Classic Nurseries, Part 1: Nurseries are Usually Too Trendy

Most nurseries end up being quite trendy.  Meaning, the style of nurseries change easily depending on the decade.  Rather than nurseries that reflect the mother and baby, they reflect the decade the baby was born in.  Here are some illustrations:

1980s Butterick Pattern

1974, 1982 edition The House Book

1965 The Doubleday Book of Interior Decorating

When I was about to have my first baby, I poured hours and hours of time into preparing for his arrival. Half of that time was spent gathering clothes and diapers and equipment, but the other half was spent decorating the nursery.  This is incredible considering we were squeezing his crib into our own bedroom in a one bedroom student apartment!  Now that Clay is 9, I can see how trendy my decisions were.

How can our efforts as new mothers be put into a nursery that is timeless?  A nursery that will provide items you can use to decorate with in later years?  A nursery that is more "you" than "2010s"?  This is the question I will be answering this week in my "Classic Nurseries" series.

Darryl Carter a throw back to 1970s Minimalists?

I am a fan of Darryl Carter's designs:

 

Check out this interior, from a decorating book originally published in 1974 and a new edition in 1982:

The House Book, 1974, 1982 edition

The parquet floor, quirky boat-shaped cabinet, giant vase with a single leafed-branch, the lack color and the lack of textiles . . . it all reminds me of Darryl Carter.