Nursery Decoration

Many parents make a very basic mistake when it comes to decorating a nursery: they create a baby-blue theme for a boy and baby-pink room for a girl. The problem is, babies do not see these colours properly – they see them as grey..

So imagine yourself being put into a boring grey environment. Would you like it?  I don’t think so.

Babies actually love strong, contrasting colours and shapes because these stimulate their minds and help develop their vision. They seem to respond better to pure colours rather than subtle colors or pastel shades. They love  rich blue, green, yellow and red – why do you think the big toy manufacturers such as Lego use these colors on their toys?

According to some studies babies find orange the most comforting color (perhaps a reminder of the womb)  and tend to sleep better in a room with orange walls (towards the redder form of orange  rather than the yellow).

So instead of decorating your baby’s room in clich?d blue or pink, why don’t you try out a different color scheme? Choose an easy color as the background for the walls – yellow or orange, then add contrasting colors on furniture and furnishing ( green, blue or lilac). Put some pictures (with big patterns) into colourful picture frames or onto shapes of stars, moons, hearts etc. and hang them randomly on the walls. Alternatively, if you’re good at drawing, paint a big mural on one of the walls – a theme from a fairytale or characters out of fables. But don’t do any of this with just shades of the same color – so many girls’ rooms these days are decorated in a "princess theme" where everything is done in shades of pink and purple. 

Of course the most important thing is to be practical. Don’t overdo and overspend on decorating a nursery – babies grow into toddlers and kids very quickly. You don’t want to refurbish the room completely every year! So use flexible furniture – something that can last at least till their teen years. Make sure you use child-friendly paints, varnishes and materials – remember that lots of glue and plastic gives out toxic fumes! Try to use natural materials – wood, cotton, linen etc. If you’re a keen DIYer try not to make furniture or storage boxes out of MDF – use ply or timber instead.
Avoid wallpaper – toddlers love pealing it off! Make sure that pieces of furniture don’t have sharp corners and edges – if they do sand them down or put rubber corner-fittings on them.

If you have any comment, suggestion or ideas as to how to decorate a nursery, please write it at the end of this article or go to the Nursery Decoration Forum in our DIY Network.

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