I've been following Em Clarke at @ournortherndays since Orion was a little baby. Orion had such a beautiful nursery, but the transformation from baby to toddler room is what I wanted to share with you all.

I will admit that when I was working on my first nursery, I didn't consider how it would transition to a toddler and big kid room. I couldn't think beyond the baby stage, and it surprised me how quickly toddlerhood creeped up on us... Before I knew it, my little guy was climbing his crib and it was time to safely transition to a toddler bed.  So here are some tips I gathered from Em about her beautiful transformation from baby to kid's room.

Em, I'm so excited to share Orion's room transformation with our readers. Can you share a little bit about yourself and what inspired Orion's bedroom theme?

I’m Em, Orion’s mommy and we are located in Central Canada.  When Orion was around 3 months old, I had this idea to paint a mountain wall mural for him. I wanted something more permanent than wallpaper and I found an amazing blog that I was inspired by. We love being in nature and adventuring in the woods, so eventually I incorporated whimsical frosted trees. I wanted his room be filled with natural aspects and Scandinavian inspired decor where his imagination can wander.

I love the woodland theme myself, as it is a theme that can grow with a child for many years. From the wonder of starting to discover woodland animals, to imagining forest adventures, it lends itself to a lot of fun moments of discovery and imaginative play.  Your mountain mural has become a central part of Orion's room, in setting the color pallet as well as the theme. It also transitioned beautifully from nursery to toddler room. What were the biggest changes you had to make as Orion aged out of the crib?  

As he grew a bit older, we upgraded him to his big boy house bed. I always wanted one for him when he was a baby but we had already invested in a convertible crib. I was going to keep his crib and convert it into a toddler bed, but upgrading to the separate house bed was the best decision. Orion absolutely loves it!

There are a lot of playful and whimsical details in his room that I'm sure are inspiring his imaginative play, what are some of Orion's favorite things in his room?

Orion has always played independently while I observed close by. I always believed to let a child be bored and they will come up with their own ways to play. He absolutely loves his wooden doll from @woodenstory, he calls him his “friend”. Orion is a huge climber so it’s only natural he is always on his pickler climber from @wiwiurka_toys. He also loves building castles with his natural blocks from Wooden Story.

Being a minimalist, who is super sensitive to colour, I really believe that just because we have a child, all our decor shouldn’t go out the window. I try to curate his toys to be made from natural materials, usually wooden, muted/neutral colours and less is always more. 

What are some of your favorite websites or shops that you think parents should check out for their little ones?

Some shops we have been really loving over the years are:
Rookie Humans for all of Orion’s adorable bedding

Wooden Story for their natural wooden toys/ blocks

Wiwiurka for all things climbing

Coco Village for the wooden house bed

Kinderfeets for their natural bamboo bikes and toys

Slumberkins for their beautiful, emotional guided books

Lovevery for their natural, educational toys

Busy Puzzle for natural puzzles

Gathre for their vegan leather Canadian map

& tons more!

Any last words of advice?

Decorating is unique to each person, no home or space is exactly like another. We can be inspired by others but it all comes down to our individual styles and the environment we would like to create for our kiddos.