help! my husband wants a baseball-themed nursery!
My Husband and I just found out that our baby due in October is a boy- which is great! However, I am in a quandary about the nursery. Secretly, I believed I was having a girl and since I’m very against all the pastels and princesses it was easy to come up with a kind of modern, low-budget solution (grass-green walls and blown up photos of peonies for a small touch of pink). However, my husband has his heart set on a baseball themed nursery and I’m left looking at pale blue baby quilts and getting the same feeling I was getting with all the cutesy baby-girl stuff. I’d like some ideas that are a little more design minded without the pastel over-kill. I know Target has some “mod” baby stuff, but I was hoping for something that would allow my husband and I to compromise a bit on this. Help!! — Chara W.
Hi Chara. First of all — Congratulations! And thanks for coming to us for help on this delicate matter. We’ve written about the compromises needed in he-said/she-said decor before, but it certainly gets more sticky when a little one is involved. Our basic advice would be this: Try to explain to your husband that a baby doesn’t need a baseball themed room, but your son, when he’s a bit older, may love one. Afterall, how do you know your son’s not gonna grow up to be a soccer devotee? It’s great that he wants to give the baby something he thinks would be fun, but imagine how much more fun it would be for him and his son to decorate the room together when the kid is ready to graduate to a big-bed? In the meantime, for those first few formative years, keep the theme more neutral. Something’s that’s comforting and soothing and still appeals to your design sensibility. We’ve found that anything not super clichéd and pastel can be pricey, but perhaps if you save some money on the crib you can splurge a bit on the stuff on that surrounds it? It will make the room! Here’s two of our favorites, take them as inspiration when you’re looking for a deal at Target or Ikea. Dwell’s nature bedding, $456 a set and Super Natural Baby Crib set in Alaphabet, $320. On the wall, consider vinyl stickers. The ones at Dvider come in great colors and fun shapes like dinosaurs, airplanes, and pirates. They’re about $30 each and easy to put up.
Does anyone else have nursery decor suggestions for Cara? Let her know here!
Maybe this is too theme-y, too, but I remember this episode of Designing for the Sexes had some cute ideas to incorporate baseball into the decor http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_childrens/article/0,,HGTV_3367_1395440,00.html. The mural may seem overwhelming, but in the show it looked really cute. I really liked the colors they used (red, sea green, yellow, light blue), and the cricket side table.
Jennifer, that’s a great find! Thanks so much for showing us this link.
I think there would be lots of great ways to incorporate baseball without getting to cutesy. For example, I would stick with the grass green walls and maybe get red and white gingham or other print bedding (baseballs being traditionally white with red stitching.) Then do some searches to find great photographs of famous baseball fields and some team baseballs to put on shelves.
Just those things would give it a baseball “feeling” without getting themey. And they could be easily changed out as the baby grows and develops his own likes and dislikes.
What about vintage baseball cards – blown up and framed. The old old old cards were sketches of players and the color pallettes tended to more muted and not so “primary”?
Ugh — I really hate the idea of forcing a sport on a kid before the kid is old enough to decide if he’s even interested in it or not. I also really hate that it’s assumed that only a BOY could possibly be appropriate for a sports-themed room.
I have all kinds of hate for gender-stereotyping today! I do have love for that neutral room, though I’d throw in some red color touches.
PS Angela I did love your response!
Just about any decorating you do will require some assumptions on your part, which may not have anything to do with your son’s decorating preferences later on. I think there’s plenty of room for compromise–this could include any of the baseball-esque ideas above, and make your husband happy, without forcing anything on your son, any more than you’d be forcing nature or specific colors or dinosaurs or planes on him if you chose any of those.
I agree with Joan – any design scheme is making assumptions about what the child will want later on. I don’t agree that a baseball theme on its’ own is gender stereotyping. The Dad wants it because it speaks to him and his very Dad-like dream of tossing a ball in the future – which we all know could happen with a girl as well. That said, I also hate overly themey design plans, but think that you could tweak the theme. For instance – what are the colors of Dad’s favorite baseball team? Perhaps the color scheme would be enough to evoke that feeling for the Dad. Or, what about expanding it to a “Field of Dreams” theme – green grass, blue sky – wide open space. Then, it’s flexible in the future, could work for any outdoor sport, also a farm/animal theme, nature/outdoorsy theme, even a deserted island theme. I like the idea of something that’s expandable and flexible. Let’s face it, the baby doesn’t care at all. He won’t care (and may never care) for a good 3-4 years. Friends of mine did a “Magic Flute” baby theme for their son because the mother is an opera singer. Lot’s a “charachters” painted on the walls, wild blue sky with gold clouds and star chandelier. At 3-1/2 – the son doesn’t seem to be reacting one way or other. He plays with trucks and building blocks AND sings at the top of his lungs! Congrats on the new baby!
I love the gingham idea — was just about to suggest that. And, maybe you just get a cute baseball pillow or wastecan to use as an accent rather than actually creating a themed room. This store in Manhattan has vintage-looking baseball sheets, so maybe they have a pillow or wastecan, too.
http://www.kidssupply.com/product.php?id=159
I’m not a fan of overly themed rooms either but just because you decorate with a baseball theme doesn’t mean you’re forcing anything anymore than you would any other theme any other color any other linen option. If you do the room in an outdoor theme and the kid turns out to be a computer geek, it’s not going to ruin him. Like what was mentioned, if he’s not going to know until he’s 5 anyway then you should do what you and/or your husband like, what makes you happy. I really really like the idea of muting down the baseball theme. Finding old black/white photos of baseball fields and/or vintage baseball cards and framing them, using the red gingham, using muted greens on the walls to represent the grass and a pale blue on the ceiling to represent the sky. Keep it low key and muted and I think it could be really special. As he grows up add things that interest him and slowly shift the room to the child’s taste.
Maybe Dad should be in charge of painting, finding posters, bedding etc… if he really wants baseball that badly! (but don’t let him watch any Extreme Makeover- Home Edition because those are some over the top theme rooms.)
You could make some penants spelling out your son’s name and hang them around the room (these can be felt if you’re a no-sew type) That would be “baseball-y” but not too much so.
My sister and her husband just finished my nephew’s room – two of the walls are yellow and two of the walls are blue and they are going to hang a big red-and-orange kite on one of the yellow walls. I’d stick with easily removable decor and then when the kid is old enough to have a preference he can ask to change it (or not). Baseball-themed crib bedding seems easy and then when he’s out of the crib you can renegotiate for the next round. I like the idea of hanging photos of famous baseball fields, I’d rather see that than a bunch of strange people looking down at me if I was a kid. But when I was little my (shared) room had all white walls and one wall had a full wall photo wallpaper mural thing of hot air balloons floating over a lake and it was gorgeous (also lots of colors to coordinate with from the balloons!).