Designing A Baby Nursery

Planning and creating your baby nursery is great fun as long as you take a positive approach and try not to become stressed about money.

There are a few essential items for a nursery, such as baby furniture. If this is your first baby, you are going to have to buy some basic equipment. Other than that, it's totally possible to create a fantastic baby nursery using things you already have around the house and even some second hand items that family or friends no longer need.

On the other hand, if you're lucky enough not to be too concerned about price, there's a fabulous range of designer baby nursery products available from baby boutiques and up-market stores.

Baby Nursery Basics

Whether you're creating a baby boy nursery or a baby girl nursery, there are some things you just have to have. In our opinion, these include: a crib, baby bedding, a changing table, and storage space for your baby's things.

You could argue that a rocking chair is not essential, after all you can always rock your baby in your arms to soothe her - but that requires standing for long periods of time (sometimes in the middle of the night!). So basically, we think a rocking chair is extremely useful, but your baby will be ok if you don't have one.

Another furniture item some people like to include is a cradle or bassinet. These have a limited usage time of up to around 4 months from birth, but they supposedly give babies a wonderful sensation of being enclosed in a warm cocoon. They are also great decorative items for a fashionable baby nursery.

Baby Nursery Ideas

You'll find tons of nursery inspiration and ideas on the internet. Check out the site of pottery barn kids, for example. They have design advice and special design tools for coordinating bedding, wallpaper, paints and furniture. Or just look at the photos of girls' and boys' nurseries to collect some ideas. Of course, pottery barn is not the only store that provides this kind of service.

If you want to go upscale, why not have a look at some of the work of celebrity baby nursery designers? Perhaps you might like to hire an interior designer yourself to help you come up with a fashionable and trendy nursery plan.

Popular Nursery Themes

The most up-to-the-minute nursery themes are usually new cartoon characters or ideas taken from the latest kids' fiction. These are often very popular nursery themes, but the problem is that that they change so quickly. You may not mind this - so of course, if you want to use Disney's very latest movie as inspiration for your baby nursery, then go for it!

However, if you're worried about your nursery being a little outdated in two years' time, why not go for an equally popular classic theme - like Winnie the Pooh? Or timeless Disney characters like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves? You could make your theme more general: farm animals, bugs and bees, sports, flowers, nautical or sea life - if you can imagine it, then you can do it.

Baby Nursery Costs

It's really not possible to state an average cost for fitting out a baby nursery because each couple's situation is different. If you want to go designer label, you're going to spend a lot more than someone who is buying items second hand. Likewise, if you hire someone to do the painting for you, that's more expensive than doing it yourself.

Use the internet as a budgeting tool. Make two lists, one for essential items and one for desirable items. Then decide how much in total you want to spend. Only then do you look up reviews and prices for the equipment you need. You then have the choice of ordering online or going to the store already armed with your list.

Baby Nursery Safety

All the furniture, decorative items and paints in your baby's nursery should be safe. When buying paint, you're not only looking for a great color combination, but also for non-toxic paints. Professional sales staff in home décor stores will be able to advise you about paints that are safe for your nursery.

Organic baby bedding is free of chemicals and may be better for your baby's skin. Furthermore, furniture, bedding and other items should provide safety guarantees that can be backed up with proof of thorough testing. Keep an eye on the website of the Consumer Products Safety Commission for updates on baby products that have been recalled because they are unsafe.