3 Tips for Creating a Rustic Boy/Girl Shared Nursery

Affiliate links are used in this post to link to items I recommend. I may receive compensation when you click or purchase from these links. 

Initial. Bookshelf. Pillows. Little Girl Print. Headband Holder. Antler Tie Back. Little Man Print. Plush Animal Rug. Flower Antlers. Storage Baskets. Wooden Arrow. 

One of my biggest dilemmas when I found out I was having a girl, was figuring out how to redecorate our nursery to work for a boy and a girl. For Benson, I had done a hunting themed nursery and I loved every aspect of it. Jason and I made a lot of the decor so it was really special to me, but I knew that I wanted something girly for my little girl!

Because I didn't want to throw out everything from Benson's nursery and start new I decided to go with a more rustic, woodland nursery theme that would incorporate a lot of the decorations I already had, but would allow for a gentler aesthetic.

I struggled for weeks picking out pieces that were girly but not too girly, and other pieces that were manly but not too many, so that I could blend them together for a cute boy/girl bedroom. (If you want to see all my inspiration you can check out my Pinterest boards: Baby Boy Nursery and Baby Girl Nursery) Here is what I learned during my decorating process.

Use Symmetry

I already had a lot of boy decor with my nursery, so I needed to balance it out with girly pieces to make it feel like a cohesive room. I quickly discovered I was going to have to find a way to blend the girl and boy pieces in order to make the room work.

The easiest way for me to do this was put the boy pieces I already had over Benson's bed and then mirror it with feminine pieces over baby girl's crib. 

Before Benson was born, I made him a cute printable that says, "Ducks and trucks and eight-point bucks, that's what little boys are made of." I knew that I needed something similar for baby girl, but I couldn't find anything girly that fit the rustic, but feminine look I was going for.

Luckily, I remembered that my friend from college had an etsy shop, Chynna Hansen Designs, where she sold nursery printables and I found this perfect printable that fit my rustic design and had a totally girly-girl saying on it. I swear it was kismet.

Now, each side of the wall has a cute gender appropriate print that mirrors the other side balancing the wall out.

Add Texture

After the two printables, I started to notice that my room was looking a little flat and I needed to add pieces that would add interest and come off the wall. Adding in antlers, especially this one with the flowers, and wood pieces helped give the room more dimension.

These metal initial letters will also be making an appearance in my nursery since they give the room a modern feel. I'm thinking of adding flowers to bay girl's initials, but haven't found something to add to Benson's (if you have ideas I'm all ears!)

Normally, I just focus on using texture on the walls, but I decided to take that element to the floor as well. The second I saw this plush animal rug I fell in love with it. I can totally see Benson resting his head on it and reading a book, or having tummy time there for baby girl. It's absolutely adorable.

Find gender neutral pieces to pull it all together

On the opposite side the symmetry aspect, I needed to find a couple of pieces that were gender neutral to balance out my gallery wall.  

I used the texture elements to also act as gender neutral pieces. The wooden arrow was a great way to bring things together and ease the way from the boy side of the room to the girl side. The antler tie backs and the animal print pillows will also help create a more cohesive room without choosing sides. 

When I was choosing my color scheme I made sure to find a neutral color that I could incorporate into both sides of the room. I chose to use blush pink and sage green for baby girl's side and brown and forest green for Benson's side. Then, I added little bits of navy blue in to both of their sides to pull it all together. 

Overall, I'm really excited about the nursery now! I feel like it still represents Benson, but also has room for baby girl to grow into! 

Decorating is not a skill that comes natuturally to me, so I was so grateful to find so many shops that helped me plan my perfect nursery. I teamed up with Chynna, from Chyanna Hansen Designs to help you guys decorate any room of your house too! Chynna is giving away a free print from her shop to one of you! And don't worry she does more than just nursery printables! I'm dying over her fall printables and I'm thinking I might have to buy all of them because I can't choose just one! Enter via the raffelcopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway