scroll through for some tips on designing the perfect gender neutral baby nursery.

Photo: Not My Circus

When all else fails, just use white

When it comes to choosing a color for a gender-neutral room, white is pretty much as neutral as it's possible to get (why pick a color at all?). You can add in subtle accent colors with the textiles, art, and toys to avoid a completely white-washed look. Just beware of those terrible two's when your toddler suddenly discovers markers and crayons.

Photo: Inspired By This

Add some metallics to the mix

Adding some metallic accents like copper or gold is a great way to add balance and warmth to a room, especially when paired with a cooler color like blue. Metallic colors themselves aren't gender specific at all, and when mixed with different colors and textures they're great for adding some interest and style to your baby's nursery (no matter if your bundle of joy is a boy or a girl).

Photo: The Animal Print Shop

Scandinavian design is always a good idea

You really can't go wrong with light wood tones and minimal furnishings, and when paired with other more neutral colors like beige, gray, and white you end up with the perfect color palette without having to decide on more traditional colors like green, yellow, pink or blue. "Wood" is a color, right? Just add a Swedish rocking horse and your child is set.

Photo: The Animal Print Shop

Consider Gender-Neutral Toys

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to completely ditch the dolls or the trucks, but while your toddlers are still little they'll play with just about anything. There's no need to bring out the frilly fancy things just yet. Wooden blocks, stuffed and plastic animals, musical instruments, and books are all great items to stock your baby's shelves with, especially if you're starting the nursery design before you're 100% sure of what the baby's gender will be. Capitalize on this time when your child will be easily entertained because you'll miss those days once they get old enough to ask for iPhones and Playstations!

Photo: Sarah Sherman Samuel

Add a little vintage

I for one am a huge fan of adding vintage accents throughout the entire house, and the nursery is no exception. Vintage artwork like landscapes and even paint-by-number style portraits of animals are a really unique touch that you can add no matter if your child is a boy or a girl. Vintage rugs and furniture pieces also add a touch of style while providing you and your baby with a comfy space to hang out in. A soft sheepskin rug also provides a soft spot for you baby to roll and totter around on.

Photo: Pinterest

Employ a moon & stars nighttime theme

Everyone likes sleep (even if your baby doesn't seem to like sleep at first), and adding these calming nighttime vibes to the nursery can be done really easily with some wallpaper like this one from Murals Wallpaper. If you don't feel like springing for wallpaper, some paint and star stamps or glow in the dark star stickers will also do the trick (I had glow in the dark stickers on my ceiling when I was a kid and they were AWESOME). The nice thing about this theme is that it also contains a very neutral color palette; dark navy, yellow, gray, beige, white, even gold. It also helps that shapes like stars and crescent moons are also pretty gender neutral.

Photo: Style Me Pretty

Mix different colors and patterns

Nowhere does it say you need to pick one or even two colors. You can use a broad color palette in your nursery, such as orange, blue, green, turquoise, yellow, purple, you name it. Striped patterns and geometric patterns are also very popular in modern nurseries, and you can incorporate a lot of fun patterns in your selection of rugs, pillows, baskets, art, sheets, and even toys. This makes for a fun and colorful space that any child would love to spend time in.

Photo: My Domaine

Eclectic design is fair game

A Persian rug? A Moroccan pouf? Turkish textiles? Why not? Here is another example of how you can use different colors, patterns, and textures to create a visually interesting room without declaring the gender of your baby. This well-traveled look adds a sense of sophistication well beyond your baby's years, which may not appeal to folks that want a youthful and whimsical space for their growing toddler. Personally I love the storied, globe-trotting feel of the room, and it can eventually serve as a great channel for exposing your child to other cultures and instilling in them a curiosity about the world.

Photo: Akin Design Studio

Pick neutral and classic art

Using works of art that are both classic and timeless is a great move not only because you can shop for it before you know the gender of the baby, but also because these pieces can still be used in the room as your baby grows (and can even be moved around to different places in the house once it's purpose in the nursery has been served). You get the most bang for your buck this way, and you don't have to worry about your child outgrowing the pink ballerina prints. Nature and plants are a great subject matter (more on that later) as well as animals, abstract/patterned art, and even photography prints.

Photo: Paige Jones

Use the color green

Green really is a great color to use in a gender neutral room. I'm not talking about the light pastel green that you're likely to get lots of onesies in if you're hosting a gender neutral baby shower, but a dark forest green like the dresser above or a pretty emerald green. Colors that evoke nature and the outdoors are perfect for both guys and gals, and even lighter green tones like Pantone's Greenery will get the job done. I especially love how darker green tones pair with gold, beige, and natural wood tones, making it a perfect addition to any neutral color palette. 

Photo: Paige Jones

Nature is the new neutral

Adding leafy plants or wreaths to your nursery as a great way to add a little life as well as a pop of color to the room without being too overwhelming. Low-maintanence plants are a must since you will be spending the majority of your free time tending to baby. Faux plants and wreaths work as well, just make sure that they don't gather any dust.

Photo: Hudson and Co.

Use gold as a neutral

I've already mentioned mixing in metallic elements to your nursery design, but gold is one color that can make a really great main color all on it's own. Gold is actually a wonderful neutral because it's so close to other light wood tones, browns, and beiges. It's incredibly versatile, and can be incorporated in a lot of different ways.

No matter your reasoning for designing a gender neutral nursery, whether you want to be surprised when the baby comes, or if you don't want to adhere to the old standby gender specific colors, there are a lot of different ways to approach a nursery without sacrificing personality or style. What is your favorite gender neutral design trick?