Even though babies may be too young to care about how their nurseries are decorated, it’s never too early to expose them to amazing interior design.
After all, the nursery serves as your little one’s first home. It’s the space that welcomes them into the house and witnesses them grow up and reach developmental milestones.
It’s where your baby will learn how to crawl, stand, walk, speak, and even feed themselves, so its atmosphere should be conducive, fun, inviting, and most of all, comfortable!
One of the most exciting things about being a new parent is the chance to get your creative juices flowing by designing your baby’s nursery! There’s nothing like picking the theme, wall colour, and furniture for your baby’s room.
If you don’t know how to start decorating your baby’s nursery, don’t worry. We’re here to help!
Whatever your preferences are, these nursery decor ideas will help you create a wonderful space for your little bundle of joy.
1. Choose durable furniture pieces
When canvassing tables, armchairs, dressers, and cribs for the nursery, choose furniture pieces that can withstand the test of time.
It’s always a great idea to consider how long a piece of furniture can last when decorating a nursery. As your baby grows, a few aspects of the room will have to be changed to make it more age-appropriate, such as the theme and a few nursery essentials.
With durable furniture pieces, repurposing comes easy! A classic toddler dresser can easily be repainted when the time comes, when your little one has a favourite colour.
Besides dressers, cribs, and changing tables can be reused when you have another baby in the future.
We’d say it’s a practical way to choose nursery room decor, especially if you plan to grow your family.
2. Don’t forget practical storage pieces
You’ll soon realise that having a newborn comes with more necessities than expected, including bibs, bottles, diapers, mittens, wipes, swaddles, diaper bags, and the list goes on!
To keep the nursery room clean, you need to have decent storage space for them. The problem is, a single dresser may not necessarily be enough to store all these baby essentials.
What you need are (cute) storage boxes to keep everything organised!
You can use these boxes to store toys and the many other accessories babies need to ensure they’re clean, comfy, and happy. You’d be surprised how many things accumulate over time for that.
Start by adding drawers where possible. If you ask an interior designer about the essentials for a baby room, drawers are usually at the top of the list for a reason.
They’re needed to store everything from nappies to towels and wipes and toiletries. In the future, they can also graduate to clothing dressers when the little ones are older.
You may also want to think about floating shelves, which can be used throughout the years. They may start out as handy storage for your baby’s essentials, but later turn into shelves for toys and even books later on.
3. Create a calming, restful environment
While you can bring your nursery decor vision to life, remember that the room’s primary purpose is to provide your little one with a safe space to sleep.
Creating a calm, sleep-friendly nursery can make a big difference to your quality of life. Thoughtful design choices can support healthy sleep habits and make nighttime routines smoother for everyone.
Here are some things you may want to consider when setting up your decor for this purpose:
Add a dim light or nightlight
Dimmable lights or nightlights can make navigating middle-of-the-night feeds and nappy changes infinitely easier.
Note that some devices combine a nightlight with features such as a white noise machine. This can be attractive for those who want to hit two birds with one stone.
Use a blackout curtain
It’s best to keep the room as dark as possible during your baby’s sleep to support healthy melatonin production. This is the hormone that helps us to both fall asleep and stay asleep.
Aim for a dark room for both daytime naps and overnight sleep. Blackout curtains will work wonders here, but be sure to do a quality check on them (some aren’t true blackout!).
Add a baby monitor
Consider where to put this when decorating the room, and make sure it gives you a good view of your little one. It will let you safely observe your baby without re-entering the room and disrupting their sleep routine.
4. Add some personal touches
The nursery shouldn’t only reflect your style, but your little one’s as well!
After all, the nursery is your baby’s personal room, so don’t forget to add some personal touches that mirror their personality and behaviour.
You can start by putting up some letter decors on the wall and arranging them to say your baby’s name or even their birthday.
Some parents also like to decorate the nursery with special toys that have been passed down through generations.
Another way to personalise a nursery is by adding paintings, indoor plants, and even rugs.
Some parents tend to overlook how beneficial rugs are to a nursery, though.
Aside from tying the entire room together, rugs can act as a natural filter to clean the air inside the nursery, making sure your baby doesn’t inhale pollen and dust.
You can even go further with bespoke rugs if you don’t like the designs of ready-made area rugs! If you’re not sure how, refer to our guide on choosing rugs for nurseries!
5. Go for a gender-neutral theme
Picking gender-neutral themes can make the task of designing and decorating a nursery a lot easier.
The days of associating specific colours with boys and girls are long past us, so don’t get fixated on choosing a theme and furniture pieces based on your baby’s gender.
Gender-neutral nurseries come with advantages, too. First, it creates an environment that encourages your baby to grow up with an open mind! Second, you can reuse the same nursery when you have another baby in the future. Isn’t this more practical?
If we’re not stuck on correlating certain colours and designs with genders, decorating a nursery will be no trouble. On that note, minimalist may be a great place to start!
6. Prioritise your baby’s safety
When purchasing baby essentials, be sure everything is safe for nursery use and suitable for your little one.
For example, the baby crib should be deep enough and its bars should be at an appropriate distance apart to prevent your baby from being able to climb out.
You’d also want to place the crib away from fixtures such as lamps, wall decorations, and anything else that may accidentally drop into the crib while your baby is sleeping.
Lastly, try to minimise clutter by not over-decorating the nursery. It’ll be easier to clean and organise when there aren’t lots of items that are in your way.
Designing a safe space for your baby
Decorating a nursery may seem like a daunting task for parents, but that doesn’t have to be the case!
There are ways to lessen the stress of it, though, such as picking lasting furniture pieces, being open to different themes, and even taking inspiration from your own house decor!
If you’re considering adding a bespoke rug to your baby’s nursery, feel free to get in touch with us! We can design and make a custom rug for your baby’s room… and even give you more nursery decor ideas along the way!
