Home Decor Inspiration || Gender Neutral Kids Prints

When I was pregnant with each of my son I wanted everything to be perfect. Naturally we had considered what we would name them, we had considered what clothing they would wear and which pushchair to purchase and even how the nursery should be decorated. The hardest part of it [other than being pregnant of course] was finding the perfect name as everyone seemed to have some sort of issue with our chosen names or some idea on what we should be naming our babies. The second hardest part was deciding on how the nursery should be decorated. Again we were bewildered with decor choices because everyone was opting for the overly princess pink styles for girls, really masculine designs for boys or very babyish styles. We knew we wanted neither of these options as we wanted something that didn't put our baby in a gender box. As parents even now we are very aware of being neutral in our discussions on life, love and everything in between as we want their young minds to form their own opinions and to take comfort and be confident in those choices.

See the predicament?

We wanted a room design that had personality but we also wanted it to inspire and grow with them as they got older. Back in 2006 to 2009 the choices for nursery's wasn't so vast or interesting and we did feel that we were having to chose something just for the 'sake' of it rather than the products making us excited. We also didn't want to waste money because children are expensive as it is. Fast forward to 2016 where we now have three sons all with very different style preferences. The world of room design and home decor have changed dramatically for the better. Parents are now choosing all sorts of styles for nurseries and bedrooms and as parents we love that retailers are embracing the unusual rather than the working with stigmas.

Late last year we moved into a larger house so once again we have been working with blank canvases for their rooms. While we have ideas on what we as parents want to see in the boys rooms, their at the age now where their own personalities, interests and tastes have formed. The surprising thing is they don't want to go with what would be seen as typical 'boy' choices or outwardly male designs. This alone and their take on the whole gender-neutral living inspired me completely to write this post as we search for finishing touches for their bedrooms - more so art prints to hang up to bring in some personality.

One of my sons wants his room purple and yellow. Most parents would try to deter their son away from lilacs and purples but I know he absolutely adores purples, pinks, reds and yellows. He also loves cars, cute soft toys and animals. He wanted something that mixed his favourite colours with his interests and I think we finally found the perfect prints with these vintage car prints.

We found these ones from King & McGaw which combines the feminine pastel tones that would match the lilac and purples, the neutral bold tones such as the yellow, reds and blues and the masculine vintage diecast cars...

Colourful Cars | Chrysler New Yorker | Open Tops

My other son loves colour - lots and lots of colour. His personality is very bold, confident and magnetic so the choice of rainbow tones didn't surprise me at all. He's definitely a visual little boy and very artist so photographic prints like the ones above were never going to cut it. Colours also have the ability to heal, soothe and inspire so work exceptionally well for younger children's spaces.

Taking a look these are the three that he picked. He loved the dog (he says it's a dog, I say I have no idea what it is), the rainbow spiral he said looks like an eye or a wheel (that alone great that he's looking into the images to see something else) and the Very Hungry Caterpillar is so vibrant - while it's a famous book design it's never going to go out of style.

Milo Tattoo | The Very Hungry Caterpillar | Spectral 1

And finally my third son he loves comics, vintage superheroes. Especially Marvel and DC comics. This was a no brainer really because my husband and I also adore comic book heroes.

There were loads of vintage style prints to choose from, somewhere standard prints that we've seen before and some were slightly different. The little man especially loved the more unusual styles and he wanted to pick both female and male heroes but chose based on whether they were good or bad heroes. The final choices resulted in Wonder Woman (because he says this is who I am), Thor because he is always good and funny and Captain America because he doesn't cause trouble like Iron Man does (his words now mine). I wholeheartedly believe that both little boys and girls can be inspired by Marvel and DC because it teaches them the attributes that make someone good even when things are a bit up in the air.

The good thing with these vintage hero prints is that they never go out of style, they're suitable for all ages including babies and adults too.

Wonder Woman | Marvel Deco Thor | Marvel Deco Captain America

From a financial viewpoint these prints suit all ages, they're the type of styles that can be moved throughout a home when the children want a bit of a change. Actually searching for home decor touches with my sons has also been enlightening as it's these final touches that show personality.

I don't believe that boys shouldn't have pastels, girl superheroes or pretty colours, fluffy cushions, candles and heart shaped cut out furniture. Likewise, I don't believe that girls shouldn't have male superheroes, khaki tones and Lego brick furniture in their rooms - the key to it all is a balance. Prints are a great way to achieve this.