What to Consider When Selecting the Perfect Nursery Decor
The ideal nursery strikes a balance between practicality and style. You want it to be safe and user-friendly, but also serene and beautiful. And, most importantly, you want it to grow with your new baby.
Our nursery room ideas cover everything from layouts to light control, colour palettes, theming, and furniture. All while keeping your budget in mind. Read on for helpful tips to create a baby room you’ll love.
The 5 essentials that you need in your nursery for style and practicality
The early days of first-time parenting can be as blissful as they are challenging while coming to learn your baby’s needs. So, to have a nursery that supports the practical aspects of caring for your little one while also providing a peaceful oasis is something worth your time and effort.
Here are five nursery essentials that provide both form and function:
- Cot with mattress - a safe sleep environment with a cot and mattress that meet Australian and New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 2172:2003 Cots for Household Use.
- Change table - your go-to piece of furniture for nappy changing, drying and dressing your baby. A change table keeps everything at arm’s reach such as diapers, wipes, bibs, and swaddles.
- Storage furniture - a dresser/tallboy to store your baby’s clothes and essentials.
- Lighting and light control - Window treatments such as curtains and blinds allow you to control natural light, helping you create and maintain sleep patterns for your baby. Add some calm, ambient lighting with a lamp as well as a nightlight to help you safely navigate night feeds and changes.
- Nursery chair - An armchair or rocking chair with an ottoman is the perfect, comfortable spot for the many feeds and cuddles your baby will need, especially in the early days.
The costs involved in designing a baby’s nursery
Bringing a baby into the world has a lot of costs associated with it. From hospital expenses to clothes and equipment, the dollars can add up. When planning your nursery, it’s important to think carefully about investment pieces that offer value for money over the long term.
Buying your nursery furniture essentials at Amart is one way to get a designer look without paying designer prices. Our high-quality furniture is designed by leading interior designers and built to last.
We suggest creating a nursery expenses spreadsheet, starting with the larger investment pieces.
Ballpark pricing for large pieces is as follows:
- Cot & cot mattress - $500 - $1500
- Changing table - $300 - $400
- Nursery chair - $900 to $1500
- Dresser/Tallboy - $500 - $1000
After purchasing the key pieces, your remaining budget can go towards decoration, including:
- Walls - paint, wallpaper, or decals
- Window treatments - you’ll want great light control in your nursery
- Lighting - fixed lights and lamps or nightlights
- Soft furnishings - floor rug and other textiles such as cushions and throws.
Create a mood board
Every interior design project should start with a mood board, and a nursery is no exception. Pull together pictures of nurseries, rooms, and colour schemes you like. And use the styles you love in the rest of your home as inspiration, too. You’ll soon start to notice a theme in your preferences that will help you visualise your dream nursery.
Use these design ideas to begin coordinating your key pieces of furniture and colour palette. From this will flow paint colours, window treatments and smaller decor pieces that complement your theme.
Choosing furniture pieces & decor for your nursery
You have your budget. Tick! And your mood board. Tick! The next step is establishing whether the furniture you want will fit, particularly if you’re working with a small space. So, draw up a floor plan, then start shopping for pieces you love, including:
- A bassinet, cot, change table and dresser in your chosen style. It could be boho, scandi, traditional, mid-century, or whatever you like.
- A comfortable nursery chair.
- Storage pieces like the Rafaela Toy Chest.
- Decor pieces such as bedding, a floor rug, window coverings, and wall art in your chosen colour palette.
Picking a focal point
Will your baby’s room have a feature? Some new parents have one starting piece or concept for their nursery that inspires the whole design. It could be a fabulous floor rug, an inviting nursery chair and ottoman, a gorgeous cot, or an accent wall colour or wall sticker. Choosing a focal point for your nursery forms a base for the rest of the items you add (large or small) and reduces the chance of too many things competing visually for your attention.
When to set up your baby's room
The second trimester of your pregnancy is the perfect time to set up your baby’s room. While your due date is still a few months away, you’re likely to find assembling nursery furniture and browsing baby items more comfortable before you’re heavily pregnant.
You may already know the gender of your baby or perhaps you’re keeping your nursery ideas gender-neutral so you can add specific colours and decor once your little one arrives. Either way, having the major furniture and baby essentials in place is not only a great way to take some pressure off it also allows you to pick up small pieces later, knowing whether they’ll work in your space.
Top tips for styling your baby's nursery
Ensure the beautiful pieces you like also make good, practical sense. For example, you might think your cot looks better in one location, but if it’s more practical or accessible in a different spot, go for practicality. Raising a baby is a busy job, which makes saving time and energy very important.
By selecting your key pieces of furniture such as a cot, nursing chair, dresser, and change table first, you’ll have a solid base for adding decorative touches like wall colour, artwork, lighting, and soft furnishings that are in keeping with your style.
As you get to know your little one, you’ll work out a style that suits them. Start with tasteful, child-friendly decor that you enjoy but can also be added to over time as your child starts to indicate what is of interest to them.
Beautiful furniture is timeless. Pieces like a tallboy or a rocking chair can be used in your child’s room or other rooms in your home no matter how old they get. So, you don’t necessarily need to limit yourself to a nursery-specific range.
- Nailing practicality
- Choose key pieces first
- Don’t over-accessorise
- Look ahead
How to decorate your baby's nursery with fun, themed artwork and nursery decor
Did you know that decor is the simplest way to create or update your interior design theme? Artwork, textiles, statues, lamps, and mirrors provide a playground of quick hacks for achieving your look. Best of all, if your little one’s gender will be a surprise, decor pieces are easy to tweak for a baby girl or baby boy.
Add some pops of colour with cushions and throws in pastels. Open up the room with a well-placed mirror. Or hang wall art in botanicals or a jungle theme. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to bring your style vision together.
Avoid going overboard with a theme
As the adage goes, “kids grow up fast”. Your little one will grow from a tiny newborn to a toddler in the blink of an eye. They’ll develop their own interests along the way, and your tastes are likely to change as well. So, start with your solid, neutral investment pieces such as the cot, armchair, and dresser, then bring in your nursery theme with soft furnishings and smaller pieces that are easy to update such as a floor rug, wallpaper, a lamp, wall art, cushions, toys, and books.
Choose pieces your baby can grow with
Make your dollar go further with furniture that grows with your baby. Your largest purchases will be the cot, nursery chair, and chest of drawers. Some of the cots in Amart’s range have removable sides so they can convert to a toddler bed or toddler sofa, giving you more years of use. Choose a classic dresser that suits a kids’ room but could also see them into adulthood like the Meadows 5 Drawer Chest. And when it comes to a nursery chair, a comfortable rocker/glider or armchair with an ottoman can always be used elsewhere in your home if it’s no longer needed in your child’s room.
