One of the most fun projects for any expecting mom is decorating the nursery. My first Pinterest board was created to collect my ideas for Eleanor's bedroom and I remember pinning and deleting and pinning images until I had curated the perfect virtual nursery. While I never really articulated my philosophy on decorating a child's room, I see certain elements clearly now in the final product. I thought I'd share my approach to designing a nursery that everyone in the family can love.
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While I love to look at a soft, cream colored, Pottery Barn room with lots of plush bedding, I think it is best to mix bold patterns with soft colors. Babies, especially newborns, are visually stimulated by dark and contrasting colors and having these things present in a room make it interesting for baby from the very start.
Carpet (here's a similar and very affordable one) and bright pink pillow against the muted walls and light yellow cushions.
I searched everywhere for this Wee Gallery mobile because I wanted something high-contrast for Eleanor to look at. It is now reinstalled over Baby Boy's crib. The pictures can be clipped so that they are facing down, something we'll do once he starts sleeping in his crib. While there are so many beautiful mobile options today, most of them are not very useful from an infant's standpoint because they are either too light in color, the objects are too far away or the images are facing out and not down.
Choose wall art that can grow with your child. The graphic birth announcements and adorable animal illustrations are lovely, but they should not be the only investment of art in the room. Pick a piece or two that can make the transfer from nursery to kid's room to teenager's room. This not only lends sophistication to the room, but it will be special when, in years to come, your child can have a piece of art that has been with them for so long.
An inexpensive "installation" of Penguin book cover postcards that I found on sale at Anthropologie inside $5 a piece frames from Homegoods.
A print by Michelle Armas. Read more about it in this post.
Storage, storage, storage. This may be an obvious one, but choose furniture pieces that will have enough room for all of the books and toys that will inevitably accumulate. Also, having a dresser and closet with ample storage helps. If you are working with a small room, as we are, it is key to have a dresser with some deep drawers. If you are lucky enough to have a closet, outfitting the closet with some sort of shelving system is a must.
I'm blessed to have a very handy husband. I came up with concept of this under-window bookshelf and he helped me fine tune my idea and bring it to life. The shelf cost just over $100 in materials to make. We wanted some display cubbies mixed in with lots of space for books and/or baskets of small toys.
Everything in the room was purchased second hand, given to us or made, the exception being the dresser. It was purchased from Room and Board and has tons of storage given its small footprint.
I never said the closet was completely organized! But we do have plenty of space for several boxes of diapers, wipes and baskets for linens and extra clothes. Again, kudos go to Shawn for customizing the closet--a project which cost $80 or so.
Now you see it, now you don't. Once those closet doors are closed the room looks neat and clutter free once again.
Finally, a nursery should be an enjoyable place where your little one can play. Having lots of approved toys within reach plus some blankets and books make it a truly fun room for a baby-going-on-toddler to be in! There are many times when I put the baby gate up and go into my room across the hall to fold laundry or something--Eleanor is generally very content to play with whatever is in her room and I know that she is safe and entertained. Some elements of the room that Eleanor really likes are the floor pouf/ottman and the toddler-height bookshelf that Shawn made.
