Gender Neutral Nursery Theme: Gray and White Peter Rabbit Natural Woodland

I love looking at nursery ideas on Pinterest and when I came across a gray and white gender neutral nursery, I knew that is what I wanted for our next baby. When I was pregnant with J, we decided to not find out the sex. So I obviously had no idea whether I was having a boy or girl. I spent hours scrolling through Pinterest. Trying to find the best gender neutral nursery ideas, and filling my boards with ideas. There were so many possibilities! My mind was consumed with color schemes and themes.

Not finding out the sex of our baby made coming up with a gender neutral nursery design a little easier.

There was no pressure to add pink or purple ruffles because we knew we were having a girl. And no drive to cover the walls with footballs, cars and trucks. Although big brother was seriously rooting for the latter. For this baby, I wanted to create the perfect nursery. I knew our family was moving a few weeks after I was due, so this was my way of combating the upheaval. And a little thank you gift to baby for joining our circus. 

The inspiration behind this gender neutral gray and white nursery came when I was unpacking boxes a few months ago. My Aunt and Uncle started giving us vintage Peter Rabbit Wedgwood pieces when I was pregnant with my first. We put them up for a little bit in H’s room as we acquired them, but they never got the place they deserve. 

As soon as I pulled the first Peter Rabbit mug out of it’s box, I knew it was exactly what I had been looking for. Beatrix Potters has been a childhood favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. It instantly gave me all the feels and the gorgeous soft blues and greens sparked the perfect gender neutral nursery beginnings!

Because we just moved, and moving is expensive, I needed to keep this gender neutral nursery budget friendly. When all was said and done, I was able to stay under budget and my husband has officially told me that I am now allowed free reign to decorate our home.

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Shop my top picks from the post:

A budget friendly gender neutral Peter Rabbit woodland natural nursery:

First things first, there were two key pieces I wanted to update for J’s new gender neutral nursery. The first? His crib. I found this Delta Children Tribeca 4-in-1 Crib in Gray and White while I was on Pinterest one night and fell in love. It is perfectly modern and holds its own design wise. This 4-in-1 has three mattress levels, and then can be converted into a toddler bed, day bed, and full sized bed later on as J grows. I am legitimately obsessed with the sleek lines, especially the unique X-shaped base! And if down the line I change my mind in regards to the design of J’s nursery, or if we have more kiddos, Delta Children’s Tribeca crib is not only gender neutral, but will work with whatever nursery design my mind can come up with! 

Available from: Amazon for $228 // Walmart for $233.62

Newton Baby Crib Mattress:

After sitting in storage and being thrown around by movers, J desperately needed a new crib mattress. His new Newton Living Wovenaire® Crib Mattress is so comfy, even I fall asleep when I crawl into his crib. The innovators behind the Wovenaire® Crib Mattress designed every inch with your baby’s health, safety, and comfort in mind! Because he’s a belly sleeper, I was very particular with what mattress we bought. I love that the Wovenaire’s design allows for optimal airflow and breathability, and the washable material unzips and is a moms best friend. And when I say optimal airflow, I mean it. How cool is this – the Wovenaire® Crib Mattress’s core is made of 90% free air – yes, air and 10% food-grade polymer. There’s no foam, latex, springs, glue, or allergens and it’s 100% recyclable too!

Save $25 off your $300+ purchase at Newton Baby with special savings code MuchMD25!

The best crib sheets around:

I recently discovered QuickZip on Instagram and they’re basically the coolest. We have a few QuickZip sheet sets, and I love how effortless they make changing sheets and doing laundry. We started with the Crib Starter Pack  Zip-On Sheet in Gray Dot, but I love the soft feeling of the blue Mink fabric we have as well. Not only are QuickZip crib sheets the safest crib sheets on the market, but they can also fit into any room thanks to the multitude of color and fabric options.

The sheets are genius – there’s one base part that wraps around the base of the mattress, and then a zip on top sheet that can be changed in just seconds. You can mix and match the top and base, and they make 2am sheet changes so much easier. Plus, I love that they look so clean and neat!

Save 10% off your order at QuickZip with special savings code “darling10”!

Monitoring baby

Now that J sleeps (if you can call it that) “alone” in his room at night, piece of mind is really important. I use a combination of 2 Babysense Monitors to keep my anxiety at bay. The first, Babysense Hisense 5s Baby Safe Infant Movement Monitor is a super sensitive device that goes underneath the mattress to monitor your baby’s micro-movements. When I put J in bed at night, Hisense 5s are my hands and “Momsense” when I’m not there. So, if his micro-movements ever stop or become irregularly slow, this non-touch monitor will immediately alert me. 

If Hisense 5s is my hand, then the Babysense Video Baby Monitor is my all seeing eye. With a bevy of features, this video monitor is the cat’s pajamas. Setup is literally just plugging in a cord, and you’re good to go. The LCD viewing screen is clear and can connect up to 4 cameras, which is great for growing families. I really like that I can clearly and easily see and hear J on the monitor, both during the day and at night. And the long range (900 ft) means I can sit in our backyard enjoying some quality time outside with my toddler while J naps! Plus, with the secure interference free connection, I don’t have to worry about who else might be watching.

Another cool thing? When J moves around in his sleep, I can just pan the camera to get a better view. And I can play him lullabies! It’s awesome! Look, as much as I’d like to think so, I’m not always aware of everything. Especially at night. And especially especially when my baby hates sleep and I’m sleep deprived. Baby sense’s developed these products give me a sense of comfort that I definitely need for this rainbow baby. Because when I’m less anxious, I sleep better, and I rest better.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I spend most of my days nursing and rocking J to sleep.

I was using the most gorgeous hand carved vintage rocking chair that has been in my family for (quite literally) forever. And it was great. But not so much for my rear end and back. Baby Relax saw I was struggling and sent me relief in the form of the most comfortable nursery rocking chair ever. The Baby Relax Mikayla Swivel Gliding Recliner in Gray is like a little slice of heaven that I can spend hours on. Can, and do…

Basically if you’re looking for the most comfortable and best glider or rocking chair for your nursery, look no further. This puppy rocks back and forth, side to side, and glides so smoothly it’s like silk. Plus, for the long hours I spend in J’s Peter Rabbit inspired nursery every night, the Mikayla is actually a recliner as well. Which means after I use the easy pull to extend the leg rest and lay back, the hourly night time wake ups are a lot less of a torture. 

Across the back of the Baby Relax glider, this beautiful soft green blanket was a baby gift a few years ago. One of my parent’s friends crocheted it by hand for me a little after H was born. It is so soft and the perfect shade of green. I love that it helps bring in a little color and comfort, not to mention it’s perfect for snuggles! Find a similar green crochet baby blanket on Etsy!

See that frame mounted on the wall?

My grandmother is a huge button collector. She spent her days navigating button shows, etc and buying and trading for her favorite buttons. I have several vintage button collections framed like this, and it makes me so happy to see a piece of her in this room. This set features special nursery rhyme theme buttons, all of which are probably almost 100 years old at least!

One of the first thing any sleep consultant will tell you is to get room darkening shades. We found these super versatile Twill Light Blocking Curtain Panels from Target’s Pillowfort collection and they are perfect for the room. (Plus it looks like they’re on sale for 10% off right now, plus save an extra 5% with your Red Card! So it looks like you’ll get an even better deal on them than we did!) And I can definitely see us using these years down the road as his room changes!

In order to showcase some of the more sentimental pieces, we picked up a few Ikea Spice Racks to mount on the wall. You’ve surely seen them all over the place on Pinterest. These guys are almost limitless with possibility. I kept with the natural woodland nursery theme by sticking with a natural wood finish and I’m obsessed with the outcome.

This little Peter Rabbit corner of the nursery is easily my favorite spot in the room.

It finally gives J’s Peter Rabbit Wedgwood collection the spotlight it deserves! I added a few other sentimental pieces: special thimbles from my grandmother, a wooden duck from my grandmother and grandfather’s hand carved duck collection, and a handmade ceramic rabbit mug that was given to my parents as a baby gift when *I* was born.

I also added a small white rabbit wall mount that I found on clearance at Target. This was a major score, because I had one of WhiteFauxTaxidermy’s rabbit wall mounts in my cart on Etsy! Yes, the Target one is much smaller, but I think the scale works perfectly above the shelves.

Below the shelves on the floor, I rolled a few of my favorite swaddle blankets and added them to a wire basket. I found this wire basket at TJMaxx a few months ago, and I love the little details and how it has the natural wood element around the top rim. Little tip: Never ever pay a lot of money for these types of baskets. You can literally find them at almost any home discount store. Ex: Marshalls / Home Goods / Ross / TJ Maxx. And they always have a ton of different colors and options!

I added a few of my favorite books that go along with J’s Peter Rabbit Woodland Nursery: The Spectacular Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Velveteen Rabbit, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Little Bear’s Visit. All of these (minus the new Peter Rabbit) were my books when I was a little one! So it makes my heart happy to see them being used and read almost 30 years later. To complete the corner, this special bear was a “welcome baby” gift from my husband’s grandparents. Each new baby gets one, and they spend months and months finding the perfect one. 

Gender Neutral Nursery: Gray and White Peter Rabbit Diaper Changing Station Area

Don’t waste your money on a changing table. We had one for H, but literally never used it. What we found to be a far smarter option is to use a dresser, and mount a Contoured Changing Pad on top. This way, you have usable storage underneath, and baby is at a much better height. This Summer Infant Contoured Changing Pad is the same one we used with H, and is still in great shape 3 years later.

I covered it with the adorable aden + anais Paper Tales Classic Changing Pad Cover. The colors go perfectly with the room! And definitely add a pop of color to the overall gray and white nursery theme. This green wire basket from Target’s Dollar Spot is perfect to hold a few ready-to-go cloth diapers. After J turned 6 months, I bought him a diffuser for his room. A few drops of lavender essential oil for sleep seems to help, and I love that this diffuser from doTERRA has a soft light for midnight nursing sessions. 

Because I don’t want to ruin the room with stink, I love my Munchkin Step Diaper Pail. This Munchkin diaper pail keeps baby J’s gender neutral nursery fresh thanks to scented baking soda and a patented self-sealing technology. Plus, it looks really clean and sleek and doesn’t interfere with my gender neutral Peter Rabbit nursery design!

I hung a few woven chargers, a bright grass wreath, and a big J and called it good. I found the woven rattan chargers in the Ikea “As Is” section for dirt cheap. These are another item I would highly recommend thrifting for! Second hand stores are always full of chargers and place settings!

There are little natural details sprinkled throughout the nursery for consistency, and to keep things fresh. Because I wanted to keep this a gender neutral nursery, gray and white are the prevailing colors. But I wanted a third main color to keep J’s nursery soft and neutral without being boring. So green was an easy choice. 

And there you have it! Baby J’s gender neutral nursery theme: Peter Rabbit woodland nursery!

I am so in love with this room, and love spending extra time in here. Creating a special space for your new baby doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult. I promise! This budget friendly gray and white nursery was created using thrifted, gifted, and new items to keep our spending in check. And we couldn’t be happier with the outcome!

For more baby inspiration, check out the posts below:

The Best Gift Ideas for a New Mom

Birth Center Supply Checklist: What to Pack to Give Birth

Thoughtful Gifts For The Mom To Be