apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I would totally do the brown color of the bird in the middle bottom swatch (maybe even a tad lighter) and use the red/rust-ish color in that same swatch for either an accent wall, accent area (large square on the wall maybe?), or just an accent color in the room.

Yes. I think yellow walls and yellow bedding would be too much. I think the effect would be like looking at a room that is all one shade of grey. As an architect I deal with color a LOT and yellow is a tricky one, it changes so much under different lighting conditions (think soft night lighting and bright daylight), you don't want the room to look lemony, or 1970's. I would recommend a nice beige color to highlight the esspresso, or a sage color. You want a neutral background color so the yellow fabrics will pop, be more of a focal point, providing the warm feeling you want. Try getting a shade lighter than the beige in the lower left swatch of fabric or the top middle, and experiement with brown-er creams or mauve-y browns and sage colors. That is what I would suggest. I love your fabric swatches!

PS- We also have a Jenny Lind style crib, the wood and old fashioned style gives the nursery a warm feel too. We painted our walls a nice gender neutral peach (with lots of cream colored bedding and sage accents). However, now that we have a baby girl, everyone thinks the room is pink. Go figure.

We are having a boy due in August and I also wanted a gender neutral color palette so we painted the room a very pale green and are using espresso and white furniture with accents of red in art, bedding, etc.

Yellow is absolutely one of the hardest colors to get just right. It has the bad habit of looking buttery and light in the can and on the swatch but then when you get it up...it burns your retinas.

I would go with a creamy white or a soft grey if you have dark wood trim in the room or white trim. If you have white trim you could consider a deeper chocolate brown as well. I am not a big fan of the light beiges and tans...but they would work okay but might end up a little dull. White or grey is going to give you lightness, creamy white would be a little warmer and the right chocolate brown would add a lot of warmth and depth.

I am a big fan of the valspar line of paints at Lowe's...they are low VOC. They have a beautiful grey that I just used in my living room called Silver Dollar. Yellow and grey are a popular color combo right now too.

Be careful if you do go chocolatey brown that it doesn't have too much red in it.

Good luck! Your fabrics are absolutely beautiful!!

Janet
http://wishingstardesigns.etsy.com

I think you are on the right path by selecting your fabrics first. I am a designer, and too often people want to pick the paint color before they have made any design decisions. If you select the paint first, then you find yourself trying to find a fabric, rug, or art that works with the paint color when we should really be doing the opposite. I like to pick one main pattern/color selection, whether it is bedding, drapes, furniture upholstery, art, or a rug, and then pull a color from that piece for the walls. You can have paint matched to anything and it will be an exact match which helps it become a "neutral" background rather than the most obvious piece of a room. If you are using the bottom three fabrics shown above, I would agree with Keri above and have the paint matched to the tan/brown of the bird. It has enough "color" to it to bring some power to the walls while still receding into the background, and it is a very gender-neutral color. Then pull the other colors in the fabric (orange/red/white) into the room with other accessories. Good luck!

I agree with Janet that a pale grey would look lovely combined with the yellows of your fabrics. Painting walls yellow in a nursery can be tricky; I have seen a couple that were painted shades which looked more appropriate in dining rooms.

Personally, I don't like pulling colours or matching them to fabric, as I find that when I try it, it winds up making the room look a bit contrived and over-designed; I prefer making a room look as if it has come together naturally over time, and creating palates. Your fabric selection lends itself to that sort of look.

Here's an example of how a mom coordinated colours and patterns in a very pleasing and natural way:

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/flickr-finds/flickr-finds-mamachilangas-shared-bedroom-029809

My last piece of advice is to skip the bumpers. The American and Canadian Pediatric Associations, consumer protection agencies and SIDS foundations, all say the same thing: bumpers should never be used.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070918165353.htm

http://www.multiplebirthsfamilies.com/articles/post_q12.html

Thanks so much for your input. I'll post the finished product but probably not until November so I can include a picture of the cutest part of the nursery, our baby. Until then...

i'd go with a taupe or warm beige. we used an aqua/teal for our gender-neutral nursery, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

hmm, a warm pale orange would look nice for either gender.

I agree, yellow walls and yellow bedding would be too much. As I am a color girl, I would say go for the orange that is in the fabric. It will really pop. I can see that maybe painting all the wall orange might be too much, but one wall, maybe the wall the crib is going on would be fab. I would do a very nice neutral color for the other walls, not white, something a bit more taupe-y and warm.

As my baby is due in a few weeks, I took the attitude that my baby will not really care what the room looks like, I will be the one starting at the walls at 3 in the morning for the next year. So I have decorated the room as I like. It is bright and eclectic. 3 walls are tiffany blue, the 4th is white with a big yellow tree mural on it and I have the bird flash cards from the above link that I framed in simple Ikea frames that I painted orange. Have fun in your baby's room, and don't feel like you have to follow any kind of rules.

Just seeing if this will close the italics tag.

One thing to keep in mind for the suggestions of bright colors (aqua, warm orange, etc.) is that colors affect babies the same way they do us - be they soothing, warming, or overstimulating...

A gorgeous warm orange wall (or bright yellow wall) that the baby stares at while trying to nap may be counter-productive.

As much as I love bold colors, for a nursery I'd stay with the calm beiges from the middle swatch. There's a reason traditional baby colors are pastels (god-awful pastels, but pastels nonetheless...)