My Totoro Room. Photo by Ariane Coffin
I love interior design. I also love diving into new projects! So when I found out I was pregnant with baby #2, I couldn’t wait to get a jump on designing the nursery. I delved into Pinterest whenever I had a free minute, in search of nursery theme ideas. After a while, it dawned on me: My Neighbor Totoro. I immediately envisioned a dark grey nursery with white accents, a serene space perfect for a little boy or girl.
My Neighbor Totoro © Disney
Things fell together pretty quickly after that. We reused the dark wood baby furniture from our first child, painted the room in the same grey shade we already had throughout parts of our house, found some interesting Totoro art, et voila!
Want to know where I got everything? Then follow along!
The paint: When we purchased our house, it was important to me to choose environmentally-friendly resources whenever possible. I researched “green” paints online for a a long time before settling on Mythic Paint. We primed and painted every inch of our house, so let me tell you, I have experience with Mythic Paint. My initial thought was that it is great to work with. But now that we’ve had our walls painted for two years, I have to admit it does chip far more easily than regular paint. Just a fair warning. Nevertheless, we stuck with this brand to repaint the walls of the nursery. The color is called “Suit of Armor” (139-5) in eggshell finish.
The mobile: I found the Totoro mobile sold by AmiAmigos on Etsy. This item was my first purchase and the inspiration for the whole room. The seller was a dream to deal with, she offered many (many!) options and always responded very quickly. The mobile was made to order and arrived promptly.
Totoro mobile. Photo by Ariane Coffin.
The decals: Tucked in a corner are the shy soot sprites, quickly running away from the room that will soon be occupied! The soot sprite decals are sold by carl895 on Etsy.
The Totoro night prints: Symmetrically adorning the window are four matching 8″x10″ Totoro prints in nightly shades of dark blues and bright firefly yellows. I framed them in white frames from Michaels. The three Totoros came in a set, while the soot sprites print came separately. They are sold by FuzzyCraft on Etsy. My purchase came with a thank you note from the artist saying that all purchases helped her finance college. I felt really good for buying them after reading that note!
Totoro art and soot sprites. Photo by Ariane Coffin.
The Totoro watercolor print: I purchased the “My Rainbow Totoro” art print in large (22″x28″) from Alisha Ann on Society6. I love how free and colorful it looks, it is absolutely gorgeous! I framed it with a yellow mat and cheap white frame found on Amazon.
The Totoro decorative pillow: Hand-stitched by my loving and capable mother. Thanks, Mom!
The custom glider cushions: We received the glider as a gift when we were expecting our first child. After she outgrew her “up at all hours of the night” stage, our two evil black cats decided to make it their job to ruin the abandoned chair to shreds. I searched high and low for replacement cushions, which apparently isn’t an option glider companies like to offer at a reasonable price, or any price for that matter. Finally I found someone on Etsy claiming to be able to make custom replacement cushions. With a leap of faith, I commissioned cjscozycoshions and hoped for the best. She wasn’t always quick to respond after I paid, to the point that I wondered if I had been stooped by some sort of Internet cushion scam. But in the end, I received beautifully crafted cushions in the fabric of my choice. They weren’t cheap, but they were much cheaper than buying a whole new chair just because it needed new cushions!
The reclaimed wood chalkboard and turquoise scalloped side table: From Urban Outfitters.
The bedding: My big ticket item was the Harper bedding collection in grey that I purchased from Pottery Barn Kids. I purchased the crib skirt, three panels of window valance to cover the width of our window, and a few crib sheets in the same color scheme. I caught it on sale, which helped a little bit, but obviously there’s cheaper ways to go about outfitting a nursery.
Totoro watercolor art. Photo by Ariane Coffin.
I look forward to bringing home our second little girl to her Totoro nursery! While I took the lazy man’s way by purchasing everything, one could easily DIY many of these items at home. A crib skirt and window valance can be easily sewn, Totoro is a simple enough design to make some of your own art, and soot sprites could have been painted on the walls rather than using decals. In the end, I just didn’t have the energy though! Gotta love pregnancy.
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