These Instagrammers Will Show You How to Nail the Perfect Adventure Themed Nursery

Written by Lee Orlian
Interior designer & co-founder of Teepee Joy.

Adventure themed nursery decor offers parents a wide array of choices when it comes to room ideas for their baby. For your main inspiration, you could go with a camping themed plan, or perhaps something like airplanes, a safari, mountain climbing, a forest, the ocean… The list goes on.

In fact, the list goes on so much that those looking to create a children’s bedroom might get a little overwhelmed and not even know where to start.

With that in mind, we went out in search of the best examples we could find in adventure themed nursery decor. Take a look at all the different directions parents chose to go when creating their masterpiece, and see if any of these elements feel right for you.

As you embark on your own adventure, you’ll have a few decisions to make. Are you looking to make this a large DIY project, or are you looking to simply add a few tasteful touches? Whatever your plan, we have some outstanding inspiration to get you started.

Steph ~ @stephisawes0me

"I’m a TV-obsessed social media professional, avid crafter, tea enthusiast, and I eat low on the food chain. I’m mom to my pitbull Ripley and waiting on the arrival of my son any day now!

Q. – Tell us about your design process. Do you begin with an initial object or theme as an inspiration?

A. – I knew I wanted our nursery to inspire our baby boy’s sense of adventure – we love camping and the outdoors. However, lots of the inspiration photos I was seeing out there were very neutral with no bright colors.

I wanted our nursery to feel fun and bright. So I brought together the mountains with the color of hot air balloons.

Q. – What was the most essential goal you wanted to achieve when you initially designed this space?

A. – I wanted the space to feel peaceful, yet joyful. I also wanted the room to be able to age with our baby boy as he grows.

Q. – Did you face any unforeseen challenges while creating this space? How did you handle it?

A. – The biggest challenge was how to arrange the furniture in a small room in a functional, yet beautiful way.

There were a lot of considerations that went into that process, but most importantly using the organizational theory that encourages the fewest movement around the room while doing a specific task, e.g. placing the changing table closest to the closet for easy changing.

Q. – What was the most exciting/thrilling part of the design process?

A. – The process of seeing the mountain “mural” come together was so exciting! It actually way simpler than it looked. We picked out our paints and then used painter’s tape to outline how we wanted it to look and sat with that for about a week.

We made a few tweaks when we got to painting, but we got most of the painting done in one day.

Q. – Any tips or advice you can share with other designers and parents?

A. – It’s great to be inspired by other people’s photos, but make sure that you’re infusing your own personality and loves into your design. That’s what will bring you the most joy!

Emily Mobley ~ @emilythedietitian

Hi! I am Emily! I am a dietitian, military spouse, and mother to my 8 month old son, Gray. He is the best and I love being his mom! I also enjoy cooking, crossfitting, and traveling to the mountains!

Q. – Tell us about your design process. Do you begin with an initial object or theme as an inspiration?

A. – I began with an initial object. My mountain string board was my main focal piece! I knew from that I wanted to make an “adventure” theme nursery. Plus my husband and I met out in the Colorado mountains… so the theme has a special meaning to us.

Q. – What was the most essential goal you wanted to achieve when you initially designed this space?

A. – I wanted it to be a fun, bright, inspiring place for my son. Plus I wanted it to be a room where my husband and I would want to sit for hours with our son. I think we accomplished that. Many hours were spent in this room.

Q. – Did you face any unforeseen challenges while creating this space? How did you handle it?

A. – Yes, I would second guess myself before purchasing anything for the space! It was so hard to pick furniture and prints for the wall. I also did not want to pick the name before he was born… however… I wanted to hang his name on the wall so the decision happened sooner than expected.

Q. – What was the most exciting/thrilling part of the design process?

A. – Seeing it all come together! The vision I had for it was nothing like it turned out but I loved how it felt so “us”!

Q. – Any tips or advice you can share with other designers and parents?

A. – Just let the process happen. It will come together and it will be exactly what the baby and you needed! Don’t second guess your vision! Also Etsy is an amazing option to get cheap prints for your nursery!

Chloe Meisner ~ @chloemae6

"I'm a wife to Blake, Mama to Aida, and School Counselor to some amazing kiddos . We live in Iowa and enjoy traveling, gardening, reading, and spending sunny days together.

Q. – Tell us about your design process. Do you begin with an initial object or theme as an inspiration?

A. – I originally saw the National Park prints by Anderson Design Group on Pinterest and fell in love. We didn’t find out if our baby was a boy or a girl so I designed our gender neutral nursery around these prints hoping to instill our love of adventure in our little one’s life.

Q. – What was the most essential goal you wanted to achieve when you initially designed this space?

A. – To create a clean, classy, and fun nursery for our baby to play and grow in!

Q. – Did you face any unforeseen challenges while creating this space? How did you handle it?

A. – Our room is big enough for baby, but definitely a little smaller than I would like. I had to ensure to that we had all of the essentials before I added all of the decor to ensure it didn’t become too overcrowded for babe to play in.

Q. – What was the most exciting/thrilling part of the design process?

A. – I think the most exciting part was partaking in the decorating with my husband and picturing us rocking our baby, reading books, and playing in his/her bedroom.

Q. – Any tips or advice you can share with other designers and parents?

A. – I’m not a designer and this room was created purely out of love for our new little one. For me, finding that one piece I loved and letting my imagination and passion run wild was key to creating a space that we all love.

Kortney ~ @karnerbluedesign

"I’m Kortney, mama to a wild one year old and married to my high school sweetheart. My family and I just recently relocated to Austin, TX all the way from cold and snowy New Hampshire. We’re a huge outdoor family, you can find us any day of the week outside running, hiking, fishing, swimming, or boating. We also love a really good dinner out! I’m a former Special Educator following a dream and fulfilling my passion of Interior Design. We just purchased our very first ‘flip’ property here in Austin and I can’t wait to get my hands on it! Follow our journey!

A. – I usually have one main focus in mind or one big piece and I build off of that. For this room, before we even found out we were pregnant I knew I wanted a mountain mural in the baby’s room. If my son had been a girl I would’ve just added a really feminine flair to the room.

Q. – What was the most essential goal you wanted to achieve when you initially designed this space?

A. – For my sons nursery I wanted to bring the calm, serene feeling of the outdoors, in. I used lots of neutrals to give the space a soothing feel with pops of deep green and faux greenery to tie in those outdoor elements.

Q. – Did you face any unforeseen challenges while creating this space? How did you handle it?

A. – Yes! And I continue to face similar challenges since my son is now 1…. I’ve never had to design a “baby proof” space. Or add in design elements that were considered more ‘essential’ than ‘cute and pretty’.

Figuring out where to keep things like diapers and a diaper trash while still making the room feel welcoming made me feel overwhelmed for the first time ever!

Q. – What was the most exciting/thrilling part of the design process?

A. – Hands down completing the mountain mural! Once I start something I like to get it done ASAP. With that said I probably should’ve spaced out my time because I was still working on the mural with a shop lamp on at 10pm.

The most rewarding part was when my husband kept popping in to check on me and the final time he completely lit up. I don’t know if he didn’t have faith in me but he continued to tell me how proud he was! I also think the commitment to having an entire wall in our home painted with a mural meant this was real… a baby is really going to live here!

Q. – Any tips or advice you can share with other designers and parents?

A. – Time. That’s all, take your time in the design process and do not stress. Once the baby is here you will find yourself moving things around anyway. Who knew you couldn’t reach the bibs on the very top of the closet while holding the newborn in your arms?!

Nicola Purcell ~ @fouratsix

"I'm a mum of two little boys. We live in London, UK, in a 1930s house that we are completely renovating between naps, work and life.

Q. – Tell us about your design process. Do you begin with an initial object or theme as an inspiration?

A. – I was mostly inspired by other real homes on Instagram. I liked rooms that had a nature theme. Once I chose the mountain mural for the walls everything else followed; we picked out curtains with little stars on and a spherical sun-like light fixture.

Q. – What was the most essential goal you wanted to achieve when you initially designed this space?

A. – We wanted to create a nursery that worked for both genders and wouldn’t date. Our whole house needed a lot of work and we didn’t want to have to redecorate the nursery if we had a second (or third!) child.

Q. – Did you face any unforeseen challenges while creating this space? How did you handle it?

A. – The walls were so damaged that we had to use lots and lots of wall filler. We still didn’t achieve a perfect finish and the walls are slightly bumpy. It’s not hugely noticeable to the casual observer so we decided to embrace it. After all, mountains are not smooth anyway! Done is better than perfect.

Q. – What was the most exciting/thrilling part of the design process?

A. – When you add the finishing touches to the room that pull the theme and colours together.

Q. – Any tips or advice you can share with other designers and parents?

A. – Try to build the room in layers and avoid buying the final pieces until the paint is on the walls and you have a better feel for the space. If you buy everything at the start it doesn’t always work together.

Carlyn ~ @Mama_car2019

"First time mom due July 2019, Full time Banker turned Mamapreneur-in-progress with Monat.

Q. – Tell us about your design process. Do you begin with an initial object or theme as an inspiration?

A. – I had looked around and really liked some of the aspects of a “woodland” theme, and from there it became more of an “adventure” theme since I wasn’t too into the woodland animals.

Q. – What was the most essential goal you wanted to achieve when you initially designed this space?

A. – I really wanted to stay away from the typical “baby boy” colors, going for a very neutral color scheme, and incorporated colors in the design aspects like the (future) baby bedding and wall hangings.

Q. – Did you face any unforeseen challenges while creating this space? How did you handle it?

A. – Really deciding on what wall decor I was going to use, and making sure everything was cohesive and still staying true to the adventure theme. Pinterest and Hobby Lobby were lifesavers in this process!

Q. – What was the most exciting/thrilling part of the design process?

A. – Putting everything together! I spent quite some time arranging, and rearranging the decor on the floor in front of the walls until it was perfect. Once I started putting everything up on the walls, the room really started coming together and made me excited for the rest of the decor!

Q. – Any tips or advice you can share with other designers and parents?

A. – Spend a lot of time early on looking through different themes. Once you settle on a theme, find different variations and examples, then have fun! Mix and match your favorite aspects of what you love and make it your own!

Ashley ~ @mrs.ashley.h

"I’m a stay at home of a little boy who is almost a year and a half and expecting baby #2 this fall. I loved creating a warm and inviting nursery for my little boy and cannot wait to do the same for baby #2.

Q. – Tell us about your design process. Do you begin with an initial object or theme as an inspiration?

A. – I knew I wanted to do a rustic, adventure theme so I just found pieces I liked and meshed it all together.

Q. – What was the most essential goal you wanted to achieve when you initially designed this space?

A. – I wanted a nursery that my baby could grow with. I wanted to stay away from pastels and traditional nursery decor.

Q. – Did you face any unforeseen challenges while creating this space? How did you handle it?

A. – Believe it or not, I didn’t

Q. – What was the most exciting/thrilling part of the design process?

A. – Being done and seeing how my vision came to life was so exciting! It came together perfectly like I had envisioned it. The nursery is by far my favorite room in the house.

Q. – Any tips or advice you can share with other designers and parents?

A. – Be creative, but practical. Sometimes we see these beautiful nursery designs on social media but they aren’t practical for when you baby can start grabbing, crawling and walking. A pretty glass vase on and end table might look nice, but it’s a disaster waiting to happen. 

Melody Mackereth ~ @melodymackereth

"My husband and I are like two big kids, and our house is filled with toys and games. Our six month old daughter Avery is so much fun, and we look forward to having her share in our adventures. I’ve always enjoying expressing myself creatively and working on different projects to make our home a rad place to be.

Q. – Tell us about your design process. Do you begin with an initial object or theme as an inspiration?

A. – I’ve wanted to paint a mountain range wall since I first saw the idea a few years ago. We were lucky enough to buy our first home while pregnant with our first child, so it was the perfect opportunity to paint an outdoor scene on the nursery wall!

This was the starting point, but I’ve always loved Scandinavian design (particularly blonde wood) and woodland / camping aesthetics so already owned a few pieces which went into the room.

Q. – What was the most essential goal you wanted to achieve when you initially designed this space?

A. – A fun room, that still fit the style of the rest of our home, and would inspire creativity and play for our family in years to come.

Q. – Did you face any unforeseen challenges while creating this space? How did you handle it?

A. – I’ve seen some beautiful pieces that would work so well in our nursery, but are out of our budget. I will either DIY my own take on different products, wait until I can find something similar within our price range, leave it out, or do something different.

Q. – What was the most exciting/thrilling part of the design process?

A. – It was so exciting seeing an idea that had been in my head for many years come to life! My six month old daughter doesn’t quite appreciate it yet but I look forward to seeing her look in wonder at the little details as she gets older. I love seeing the reactions of friends and family who come to visit.

Q. – Any tips or advice you can share with other designers and parents?

A. – If you have a style or theme you love, collect things as you see them and use for different purposes where you can. For example, my husband and I bought the ‘schleich’ animal toys as centre-pieces for our wedding reception tables, and five years later they are on display in the nursery because we still love them!

Antonia Girard ~ @antonia_girard

"I am a mother of a 1-year-old son and a pediatric psychologist. I love designing and creating beautiful spaces in our home in my spare time.

Q. – Tell us about your design process. Do you begin with an initial object or theme as an inspiration?

A. – There is usually one thing that starts as the basis for any project I do. For my son’s nursery it was this antique dresser and I knew I wanted to start with crisp, white walls.

Q. – What was the most essential goal you wanted to achieve when you initially designed this space?

A. – I wanted this space to feel light and neutral, without a typical nursery theme.

Q. – Did you face any unforeseen challenges while creating this space? How did you handle it?

A. – There are always so many cute details that can be added to a space that aren’t always cohesive. The biggest challenge is focusing on the must-haves and sticking with a theme without getting distracted.

Q. – What was the most exciting/thrilling part of the design process?

A. – I loved watching the room slowly come together from the point of first painting the walls to finally adding the finishing touches!

Q. – Any tips or advice you can share with other designers and parents?

A. – My biggest piece of advice is starting with the basic must-haves and waiting to add the details until the end. I had this antique dresser and knew I wanted white walls and a natural wood crib, so I started there and slowly added pieces that brought the room together. This ensures that you don’t end up with pieces that ultimately don’t work in the space.