I think I've got my nursery theme!

Troy and I want to be surprised on the day the baby is born with the gender of the child. This is not the choice either of our parents want us to make. But there are so few real surprises in this world, and we want this to be a surprise for us when the child is born.

This decision makes some things more difficult. Grandparents have to work harder to find gender-neutral colors. And we had to become creative as to the nursery theme.

I had already decided I didn't want to buy into the consumeristic Disney narrative for my child's bedding nor did I want a pastel color scheme. After a friend told me that babies primarily see the colors red, black and white, I had a brainstorm--I would have an oriental theme nursery.

I was so excited by my idea and I had one friend, as well as my husband, think it was a good idea. From others, I would get a reply like, "Well, that will be 'interesting'." I could hear the hesitation in their voices. I searched long and hard on the Internet for oriental baby bedding/nursery themes and up until today found only two ideas that I really didn't like.

Then, I found Wabi Sabi by Glenna Jean. And I love it. I love the colors, the incorporation of the bamboo, and the different textures on the quilt. And, I love the mobile--little brown bears wearing skirts made out of the bamboo pattern. I also like the design idea in the picture above, incorporating oriental lamps. Since we plan to move sooner than later, we decided we didn't want to paint the walls so the red paint isn't possible--but there are some other ways to incorporate that color.

Of course, I haven't considered the cost and whether it is in our budget, all I know is this is what I have envisioned my nursery/study to look like.

I'm glad to know that I'm not strange to have an Oriental theme for our nursery--that someone else in the world has thought about it also! Check out the other pieces in the theme at http://www.babysupermall.com/main/products/glj/glj38240.html

Nursery themes are definately for the priveleged and I must confess that I struggle with the stewardship perspective of having a nursery theme when there are people out there who have nothing.