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Starting as soon as you bring your new baby home for the first time, their room will become a special place for both of you. Your baby’s room will be used for everything from playing and sleeping, to changing diapers and reading bedtime stories, so it needs to be a happy and comfortable place to spend a lot of time in. Here are some tips to get you started on building the perfect nursery.
Furnishings
The baby’s crib is going to be the focal point in the nursery, so make sure you choose one that will go well with whatever style or theme you have in mind for the rest of the room. The next most important furnishing is a comfortable easy chair or a cushioned rocking chair from where you can cuddle your baby. Having a footstool to match is great if you plan on also using the chair for nursing, as putting your feel up will help support your back during long stints in the chair. Along with a sturdy chest of drawers, you will also want to get a conventional baby-changing table complete with shelves that have a built-in rail to keep your baby safe.
Decorating
Once you have all the furniture ready for the room, you can get creative with the rest of the decorating. It is fun to have a theme for the room, but remember that your baby won’t really be able to appreciate the subtle nuances of your decorating until they are older than six months. For this reason, it is good to start out with bold patterns and colours without too much detail to keep your baby sufficiently stimulated. If you are planning on having more than one baby, then you should try to keep your themes and colours gender neutral, such as a nature theme with lots of green colours, flowers and tree decals, or an underwater theme with different shades of blues, whites and cute underwater critters. Once you have a theme you can choose decorations that will be complementary.
Colour
The colour scheme you choose is the most important aspect in setting the mood for your baby’s nursery. As a general rule, small children love warm colours such as red, brown and yellow, but the colours should be on the clear and translucent side so that the room doesn’t seem cave-like and small. Most people want their nurseries to seem light and cheerful, and tints such as mint green, yellow and the timeless white can make a room look fresh and clean.
Safety
During the decorating process, always keep in mind the safety of your baby. Besides the obvious crib and changing table safety, you also want to consider any small or dangling parts that your baby could get a hold of. Covering sockets, table edges and childproofing drawers are important for not only the nursery but the rest of the house as well. For a healthier environment, choosing to keep the nursery chemical free is as easy as using hardwood flooring instead of carpet, organic mattresses, blankets and clothing, organic creams and lotions and water-based chemical-free paint.
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