Practical Nursery Decorating Tips For First-Time Moms

With only 12 weeks ’til my official due date, I am thrilled that our baby nursery is slowly but surely coming together.

Charlie and his dad painted the room a couple weekends ago, to what is now a medium, tropical blue.  Once that was tackled, I spent hours (literally!) looking for a complimentary wall paper border.  I was having such a tough time finding a perfect match, simply because all the underwater-like themes were already blue, which was a bit redundant.  However, I finally found an adorable border that fit into the theme; not only does it bring a smile to my face (think: soft turtles and froggies :)), but the contrasting, green and yellow background “pops” nicely amongst all the blue hues already present.

Next step is to actually mount the border this weekend, in addition to airing out the fumes — yes, it’s been several weeks, but I still smell some hints of paint in there and don’t want baby to have to deal with any issues!  Anyhow, now that we are finally making progress, I wanted to share 3 tips I’ve found that were helpful to getting this nursery going:

1. Decide on the nursery theme, first and foremost.  In order to save new mommies some time and trouble, I have to reiterate that choosing a specific theme, BEFORE you start painting and searching for decorations, is crucial. You may have your heart set on a baby animal theme at first, but once you start doing research to see what complimentary bedding and wall paper is available, you may find that you have an overwhelming amount of jungle animals, underwater creatures and fishies to choose from!

2. Find your inspiration.  Although you may have a general idea of what you want the room to look like, it’s important to also have a visual point of reference to keep you on track. Whether it’s an magazine print out or online gallery, envisioning how the whole room can come together will help you understand what room accessories, bedding or furniture you need to keep in mind as you plan out your theme.

3. Okay, time to paint!  I save this one for last simply because once you know all the accessories that are actually out there (and affordable) you can then really determine what color will best suit your new room.  Just make sure you start painting at least 2 months before baby arrives…this will allow the fumes to air out with ample time.

So, I’m curious, how did you go about decorating baby’s nursery?