Essential tips to create a functional and stylish baby room

Chloe Hines Chloe Hines
Lit vintage enfant à roulettes, Mademoiselle Minouchette Mademoiselle Minouchette Nursery/kid’s room
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An addition to the family is an amazingly chaotic and beautiful experience and preparations for their arrival are one of the few aspects you might feel like you actually have control over.  With gender boundaries becoming more and more fluid and parallel, decorating for your little one should be a fun adventure that provides you satisfaction and for them, a great environment to grow-up in.

Just as little ones transition into teenagers right before our eyes, their rooms should provide a stress-free environment for such change. As baby products will seemingly be arriving on your doorstep everyday—you might begin to feel overwhelmed, overcrowded and underprepared. That's why we have created a list of essentials and tips to create a functional and stylish baby room to help in this process.

Natural nursing chairs

A nursing chair is often a key focal point of any nursery and should be taken seriously as it provides solace for both parents and children.  Not only are the style and materials of nursing chairs important, but considering great placement is another necessity.  

This wooden rocking-style nursing chair, covered in sheepskin, offers an incredibly cosy environment for parents and children.  With it's minimalist style and sleek design, this is one example of how choosing the right furnishings in the beginning of a pregnancy can mean using it for the entirety of the child's young and even adult life. Another great thing about this nursing chair is that after its function is long gone, it can be moved to almost any room in the home and fit accordingly.

If you're looking for more colour in your nursery, then either consider giving the wooden frame of the chair a quick paint job, or choose faux fur where the colour and pattern options are truly endless!

Little people, little storage

Anyone with children, or preparing for children knows that with little people, comes lots of little items!  Here, larger storage compartments can actually be counter-productive in that shoving loads of small items into them can cause more confusion and clutter than necessary.  Instead, choose small, localized storage compartments to help pick-up clutter and organize a perfect nursery space.  Even more great storage ideas are considered here, in this great Ideabook!

This example shows how mesh storage buckets attached to a wall can offer a quick and easy space for throwing in books, toys and small artistic tools.  Positioned at just the right height and with a huge opening, this storage option also allows for the child to easily clean-up as well—aren't you lucky?! The great part about storage is that almost any compartmental items can be used and transformed into organizational space—think under bed storage, wall storage, and even more stylish storage options that frame the nursery chair, crib or book nook.

Wall art that lasts

Whether your decide on bright colours, bold design, or neutrals for your children's room—using the right wall art can make any space pop.  If modern is more your style, then consider funky graphic design posters and prints as pictured in this example.  Here, the designer has chosen crisp, white walls with a grid-pattern wall paper on an accent wall to highlight the decorative shelves and colourful print.

Choosing neutral wall colours can be the best option if you want wall art, rather than wall colour to be the focal point of the room.  If you want a more personal feel, talk to local artists or family members to help with a DIY art project that both you and the child can always keep.  Wall decals are another option and most can be custom ordered with specific typography or design online!  Wall art is one of those great design techniques that can be easily changed as the seasons switch, or as the child grows older and tastes change.

For more functional, rather than decorative wall art—consider cool educational graphic prints, such as classifications of animals, plants or even alphabet prints!

Whimsical wall colour

It used to be that a children's room would be either shades of blue for boys and shades of pink for girls—that has all changed! With many paint and colour companies now offering palettes specifically for the purpose of nurseries and children's rooms, you should really consider changing things up.  Depending on your choice of furnishings and decorations—choose one colour palette to stick with and select several different accessories and even bedding that plays with different shades of the same palette.

Pictured here, a deep teal was chosen for the brick wall—with four different shades of the same palette being used for the decorative cloud wall art, the bed frame and the bedding.  To add a pop of colour, do what this designer did and choose a complimentary colour for the lighting fixture (here, a bright orange was chosen) and neutral, rustic flooring.

Functional décor

Décor for a children's room should consist of items that look great—and more importantly, things they will actually use.  This example is wonderful in that a corner was turned into a reading nook—completed with a sheepskin throw rug, a DIY tee-pee, and minimalist book shelves that hold books with beautiful graphic covers. 

Most don't realize that throwing books and children's art into store-away bins and storage containers is essentially limiting design options. Children's book offer some of the most beautiful graphic art there is—whether you prefer hand-me-down vintage children's books or larger, modern graphic books (shown in this example)—these items can be a cheap and easy way to add both décor and art to your children's space.  Shelves are always a great idea, as they can hold way more than simply books. Add pom-pom garland, scarves, or fun lighting to your shelves or corner spaces to add something special!

Creative cribs

Cribs are one of those furnishings that definitely cannot be used forever—and that's okay! However, it doesn't mean the choice shouldn't be seriously considered for both function and design. Whether you want your child near you in your home, or if they prefer movement while attempting to sleep—this mobile crib is perfect in both design and function.

On wheels and with a wooden frame—this crib could truly be customized to your desires. This dark blue/grey colour is perfect for any style room and also provides a slight vintage feel. Mademoiselle Minouchette of France offers wonderful vintage-style children's furniture! What really makes this crib pop is the designers choice of rustic wooden handles, off-white bedding and a fantastic choice of a beautiful bright-red pillow!

We know this all seems like an overwhelming time! But sit down, make a plan, choose a colour palette and everything else will truly fall into place! We promise!

Do you have a new addition to your family? What design techniques did you use for your children's room? Feel free to comment below!

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