Style Home > Baby Home > Make Your Nursery Both Whimsical and Practical

Make Your Nursery Both Whimsical and Practical
It's every parent's challenge--how to make a nursery a safe and engaging place for the baby and keep it practical for mom and dad. There are many ways to add a whimsical touch to your baby's room while allowing for storage and for the future.

Paint, don't wallpaper. Start with the walls--painting the room is less expensive and more versitile the wallpaper. Choose pale tones for a young child--the more vivid colors may distract the baby and keep them from resting well. A popular option, even if you don't have a chair rail, is a two-tone look, with a darker paint at the bottom and a lighter color on top. This adds some sparkle to the room and gives you a broader base of colors for adding accessories later.

Think storage. The baby may be small, but he or she requires a large support system with diapers, clothes and supplies. An armoir makes a great storage solution. Take an old one and paint it a solid color to add some flair to the room. For fun, you can decorate furniture pieces with stickers or painted accents (be sure any stickers are permanent and non-toxic).

There's storage under the crib, especially if you use a dust ruffle to hide that space. Be sure for any storage that a small child can touch is used for clothing, toys or other safe items--always store medical supplies or electrical accessories out of reach of little hands.

Be sure to include storage baskets in the room for toys, books or other baby items. Baskets can tuck into odd corners and otherwise unusable space. Coordinate the basket color and style with your baby furniture.

Soft on the feet. Consider a small area rug for the room--you'll often find lots of great kid-friendly designs in home stores and they're inexpensive. If you have hardwood floors or a low-pile or berber carpet, the rug creates a softer play area for the child as well.

Theme moderately early on. When the nursery decorating bug hits, avoid the temptation to go with an all-out theme with lots of accents. Be careful not to overstimulate the baby with too much "eye candy." Instead, choose some pleasant colors and a few fun accents--animals, neighborhood characters (fireman, grocer, teacher), nature (trees, fish, clouds) and patterns (stripes, polka dots) are great places to start. As your child grows older and you begin to sense their personality and interests, add and change decoration to suit their unique likes and dislikes.

Don't be afraid to make believe. Choose a whimsical centerpiece for the room. It could be a crib fit for a princess, or a fun light fixture, or a great wall hanging--even a carpet or photos can suffice. You can have a beautifully decorated nursery, but find include something that's just plain fun as a visual reminder that this room was made for children.