I figure it's probably considered bad luck to think of nursery decor ideas when you're not pregnant yet, but I'm not buying anything, so I figure I'm safe.

I love the idea of having an entire wall covered with a chalk board for writing on, especially if you'll be keeping the child in the room as they grow. So I thought, what if it was the traditional school/alphabet theme but vintage instead? One wall would be the chalkboard and the opposite wall would be covered with a world map. Old globes and vintage books lining wall shelves, handheld chalk boards hanging along one wall that spell out the child's name, maybe even a vintage school desk if you can secure it so it doesn't topple over.

Okay, maybe not the cutesy baby room theme you normally see, but I'm liking where my brain is going...

Such a cute idea! BUT chalk=chalk dust which may not be good for a new born.... kwim?

Yeah, I'd have to look into that a little bit. From what I've read it can be an irritant but not a real health issue, and I wouldn't expect to actually use it much until the little one is old enough to play with it him/herself. Good point though! Maybe some kind of modification on this idea is needed to safety issues.

I'm thinking about the same thing--mainly cuz I"m a teacher so it would make sense.  I found this bedding at Target for pretty cheap and i love the idea of having letters of all different shapes and sizes and textures hanging on the wall as well as frames with story book characters/pictures (think Dick and Jane)  not sure but I like your thinking.  My parents have three or four old school desks (our house was originally a one room school house) and I know you can find them in antique stores pretty readily.

 this might be a bit to "themey" for me but cute

Adorable photos! I found vintage looking nursery theme/fairy tale print fabric on Etsy and I thought having pillows with Little Red Riding Hood, Humpty Dumpty, etc., would go well with a "school" theme. I like the idea of it being a somewhat eclectic mix of things without being too "themey" like you said. With a "school" theme, I feel like I can put in a couple of vintage school items - map, books, chalkboard - and mix in things like the alphabet/numbers, fairy tale stories, etc.

And seriously, Etsy has the cutest stuff for this theme, or for any nursery for that matter.

Here's an alphabet message board: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28926469&ref=sr_list_1&&ga_search_query=alphabet+picture&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title

alphabet print:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28428359&ref=sr_list_17&&ga_search_query=alphabet+picture&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=5&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title