How to rock the nursing chair

Pun totally intended, because as part of my ‘project nursery’ I’m looking for the perfect nursing chair to fit in the little bay window, and have been looking specifically at rocking chairs.

I’ve read a lot of articles and opinions on whether you even need a nursing chair, with many saying the nursing was done mostly in the parent’s bed or somewhere else in the house, and others saying they found it completely invaluable to forming part of the bedtime routine. I can imagine the latter is true and like the thought of making the nursery a safe and cosy sanctuary for both the baby and I (and Daddy Lynch of course) and you surely can’t have a sanctuary without somewhere comfortable to sit. And what’s more soothing for babies and adults alike than a rocking chair? Except maybe a rocking chair with wine.

So here’s my run down of some of the best nursery-perfect rocking chairs I’ve found, to suit a very broad range of styles and budgets. Starting with the luxury designer pieces and working my way to more of the budget friendly looks.

This glider chair from Custard and Crumble is a classic nursing chair, with the super comfy seating, glider action and matching footstool. If you’re going all traditional, this could be the one for you. But at £1,375 it’s not one for the masses, so try Mothercare who have a range of very similar styles at more budget friendly prices.

A classic glider style from Custard and Crumble

A couple more for the big spenders, Not on the High Street has a few gorgeously designed pieces. The Morpheus Rocking Nursery Chair is the ultimate comfy armchair on rockers. The quality is even obvious from the picture, and the shape of the wooden rockers shows there’s been a huge attention to detail and a lot of love from some furniture designer in this chair.

Not on the High Street chair. Not on my budget chair.

The Opulence Rocking Chair is also from Not on the High Street and if you have a spare £3,600 (and let’s face it who doesn’t?!) this is a simply beautiful chair which is the ultimate in chic and stunning nursery furniture. It belongs in a princess nursery, and is suited to a princess budget budget too.

Now let’s start bringing those pound signs down a notch. During my research I came across Nubie.co.uk which I love for inspiration. This Olli Ella Dada glider nursing chair is a nice change from the super pretty and feminine chairs I’ve seen so far, thanks to the more masculine lines and navy blue colour. But it doesn’t sacrifice comfort for cool, and at £875 I’d expect it all too!

Another Olli Ella number, the Ro-Ki rocker chair has a real retro vibe, with simple lines and clean fabric (not for long) and ergonomically designed rockers, this chair looks like it was made for speed rocking. Simple, beautiful and gorgeous imagery from Olli Ella, Pinterest-worthy all round.

One of the more budget rocking chairs is actually more of a grown up bouncer than a rocker, but you can’t go wrong with the IKEA Poang chair. Scandi-style and purse-friendly, it’s also more of a space saver than the other style. I am a HUGE fan of IKEA Hacks, I do them at every opportunity, and this chair is prime for a bit of upholstering and creating a statement, unique nursery piece for a bit of a bargain. Just look at this perfect example from How Joyful Blog and how the plain Poang has been transformed into a chevron beauty fit for any neutral nursery.

And last but not least, it’s the chair I have my eye on for that little bay window in our nursery. It’s the Charles Eames style RAR Rocking Chair. I don’t have room for a big comfy armchair and footstool combo, I need something compact and cute to fit the space and not over crowd the room.  I love the simplicity of the seat and the blend of plastic, metal and wood. And oh my god, styled like this Pinterest inspo shot, with a faux fur throw and cushions, it adds the comfort factor and makes it a total must-have in my house.

The Eames style chair is available all over the web at a variety of prices. I guess quality also differs but hey, I don’t have over £300 to spend on a chair at John Lewis, especially when I can get an identical looking version from the likes of Wayfair and Tesco Direct (just not in white, damn it, but a bargain under £50 if you’re looking for something brighter).  Now I just need to pick my supplier and find my faux fur throw and I’m all set for rocking those long, sleepless nights away!

Nursery Vibes: Layouts for triangle wall decals

So I decided on my colour scheme – you can see that here – and I’ve talked before about the general theme being pretty geometric and arrow-based. And I’ve always had my heart set on triangle wall stickers which look so Scandi-sweet but the stickers mean that it’s not permanent and the design is totally in my control.

I’m going through real first world problems at the moment trying to find the perfect shade of mint green, even looking into getting my own decals printed (more of which in a separate post when I’ve reached a solution) but in the meantime I’ve been looking at layouts and designs using said triangles on said wall.

Who knew there could be so many ways to out triangles on a wall!

Uniform

Clean lines and smart spacing, this is a great option for getting full coverage over a wall while keeping it neat and easy to plan. Even if full coverage isn’t your thing, go for a narrow strip of uniformly-placed triangles for a more subtle effect. The key to this one is to measure, measure, measure. Get the spacing right and even, and use a spirit level to check your lines are straight before applying the stickers (especially important if they’re not reusable and you don’t want to have to tilt your head for the wall to look straight).

You can still mix up the uniform layout with random pops of colour

Mini triangles and plenty of white = stripped back Scandi (also, THAT CHAIR!!)

Subtle and sweet, go geometric without going coverage crazy

Scattered

Mini triangles look great when they’re made to look like they’ve just been thrown at the wall and happen to have stuck where they landed. Like confetti. Keep the triangles super small if you don’t want it to be an overpowering feature in the room, or supersize it and throw in a mix of colours if you want it to be bold and statement-making!

Like confetti thrown at the wall

Random sizes, random layout, really cool effect

One of my original colour palette and triangle inspirations…

Clusters

Meet in the middle of scattered and uniform by clustering the triangles together to create shapes or pockets of colour and pattern to draw the eye around the room. Some of the best ways of clustering triangles to group them together to create cute pyramids, or cluster them around something in the room to frame it and make a feature.

One of my favourite effects, and one I’m considering trying for our box room nursery, is clustering tightly in one part of the room and dispersing out – it works particularly well with mini triangles which looks like soft confetti falling from the style.

Rainbow brights for a high impact wall

Draw the eye to a focal point in the room a falling confetti effect

Create a feature by framing a focal point with some strategically-placed triangles

Tribal Style

One of my favourite layouts and the one I’m leaning towards for my nursery, particularly as it works so well with the arrow designs which I also hope to include somewhere in the room.

The spacing can be as random or as uniform as you like, but the idea is to create the arrow effect using two or three mini triangles. I like that you can mix and match colours, which lends itself perfectly to my mint green and gold vibe and allows me to semi-complete this effect before the baby is born, at which point I can add either a black or pink triangle to complete the arrow when I know if it’s a little boy or girl.

Like with the Uniform layout, use a spirit level to keep the triangles and arrows straight and decide before you start whether the arrows are pointing up or down (or a mix of the two?!)

Randomly spaced with a mix of colours for a casual tribal design

Mix the colours up within the arrow – bring on the gold and mint green!

A whimsical colour and dreamcatcher against a uniform spaced layout

Perfect for keeping it cool while adding a softer shade

After all of the inspo hunting I’ve got decisions to make, which will probably involve hours of tacking triangles to the wall and driving the husband mad with my indecision. First though, I need some mint green stickers please…

Nursery Vibes: Mint, gold and grey colour palette

Over the past few weeks I’ve been exploring a few different décor styles for a gender neutral nursery, from the base colour palettes of greys and whites, natural shades and monochrome, to some cute themes to bring a baby’s room to life, with my favourites being directional arrows (get it?) and whimsical hot air balloons for little adventurer-to-be.

Now, with the 20 weeks scan done and dusted and a pram on order, it’s time for me to stop dancing around the houses and to get to grips with what I want for Baby Lynch’s nursery. And I’m so excited, I’ve basically been thinking about this since day one but am still going round in circles over what I want and what will work in the small space that we have.

So I’m starting to get my thoughts in order by focusing on my colour palette, which I first got my inspiration for before I was even pregnant and stumbled across this Michael Miller fabric in my local fabric store.

I veer between bold, graphical styles and colours, and soft calming shades with subtle styling. So I’m hoping to go somewhere in between with a soft palette of grey and mint green, brought to life through shots of gold (or should I say lots of gold) and either navy blue or blush pink – dependant on whether it’s a boy or girl and an element I’ll have to add post-birth. And maybe substitute some of the glam gold for a more manly mustard!

My colour wheels – I’m all about the triangles!

I’m not settling on anything yet but I am obsessed with triangles and arrows, so as much as my mind might change on a style, I’ll probably go with my gut and incorporate some of this more tribal style into the room.

Here are a few of my favourite colour and décor inspirations from the web which have led me to fall in love with this colour palette, and you can see much more of this on my Nursery Pinterest Board.

I’ve also come across many fab nursery designs which have used the same colour palette, and this just goes to show how many different ways it can be styled to create the look we want and to suit either a boy or a girl.

C: Studio Matsalla

C: Spearmint Nursery

 

C: Project Nursery

C: Jack and Jill Boutique

And of course you could either go easy on the colours or print, and inject some of it into the accessories for a more subtle approach. Go can’t go wrong with bunting in the nursery!

C: Etsy

C: Little Fox Designs

C: Hello Bee

And that’s just scratching the surface. The more I look at it, the more I fall in love with these shades, so now I have to just work out how to use them in our little box room to full effect while getting that balance of calming and bold just right!

What do you think to this colour scheme? What colour palette would you have, or have you got, in your nursery?

Nursery Vibes: The Arrows Trend

According to Project Nursery’s predictions for top 2016 nursery trends, arrows and triangles are ‘so last year’. Sorry, I love you Project Nursery but I couldn’t care less as arrows and triangles are two of my top themes for my nursery plans. I love them both. I love a geometric print and a little bit of tribal, and am drawn to these two designs so I really don’t care if they’re so 2015 or so 1915, I’m a fan.

So with this in mind, I’ve been looking at some of my favourite arrow design touches for the nursery. From full on wall coverings to subtle accessories, arrows are a cute theme to bring any colour palette to life and are another perfect gender-neutral option if you’re planning a nursery without knowing if you’re having a boy or a girl.

So diving straight in with a bold wall decal, as featured in Project Nursery’s 2014 nursery trends (yes, 2014, and what?), the soft grey shade means you can go mad on the coverage, as they’ve done in this example. Really love arrows? This could be the look for you.

Alternatively if you’re looking for something a little more subtle, these arrow wall stickers from Dana Decals in gold are gorgeous and are just enough of a nod to the theme without it being overpowering. I can’t get enough gold so this was always going to be a winner for me. Unfortunately for us UK dwellers, Dana Decals is in the US and it doesn’t look like they ship to the UK, but this is all about inspiration and I’m sure Etsy or some other similar retailer would provide something equally as pretty.

Sticking with the golden arrow theme, this fabric definitely is available on Etsy and is on my short list for fabric to make my nursery blinds. It’s so just so god damn sweet.

This mobile is a very cute way to add a touch of arrow without it being the main focus of the room, if that’s what you want. I’ve seen it on Pinterest in tons of different colours, so whatever your palette, there’s an arrow mobile for you!

Next up is a piece of wall art that I came across on Instagram and fell in love with, both the arrows and the colours are right up my street. It’s by the lovely Fishtitch who have loads of gorgeous prints (I’m also a big fan of their Cactus print) and garlands. Check out their Etsy shop for more like this…

Last but not least (and I really could go on forever), I fell in love with this Bohemian Arrow crib sheet, available from Etsy. It’s more feminine then anything else I’ve looked at, so definitely more suited for a baby girl, but I love the colours and the soft feathery effect.

What do you think of the tribal arrow trend? And do you care if something’s ‘on-trend’ or not when it comes to your baby?!