Get This Look: Colorful, Classy Nursery
Here's How to Put Together a Baby's Room Parents Will Love, Too
There's a fine line when it comes to the design of a nursery. On one hand, you can play around with colors and furniture you might not be able to have in the rest of your home. But you also want it to have pieces that will grow with your child, and you want the room to be one you'll enjoy, too (as odds are, soon-to-be parents will be spending quite a bit of time there).
This elegant and soothing nursery by designer Nicole Lanteri is an example of how to solve this conundrum. On her blog, On My Agenda, Nicole shows how choosing simple, basic furniture that will last beyond the baby years, and adding personality and color with inexpensive textiles and soft furnishings, creates a room both parent and child will love.
This elegant and soothing nursery by designer Nicole Lanteri is an example of how to solve this conundrum. On her blog, On My Agenda, Nicole shows how choosing simple, basic furniture that will last beyond the baby years, and adding personality and color with inexpensive textiles and soft furnishings, creates a room both parent and child will love.
When designing a nursery, you want to choose a color scheme that will last for a good portion of your child's life, but is also soft in tone and appropriate for a newborn. Infants can really only see in black, white and gray at first. Soft neutrals and pastels, rather than bright and abrasive colors, work well with the rate of an infant's vision development. The soft gray of Silvery Moon from Benjamin Moore in this nursery is a perfect example.
A good armchair is vital element in a newborn's room. Any mom-to-be knows the importance of a comfortable chair with good back support — and this becomes even more important when nursing your newborn. This designer had a chair the client already owned reupholstered, which is a great, inexpensive option. Make sure to put a lighting source nearby for late-night feedings and keep a side table on hand for bottles, burping towels, or whatever else you might need. The fabulous yellow pouf serves as a great ottoman for mom to rest her barking dogs.
Storage is key in a nursery — especially when it comes to your changing table. This chest of drawers turned changing table is great because it offers a ton of highly organized on-hand storage, but it also can stay in the room as a functional piece in the post-diaper stage. The combination of wall shelves and storage hampers work as great organizational tools too.
Eclectic Kids Lighting
These beautiful Jonathan Adler giraffe sconces were the inspiration for the entire theme of the room! Add dimmers for storytime lighting.
Safari Rug | West Elm
As with any child's room, you never know what's going to get dirty. Make sure all items are easy to clean. If you don't have hardwood floors, adding an area rug helps protect your carpet.
Rens Sheepskin, White
I love how designer Lanteri layered these IKEA sheepskins over the chic zebra patterned rug. It's a great nod to safari style, and makes great use of a rug that would usually be too small to work on its own.
DaVinci Jenny Lind Wood Crib
Black seems like an intense color for a nursery at first, but the few black items that the designer chose (including this Jenny Lind Crib) are all very classic in style, and add to the room's atmosphere.
Squares Dove Grey Fitted Crib Sheet
This is a fabulously chic alternative to a more standard crib set. This 100-percent cotton percale crib sheet is printed with a geometric pattern of rounded squares in a trendy gray — it's a great and inexpensive way to add a splash of personal style to a nursery.
Bedtime Bus Roll Poster
You'd be hard pressed to find a more perfect piece of art for a nursery or child's room. I love the play on the ever-so-popular London bus rolls, but with such sweet and gentle words!
BÖJA Pendant Lamp
Lanteri used this BÖJA pendant lamp from IKEA to add another source of soft lighting to the room's ambiance. Again, this is another inexpensive piece that can work very easily with a variety of styles — so important when decorating a child's room, since it's ideal for most of the pieces to grow with their (and your) changes in taste.
Abacus Wall Art
The childlike quality of this clever piece of art is streamlined with modern colors and simple design. It's perfect in almost any room, from an office to a child's bedroom. It comes disassembled, so you can customize the colors/amount of beads any way you want.
Yellow Moroccan Leather Poufs
This yellow pouf adds a sense of play to a nursery. While it's a great accent piece and a brilliant pop of color, it's also very practical, serving as an ottoman or additional seating.
Black & White Stripe Knob
A new set of drawer knobs and a coat of paint can completely transform a piece. Lanteri took a simple wooden dresser, painted it with Benjamin Moore's Bold Yellow , and added these classy but quirky drawer knobs from Anthropologie. The result? An incredibly functional and ridiculously cute changing table.
Browse: Photos of kids' spaces
Home products for the nursery
Browse: Photos of kids' spaces
Home products for the nursery