When it's three o'clock in the morning and you've barely had any sleep, every little comfort helps — including a cushy spot for your feet when checking on the baby.
Pink and blue not for you? Black and yellow feels fresh and inspired for a gender-neutral nursery. The soft gray-blue walls provide a soothing backdrop.
When designing a nursery, you want to choose a color scheme that will last for a good portion of your child's life, but is also soft in tone and appropriate for a newborn. Infants can really only see in black, white and gray at first. Soft neutrals and pastels, rather than bright and abrasive colors, work well with the rate of an infant's vision development. The soft gray of Silvery Moon from Benjamin Moore in this nursery is a perfect example.
In the nursery: If you're planning on letting the answer to "boy or girl?" be a surprise but you want to get your nursery together ahead of time, gray and yellow is a great gender-neutral and modern choice. (Don't worry, it still goes well with little duckies).
Designer Nicole Lanteri proved that a sophisticated color palette and chic furnishings can work in a nursery. Yellow, cream and gray hues cover grownup furniture and accessories like a tufted chair with piping, a zebra rug and a Moroccan pouf with nursery furniture.
Faux animal prints, for the PETA members among us. This soft gray zebra-stripe Safari rug from West Elm is a nice alternative if black and white seems too bold.