Decorating a Nursery? Yep, it’s that time!

As you may have already guessed from the title, it’s time to start decorating a nursery. Yep, I’m pregnant! 20 weeks pregnant actually (due date is June 17th) and we FINALLY find out the gender this week! These last few weeks have felt like absolute torture. I just want to start buying baby clothes and decorating the nursery. And while I will mostly decorate in neutrals the gender will give me at least some direction. We will finally know this Saturday with our families surrounding us as we cut through our cake to see the gender colored icing inside. I can’t wait. And I’ll let you all in on the reveal as well!

And as I start the journey to decorate the nursery, I will bring you all along with me. Once we get the remaining items out of the nursery, I’ll post some pictures, much to my embarrassment. It is by far the ugliest room in the house, especially now. The window is oddly high, the light fixture is hideous and from the 70s, and the wall paint is chipping. We never touched that room as we always knew it would become a nursery in the next couple of years so what was the point of decorating and then redecorating. So, here we are a couple of years later, ready to decorate.

Now, like I said, we won’t be decorating it super girly or super boyish, or even super baby. I’d rather have them grow into the room, rather than grow out of the room. So that means keeping the overly baby look to a minimum. What I’ll more likely be doing is decorating it as if they are five or 6 years old. That way, the design lasts longer and they won’t feel that they’re in a “baby room.”

Thankfully I heard that idea a couple of years ago from another designer and have kept that in the back of my mind until it was time to decorate my own nursery. And here we are! Even when they’re 12 and wanting a possible room makeover I’ll decorate their room not like they’re 12, but like they’re 18. Nothing worse than decorating their room for hundreds or thousands, only to have them decide a couple of years later that the design now embarrasses them. Not to say that I won’t put in any “baby” features, because admittedly some of them are too adorable to pass up. But, I’ll keep them to the inexpensive, easily changeable accessories.

So, now the trick is decorating a baby’s room as if they’re five or six years old. How do I plan on doing this? Well, rather than baby animals, I’m planning on decorating with the intention of encouraging learning, exploring, and curiosity. And I’ll allow the art that showcases this to lead the rest of the design in terms of color, objects, etc. For example, the photo at the top of the post shows framed poems from Shel Silverstein, an absolute favorite of mine. Or, you could pick a favorite book such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and frame the individual book pages. Framing the title pages of fairy tales or children’s stories is another possible idea. The options are endless, sheets of music, a whimsical map wallpaper like above, or even drawings from our nephew. Girl or boy, I want to encourage learning, travel, adventure, and curiosity. So this is where I’ll be focusing my decorating efforts.

And of course there’s the practical/safety side. This is where I really have a thing or two to learn. Ideas like bolting all furniture to the wall isn’t obvious to someone who has never had a child before. Or, don’t have bookshelves in their room unless you can remove the bottom shelves as they’ll most likely start climbing on these some day. These ideas, I need a lot of education on. So, please, if you have any ideas, tips, or tricks on how to safely and practically decorate a nursery, do tell me in the comments below. I need all of the help I can get!

Until next time, have a great one, and I’ll be back next week with the reveal!

Ashley