Avery's Surf-Inspired Nursery Includes Cork Wallpaper, Vintage Textiles, and Fair Trade Treasures

Now that Avery is nearly two-and-a-half, it’s high time I posted pictures of her nursery. I suspect Avery would balk at the idea of a nursery — because that’s for babies, and she has made it quite clear that she no longer falls into that category (Me: “I love you, my baby.”/ Avery: “I’m NOT a baby, I’m Avery!”). But for the purpose of this post, we’ll call it a nursery: the laid-back, surf-inspired nursery of my dreams.

When I first began planning this space, it was important to me to choose as many ethical options as possible while still being practical about cost. I started with furniture we already had, like the rattan side table handed down to me by my aunt, a carved wooden mirror, and various wicker baskets, and built out from there. We chose the West Elm Mid-Century dresser (fair trade, sustainably sourced) topped with an Oeuf changing station, a Mid-Century convertible crib (not particularly sustainable, but you can find a similar fair trade version here), and a fair trade wool rug (also from West Elm, but no longer available). Our big investment piece was a Monte Como Glider (made in Canada), which we found at Aldea, a glorious home and baby store right around the corner from our old place in San Francisco. Although pricey, this glider is ridiculously comfortable, and it got us through some long nights with Avery when she was an infant.

From there, I added color and texture with carefully-chosen wall coverings, toys, artwork, and linens (Cuyana is a great option for organic sheets). I found a beautiful fair trade laundry basket and turquoise pom poms at The Little Market, a handmade wooden fish mobile at Aldea, wooden wave and rainbow toys by Grimm’s, and a few other accents at local thrift stores. I made Avery’s turquoise pillows and blanket out of vintage textiles I found at the General Store in San Francisco, the the Zapotec-design lumbar pillow is from The Citizenry. The surfing bear print is from San Francisco-based 3 Fish Studios, and the other prints are by independent artists (unfortunately, though, I can’t remember the name of the studio or find any record of those purchases! I’ll update when I can).

I was initially hesitant to mess with the walls in our rental home. But one day I got a wild hair and decided to paint green leaves all over the all behind Avery’s crib. It looked pretty good, until I decided those leaves also needed a pink background and yellow, purple, and magenta accents. And that was just awful. So I ordered some (sustainable) cork wallpaper from Serena and Lily and just covered the whole darn thing up. It actually worked out quite nicely — the cork creates a natural, beachy atmosphere and can also double as a bulletin board for Avery’s art.

I love the way this space turned out. But the happy/sad truth is that, since I began writing this post, we moved to San Diego! We’re in a tiny 1-bedroom for a little while while we look into buying a house, which means most of Avery’s room is in storage. We’ve traded a beach-inspired room for the actual beach, and we’re ok with that for now. When the time is right, we’ll unpack Avery’s nursery and officially roll it into a big-girl room — maybe this time with a real surf board.

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