Baby Room Ideas: Design the perfect nursery for your baby

When baby is on the way you are inundated with so much information. You have to learn and make decisions about the different products baby may (or may not) need. AND... as well as the functionality of everything, you want to have a lovely nursery. So I will write more about products another time, but today I want to get down some thoughts about designing and decorating the perfect room for your baby. I have included some templates which may be useful.

Get prepared. Make a mood board, floor plan, and baby essentials checklist

Before you start working your way through online and physical stores, you need to do some work on understanding what you will need, what you want your nursery to look like, and when you actually need to get things.

1. Design the perfect nursery - Get some mood boards going using Pinterest and/or Instagram.

Create collections for things you like the general look of, cots, dressers, chairs, wall art, flooring, accessories, lighting, linen, toys, bathing, changing, clothes

2. Design the perfect nursery - Make a floor plan

Get a piece of paper, measuring tape and pencil, and make a floor plan of the room you have including the location of windows, door/s, light switches, power sockets, and any other physical installments.

3. Design the perfect nursery - List the products you need

Find a list of products that you will need for the nursery so that you have a starting point – you don’t have to agree with everything on the list or buy it all at once, but you need a starting point.

Walking around your room – consider your feature area – where your cot it, generally. Belinda from Nest Design, recommends that the wall you see first when you walk into the room is your feature wall and where your cot should go. If this works for you great, for my second baby the room was a weird shape and the first thing you saw was a wall of small windows (joys of renting!). So, I chose to move my cot to a different wall. You know best what works for the space you have.

Also consider where your dresser will go, your feeding chair and a small table with lights, maybe humidifier at some point, and even a bottle warmer. You may need to keep this little table near a power socket.

Walk it out and draw it out on your paper and consider the dimensions you have to work with. Mark windows, doors, power sockets, built-ins, weird walls, etc... You can use a measuring tape or for the first iteration, you can use your feet.

decorating-kids-room-room-layout

4. Design the perfect nursery - Nursery furniture

Bassinet – This will be used for 4-6 months depending on the size of bubs and the bassinet you choose. And will most likely be used in your room. It’s not essential and if you want to put baby straight to a cot it is absolutely fine.

Cot & Cot Mattress – These are essential. You can get a second-hand cot or a cheaper cot, or go top of the range. The basics of them don’t change. Invest in a good mattress – it will pay back in sleep.

Dresser – A good size dresser will last and last. Don’t buy a separate change table – buy a dresser that is a good height for you – not too high, not too low – and use the top as a changing table.

Nursing Chair, Pouf & Nursing Pillow – Aside from the cot mattress these are the other purchases that will payback. It pays back in saving your back. A great nursing chair will have high back so you can cuddle, calm, and feed your baby comfortably. A great Nursing Pillow will be spacious for baby, high and soft. Baby Room Ideas Design The Perfect Nursery

5. Design the perfect nursery - Decide on a room theme or design direction

By now, you will have started getting a feeling for the kind of look you want your room to have. You might want to have a page whether in a book or even in PowerPoint where you can drop in images and actually start putting your final look together.

Consider:

Do you want a theme for your room? This could be as easy as a colour or a style eg vintage. You need to choose something to build your room around. This will impact your furniture choice – style, colour, etc.

Wall colour. Don’t sweat this. You can go bold or if you can’t/don’t want to change the colour you have, you can use wallpaper or decals to achieve the look you want.

Flooring colour (or rugs to hide it). This is something you live with, generally, but use rugs to create the look you want.

Wallpaper or decals for your feature area in your chosen theme. There are great removable wallpaper options these days so don’t discount this as an option even if you are renting.

6. Design the perfect nursery - Choose the styling elements

Art Work – If you choose to add artwork will depend on how many walls you have to fill, the theme of your room and your budget

Books – Make sure to have a space for books – there are lots of small, medium and large bookshelf options

Toys – You won't need much to begin with but make sure you have space for them as they start to come in. Some you may want to display.

Accessories – name plates, small lights, cushions, keepsake toys, mobiles, display items – what you choose to match your theme will depend on the space you have and your budget.

7. Design the perfect nursery - Create a style board with all of your choices

Create a style board for your room which will guide your buying decisions. That way you stay on track and don't overbuy. Below is an outline of a style board, but Pinterest or a blank piece of paper works just as well.

Baby Room Ideas Design the perfect nursery