Nursery room themes

So I know Peanut's big day is still far off (170 days to be exact), but today I woke up with this hankering to start picking out a nursery theme. Maybe my "nesting" instinct is finally kicking in on the cusp of my 17th week!

As far as nurseries go, I don't want to spend exorbitant amounts of money on everything from the crib to the changing table to all the little room embellishments that make nurseries so cute....buuuut I also don't want to chintz out. It is Peanut, after all. So maybe I'll do a blend of different price points and try to make some things myself, like curtains (if I'm feeling extra ambitious and have the time). All I know is there's really no reason to go all out and spend $500+ dollars on the Cadillac of cribs, people. Most baby's are too un-evolved yet to even appreciate the fact that its crib is made out of exotic imported mahogany.

Currently our "nursery" is the bedroom across the hall from our master. We painted it a Tuscan yellow when we first moved in thinking it was going to be a guest bedroom, then we conceived much faster than we thought we would, and now I'm toying with the idea of changing the wall color. I've still got lots of time, but I have some nursery theme ideas in mind:

1.) Peter Rabbit

In my salad days (read: single digits) I was ob-sessed with the Peter Rabbit books. They were and still are so classic, and I dig that the series and characters are pretty gender neutral, so they'd work for whatever Peanut happens to be. I found some adorable Peter Rabbit nursery ideas I could borrow from online:

Pictures from Design Dazzle

Okay, I never thought I'd be a fan of the striped wall look but I LOVE this!! The periwinkle/cream combo is so cute, and the little chandelier accents the theme and decor perfectly. J says painting "straight" stripes that don't bleed into one another is actually a lot harder than it seems and that he doesn't know if he'll have the time to do it since he's still remodeling the kitchen at the moment when he's not at work, but perhaps we could do just one accent wall striped?

And then there's Pottery Barn's take on Peter Rabbit:


I always love a good topiary or two.

2.) Vintage Alice in Wonderland

I feel like this concept would only work if it's a girl. I'd want to go with the traditional drawings from the original text and somehow incorporate those in framed decor and bedding (although in the latter I'd have no idea how -- I haven't exactly seen old-school Alice illustrations in fabric as of late). Anyway, it could be an idea...


I would definitely say that both these Alice in Wonderland nursery examples (above) are way too ambitious for me. I don't have the time or interest to go that far out on a limb (hello? there are actual toy geese flying over that crib!!) but I could borrow certain elements from both.

So far, that's all I have. I was also thinking maybe a vintage Winnie the Pooh theme (though I do like Peter Rabbit better), and maybe a Parisian theme, though that would probably be better suited for a girl unless I've got a little Brad Goreski in the making. ;)

Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas on how to do this myself? I'm such a newbie at all of this that I feel a little lost.