When it came to creating a nursery for Ben, the theme and colour scheme was an easy choice for me. With Max’s nursery decor I’d been torn between a muted grey and yellow theme, and a rainbow theme. Quite opposite ideas really, and although I ended up going down the grey and yellow route, I always craved a little boy’s room with more colour. Ben’s room is what used to be my office, and if you ever saw my Office Room Tour, you may remember the fabulous Sian Elin wallpaper I had in it. It’s such a statement wallpaper and I really couldn’t bear to take it down, so it made the choice for a rainbow themed room nice and easy.

At 7 months, Ben has only just moved into his room and as you can see from the photo below, he’s pretty chuffed with it! Being in our room for so long has given me lots of time to faff with his nursery and to keep rearranging and adding new bits, so come with me on a little room tour and I’ll show you around!

Disclosure: This post contains some gifted items, which I have indicated at the bottom of this post.

My biggest struggle with this room is it’s narrow width. It’s not quite a box room, but it is small and the dimensions are frustratingly narrow. When you have a small room it can feel very limiting in terms of what you can do to maximise the space. I’ve played around with a few different layouts, but I’ve settled on this one, which feels most spacious to me. I like that the furniture is laid out across the back wall and therefore behind you as you enter the room, making you feel like there is more space than there really is. Originally I had laid the cot against this wall, with the drawers and storage unit against the other wall, but this felt very enclosed and just left a narrow corridor to walk down in the middle. This new layout works far better in my eyes.

In terms of furniture, you really can’t beat Ikea for a children’s room. It’s cheap, sturdy, and wears well. Our Stuva cot, Koppang chest of drawers, and Kallax storage unit are all Ikea classics. The cot is a smaller size than the cot bed we had in Max’s room, and we deliberately chose this to fit in a small room.

One thing that I neglected to ever invest in for Max was a mattress protector, and knowing what I now know as a parent, it’s one thing that I think it really important. Those things take a beating over the years, and the more you can protect the mattress from the better. I was sent this one from Little Green Sheep and I love it. None of that scrunchiness you can get from a mattress protector, but totally waterproof and organic. Over it I have the most perfect rainbow sheets from Little Bird by Jools Oliver at Mothercare - I love the cute print on these and every time I share a photo of them on my Instagram I get so many people asking about them.

Ben loves his Ollie the Owl from The Gro Company which I keep in his room. With it’s CrySensor, it’s made the transition to his own room a little bit easier. We were kindly given Ollie to review and we absolutely love him - you can read our full review here.

As well as the mattress protector, a key feature of a nursery has to be a cheap washable rug to protect the carpet. This was something we did have for Max, and I quickly learnt what a useful thing it was to be able to throw it into the washing machine. I found this rainbow striped rug from Rug Vista and at only £45 I won’t mind too much when it inevitably gets covered in something unsavoury!

The Koppang chest of drawers is another space saver from Ikea. Normally we just head straight to the Hemnes range, but we found this little chest which was much smaller, and cheaper too. I wasn’t a great fan of the handles, so we replaced them with some I bought years ago from Anthropologie but never got around to finding a home for.

I splashed out on the Star Wall Shelf from Great Little Trading Company - as it’s mounted high on the wall I figured it will be safe from little destructive hands, and I love the little hanging hooks to hang up Ben’s Snuzpouch, and any special outfits. It’s the perfect shelf for displaying little nik naks and whenever I have a few minutes to myself I can’t resist a bit of faffing with the bits I have on display.

The penguin is a night light and music box from Zazu, and I love the cloud night light from A Little Lovely Company, which pairs so well with the Grimms Rainbow. I had a similar wooden name sign in Max’s room, but for Ben’s room I discovered The Wooden Letter Company, who did similar script letters at a really reasonable price, which I painted up in a bright purple colour. I couldn’t resist the little Funko Pop Bambi figure - with this as well as all of his Maileg soft toy deer. I seem to be having a bit of an inadvertent deer theme going on in Ben’s room, alongside the rainbows, and a slight nod to travel too, with the vintage globe and the Sass & Belle suitcases. I do like to be eclectic!

The three prints are some of my favourite things in Ben’s room. The Roald Dahl quote, “Those Who Don’t Believe In Magic Will Never Find It”, is one of my favourites and I love the rainbow foil lettering by Teeny Letters. The other two prints are by Paper Joy via Not On The High Street. I love Kerry’s colourful prints, and with my love of succulents I couldn’t resist! The rainbow star garland is from Sass & Wonder on Etsy.

Another of my favourite items in the room are the two rainbow hot air balloons by Authentic Models. I like that they give a bit of a whimsical touch to the room, and along with the vintage globe and the suitcases, they give a slight nod to a travel theme, as well as the rainbow colours.

The little wooden elephants are a jigsaw set from a lovely seller I found a few years ago at Winchester Christmas Market. Winchester seem to have the same stalls every year though, so if you like them, mark the date in your diary for next Christmas! They fit perfect along the top of the trusty Kallax.

I still have a few more touches to add I think. That corner at the foot of the cot and beneath the shelf is crying out for some kind of storage to make good use of the space, and I feel we need something underneath the framed prints too. But for now, this is Ben’s nursery - I hope you like it!

Disclosure: The Little Green Sheep Mattress Protector, Ollie the Owl, Snuzpouch, and Zazu Penguin were all given to us for review.