Designing Your Baby Nursery - 5 Tips to Get Started

Designing your dream nursery is an enjoyable but often a rather unnecessary lengthy process. While you are waiting for your bundle of joy to arrive, you certainly have many ideas about how you want to decorate the nursery so that it is perfect - you are thinking about colors, baby nursery themes, cribs, changing tables, nursery decor... Well, before you go into the specific design details, take a step back and think about the overall nursery decorating project. Here are five nursery decorating tips which will help you get organized and make the best choice before you start implementing.

• First, take some time to think about how you envision your perfect nursery - what are those key elements that you have to have in the room so that it works for you and your little one. Are cozy and comfortable on the top of your list? Or are modern and trendy what you are looking for? Whatever the case, these are the style attributes that should help you decide on the overall nursery style before you start on the specific details. In very broad terms, nursery styles can be traditional, modern or vintage, each with its specific characteristics.

• Next, try to think about what nursery color palette will best achieve your goals. You might already know exactly what colors you want incorporated in your nursery or you might be considering a number of options. Whatever the case, know that the color choice is really important – I would actually say it is more important than the theme (if you are having one) as it gives that overall embedded feel and atmosphere to the room. Colors are said to influence our feelings so go for color schemes with that in mind – do some research, look at nursery pictures and try to understand what will work best for you.

• As you become more and more clear on the overall style and the color palette, you can start thinking whether there is also specific nursery theme you want to incorporate. I know many parents actually start with the nursery theme if they know exactly what they want. This is fine, however if you are exploring nursery theme options, organizing your design plan in the way suggested here will save you some time and make your efforts more focused. There are probably hundreds of nursery themes out there – from well-known ones (such as jungle animals, butterflies or ballerina) to more unique ones (such as a favorite destination or an artist themed nursery). Try to choose one that will grow with your child. Also, have in mind that some themes go better with certain styles, however most nursery themes are flexible to fit any style.

• Now that you have a pretty good idea about the style, colors and theme of your nursery, take a look at the actual space of the room to decide what furniture pieces you need. Imagine how you would use the space, what functionality you need and make a floor plan designing where the specific pieces of furniture need to be. Of course, this will not happen overnight, but thinking about that will be very helpful when you have to go and select the baby furniture. For example, where will your crib go; do you need a changing table and a dresser; do you have room for both or can you do with a dresser / changing table combo; what wall are you going to display nursery art on; and so on… The more you have thought about questions like these, the better equipped you will be to make the best choices.

• Finally, with all of the above in mind – the overall style, the color palette / nursery theme, furniture and nursery décor needs (and with a budget in mind) – go and do some research to find the nursery items that best fit your preference, style and budget. If you really like something which does not happen to be in your budget, do not get disappointed – see if you can find special discounts or even if you could possibly take on a do-it-yourself project.

Designing and decorating your nursery is a precious experience – do some planning and have fun with it.