A retro modern pink flamingo-themed nursery for baby

As soon as I discovered that we were having a little girl, my next thought was to formulate a plan to convert our guest room into a cute nursery. Decorating is fun! My goal — other than to create an adorable girl’s room — was to spend as little money on new decor as possible, and use what we already had around the house. After some thought, I realized I had the perfect idea for the ‘theme’ — pink flamingos! What is more perfect for a midcentury-style nursery than pink flamingos? I immediately started the search for flamingo stuff that would go with the furniture I already had and came up with my plan of action.

Three of the former guest room walls already were painted Sherwin-Williams Springtime green with a bright orange accent wall. A quart of ‘Pink Flamingo’ paint — from Sherwin=Williams Suburban Modern paint collection — to cover the orange wall was all that was needed to ready the space to become a pink flamingo paradise.

I decided to go with a simple, white crib from Ikea that would pop off the dark pink wall.

Next, I found the most adorable flamingo mobile, purchased on clearance sale from Pottery Barn Kids, to hang over the crib.

The white clouds and green leaves tie in with the rest of the colors in the room nicely — and of course, there’s the pink flamingos!

Ever since I did the story about flamingo shower curtains, I’ve kind of been in love with this flamingo design by CatCoq, so I was pumped when I found out I could order a print of these goofy flamingos for the baby’s room. Luckily, I even had a white frame laying around the house that was the perfect size!

Because I’m a DIY kind of gal, I decided to tackle making fitted crib sheets, a quilt and curtains myself. Hey, I reupholstered two vintage sofas — how hard can some curtains be? Luckily, I found two adorable coordinating flamingo fabrics that worked perfectly with the color scheme of the room. 

I used ‘Tropicana Flamingo Toss’ in cream (above) to make two fitted crib sheets.

Then I used ‘Tropicana Flamingos and Palms’ in green (above) to make the pencil pleat curtains, which I lined with blackout fabric.

I was able to use the same Ikea Kvartal curtain tracks that were already up from my panel curtains, to hang the pencil pleat curtains. All I had to do was pick up some curtain hanging clips from Ikea that fit into the rails. (Note: Looks like Ikea has recently replaced the Kvartal system with a similar system called ‘Vidga‘)

There was enough of each print left over for me to make a quilt. I lined the back side of the quilt with a coordinating pink minky fabric and used silky hot pink binding around the edges.

The flamingo pillow on the chair was a gift from my Mom. The vintage green chair (given to me by family friends) and end table (a $25 ReStore find) were already being used in the guest room, and with the addition of a footstool ($15 estate sale find) and lamp borrowed from the living room, this corner of the room was shaping up nicely.

To add a little interest to the plain pink wall, I put up a shelf — a ‘Lack’ from Ikea — that we had from our last house. I hung it up in the nursery to display a collection of flamingo goodies.

To tie the room together and add a layer of softness, I found a pink and white striped rug from Target that is very soft and fluffy — and easily cleaned.

Wanna peek inside the closet?

Precautionary Pam here:
Proceed with Caution!
Warning Warning Warning:
CUTE OVERLOAD JUST AHEAD!

 

Hidden behind the closet doors you can see that baby already has a fantastic start on her wardrobe, thanks to her two grandmothers, who cannot seem to pass up the baby department when they go shopping. 

Just in case that wasn’t enough cute little girl flamingo goodies for you, here’s just one of the many flamingo themed outfits given to us for baby girl. Yes, that’s a flamingo bathing suit, matching sandals, watermelon sunglasses and a retro-style pink flowery baby swim cap. Someone is going to be the most stylish baby at the pool next summer!

Resource list

• Crib — Ikea Gulliver crib in white
• Shelf — Ikea Lack wall shelf in white
• Chair — Vintage, given to us by family friends
• Footstool — Found at estate sale for $15
• Dresser — (set on wall opposite crib) Originally purchased to be converted into a vanity in my pink bathroom, Craigslist $25
• Rug — Pillowfort striped area rug, Target
• End table — Habitat for Humanity ReStore, $15
• Lamp — West Elm from about 6 years ago (this was in our living room)
• Green flamingo fabric — ‘Tropicana Flamingos & Palms’ in green (sold out!), Fabric.com
• White flamingo fabric — ‘Tropicana Flamingo Toss’ in cream (cream is sold out, but there’s still some in pink and aqua), Fabric.com
• Mobile — Flamingo Mobile, Pottery Barn Kids (no longer available)
• Flamingo art print — ‘Flamingos’ by CatCoq via Etsy
• Pillow — Flamingo Tufted Throw Pillow, Kohls
• Paint colors — Green: Sherwin Williams Springtime — Pink: Sherwin Williams Pink Flamingo

And, because I know some people will wonder — yes, this little girl is going to have one of the coolest doll houses ever to play with someday when she is old enough, but until then, the 1955 Betsy McCall DIY Split Level dollhouse and its micro inhabitants are being proudly displayed on top of the Brasilia hutch in our dining room.