Room Reno #96: Neutral Nursery

Welcome back to Room Reno #96 here at The Sims Resource! Today we’re helping Sims who wants a beautiful, neutral and natural nursery for their toddler daughter. Let’s meet the Sim we’re helping!

Meet Ben and Kaitlyn!

Ben and Kaitlyn Grover are parents living in Chestnut Ridge, working in the nectar making business and raising their young daughter, Presley. Presley has been living in a small nursery up until now, but her parents think it’s time for her to have a bigger room since she recently aged up to a toddler. They want to use the space that Ben previously used as his office for her new room, since it’s larger and has more natural light than the space that Presley’s room is currently in. Since both Ben and Kaitlyn grew up in Chestnut Ridge, they want Presley’s new nursery to have a natural, neutral theme to it – lots of warm tans and browns, as well as pops of green like you would find on a sapling in the spring. They chose these colors because they want the space to be a soothing environment for little Presley, as well as a fun and stimulating one. Let’s see what we’re working with!

The Before

This office is pretty cute! Other than the chair covered in a sheet, of course. While that totally makes sense if there are hairy pets coming to sit on the furniture, Ben and Kaitlyn don’t even have any furry friends to create that problem! The armchair looks like the ghost of a chair instead of just…being a chair. Minor furniture pet peeve aside, the office is definitely functional as it is. The shape may pose some unique problems when it comes to turning it into the perfect nursery, though. The french doors (are they still called that when they’re also barn doors?) mean that a lot of the floor tiles will be taken up by the space they need to open and close, and the while the room is bigger than Presley’s old bedroom, it’s definitely not very large, either.

The space to put a crib and a rocking chair is definitely limited by the room’s current layout, and those are the most important pieces of furniture in the room. The walls being made of siding is a cute choice, but that detail will have to go in order to make the room a bit more baby proofed since Presley very into escaping her parents and going exploring around the property (without their permission!). I love the current color scheme (dark blue and burnt orange always looks so classy to me) but it’s definitely going to need a bit of brightening to reach the color scheme that Kaitlyn wants for the nursery.

The Planning

As mentioned in the before section, this space is absolutely a challenge to furnish because of the french doors, but Ben wanted them to stay – furnishing around them is the path that must be taken. That’s why there is a big gap between the door and any actual furniture in the planning chart – there simply can’t be anything in the way or it would cause major routing problems for Sims entering the room, and I prefer my Sims rooms at least mostly playable (save for a few clutter items). I put the crib across from the door, allowing for the french doors to be used as an easy baby monitor system – this way, Kaitlyn and Ben can check on Presley without having to wake her up or disturb her.

To the right of the crib, there will be a dresser (I sort of imagine them as one ‘unit’ of furniture in the space) for all of Presley’s things, and a tall mirror for showing off outfits but also for helping Presley to speed up her learning as she figures out just what a mirror is (and how they work). A playmat with lots of toys will sit in front of the mirror, which will be bolted into the ground – gotta childproof everything! To the left of the crib, there will be a rocking horse for Presley to play on, along with a cozy armchair and ottoman for snuggles with her parents or for reading before bedtime. Let’s get building!

The After

This nursery turned out so neutral, natural, and cute! The pops of light green around the space really bring a sense of natural warmth into a room that was previously pretty dark and gloomy just because of the wall treatments and the decor. Bringing in a bit of pale yellow was a little outside the realm of neutrals that Kaitlyn was going for, but I think the shade is light enough that it works really nicely in the space without being so saturated it ruins the relaxing vibe. The two toned walls are one of my favorite parts of the room – they really add visual dimension without being too complicated or making the room feel smaller – in fact, it really makes the space feel even larger! The same can be said for the standing mirror, which is an easy hack to make any space feel bigger than it is both in real life and in game. There wasn’t a lot of space to add plants to the room (and there was no way any of them could be on the floor within Presley’s reach) so I added a hanging plant over the crib, just high enough that it shouldn’t be a hazard for a curious toddler. The rest of the wall decorations keep it pretty simple, all in the service of adding enough visual interest to the room without making it too busy. That’s the same reason there are no curtains, as it keeps the room nice and bright.

Thanks for checking out Room Reno #96! If you liked this blog, check out Room Reno #95: Horse Ranch Reno or our Barbie movie inspired lookbook. Looking for something else? Read about summer CC looks for the whole family or check out our Gilmore Girls inspired lookbook! Have a great day 😎