Choosing a decor theme for your nursery.
Ok, so the stork is on his way, you’re very excited and you want to get on with preparing the nursery, but where do you start in choosing a theme/colour scheme to create you ideal nursery decor?
Like any journey there are different starting points and different destinations; you have to pin these down before you can get anywhere.
We’d like to offer food for thought to get you started, some examples of how and where you can explore ideas, feed your creativity and ultimately find that well-thought-out theme for your nursery – and enjoy the journey!
But first, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself;
The obvious gender question – While some parents choose not to know the sex of their child prior to the birth others can’t wait and want to be totally prepared. Which are you? and does the gender matter when it comes to your nursery decor? Do you want to go down the traditional route – pink for a girl or blue for a boy? or push the boundaries with something more modern in approach? Do you want to create a gender neutral scheme, perhaps adding pattern and colour later in soft furnishings, toys, etc.? Grey is the new yellow, and black & white the ‘on trend’ statement.
Context & Style – What’s your style in terms of decoration? How will the nursery decor fit with the decoration of the rest of your home? Modern, traditional, quirky, eclectic? And does that matter to you?
Why not try out this fun quiz on Houzz. Want more? Feast on this…
You might also be interested in latest nursery trends for 2017.
Meaning – People often rush into a theme based around typical subjects such as animals, sea life or the alphabet, just because its the norm or they’ve seen something they like and immediately latch onto it – but before you commit, could you find something with deeper personal meaning?
For example: It could be that your child was conceived while on holiday – so you could decide on a nursery decor theme based on that holiday – be it the place, the theme (seaside, beach, mountains, countryside, etc.) How romantic? Or…
Your partner (he or she) is fanatical about something: football, ballet, motor racing, or teddy bears – it would be great to engage them in the process and create something with genuine meaning.
Maybe a feature wall decal could form the basis of your theme. Whatever you choose it could mean so much more if it’s personal to you/your partner, so think about the possibilities – so go be creative.
We think a nursery needs a beautiful patchwork quilt and some co-ordinating cushions, bunting, etc., to be complete – but then we’re biased, of course.
And of course, there is the simple colour scheme approach. You like certain colours and would like to create your nursery decor theme based on those. We will be posting a separate piece with ideas and inspiration soon. For ideas on creating your own mood boards see our articles ‘Pretty pink nursery with Flutterby Butterfly quilt‘ and ‘A car themed nursery scheme‘.
Sources of inspiration for your nursery decor
Before you take a trip to the local nursery furniture store, take time to explore the wider possibilities.
There are a myriad of sources of inspiration on the web. If you haven’t already explored it yet I’d urge you to open a Pinterest account. Thousands of people have been saving ideas to share with you. You’ll quickly find ideas you like and things you definitely don’t like, (which is just as important to note).
Our Pinterest page would provide a good starting point as we’ve already collected (and continue to collect) ideas and sources of inspiration for gender neutral, boy and girl nurseries, as well as our favourite ‘beautiful nursery things‘. Create your own page and start collecting nursery decor ideas you like, open your eyes to some exciting new possibilities. For a huge range of ideas go to 1000+ images on Nursery ideas. For practical ideas for you nursery see our article ‘The ideal nursery‘.
Further inspirational sources:
For interior designer ideas and tips try Houzz – Nursery, we’re also on Houzz – you can find our page here.
For heaps of designer chic ideas try Elle Decor
Ideal Home – Photo credit: Simon Whitmore
Our advice – avoid committing to any scheme until you’ve really explored the possibilities.
