Decorating a nursery room is a delightful and rewarding experience, setting the stage for your child’s early development and growth. Amazing things happen as your child spends her formative years in the nursery, and as you bond and imprint with your child, watching her grow and develop her personality while exploring her world in a safe place.
At Cherie Kay, we want the best for you and your child! Your child’s nursery isn’t just a room; it’s a haven from the outside world that your child is beginning to explore. Our collection of nursery wall decor is carefully designed with softer tones and color palettes to help create a nurturing atmosphere for your little one.
But nursery artwork is just a part of your nursery. In this blog, we’ll discuss different ways you can decorate, and incorporate colors and patterns into your nursery in a way that helps your child’s growth and development and how Cherie Kay can enhance your nursery experience.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
- The Importance of Nursery Decor
- Choosing a Theme for Your Wall Decor
- Colors for Your Nursery
- Types of Wall Decor
The Importance of Nursery Decor
A nursery is where a child rests and sleeps in a safe and stimulating environment. As babies can sleep an average of 16 hours a day and around 13 hours a day as toddlers, it’s safe to say the nursery is an essential part of a child’s formative years. So why not create a space that stimulates your child in a productive way while making it a pleasant room? After all, you’ll spend some in the nursery, too.
Since colors, shapes, and even decoration styles are all new to your baby, it’s essential to understand how to combine them to provide an environment that nurtures and relaxes.
Studies have shown that while vision is one of the least-developed senses of an infant at birth, visual input has a profound impact on the baby’s early development. Research indicates that babies don’t recognize color until they are about five months old and mainly see shades of black, gray, and white.
But the room doesn’t have to be decorated in contrasting blacks and whites! The easiest way to develop your baby’s eyesight is to have contrasting black-and-white objects instead of wall colors or patterns. Toys, cushions, and bedding can work as accent pieces to complement the nursery's colors. Instead, focus on colors and themes that are fun and relaxing to look at.
Choosing a Theme for Your Nursery Wall Decor
Because every child has parts of their parent’s personalities imprinted on them, the room should also reflect your uniqueness. You can choose from many themes for your child, from cute, classy, and whimsical rooms for a baby girl to sweet and laid-back boy’s rooms that don’t have to be sports-themed.
As your child grows and matures, so will his tastes, so you’ll have to be prepared to transition the room from nursery to bedroom over time. For example, consider themes based on nature, animals, or abstract concepts that you can adapt over time. Heavily themed decor may be cute but might become too childish as your baby grows up.
Colors for Your Nursery
There are many studies on nursery room colors, contrasts, and overall design. These factors don’t just impact a baby’s mood, behavior, and cognitive development, but your mood as well.
As anyone who’s had to navigate parenting challenges like ornery babies, last-minute date cancellations with your spouse, or unexpected diaper explosions, having relaxing colors in the nursery could make time there restful for your baby and you, too.
The right color palette in the nursery can create a calming, stimulating, or balanced atmosphere that promotes well-being and development. Consider these colors for your nursery.
Warm Colors
- Red is a powerful color that can stimulate energy and excitement. However, it should be used sparingly in a nursery, as too much red can lead to overstimulation and restlessness. Consider using red accents instead of painting entire walls in this vibrant hue.
- Orange is a warm, inviting color that can encourage social interaction and communication. It can be an excellent choice for play areas within the nursery, but like red, it should be balanced with cooler tones to prevent overstimulation.
- Yellow is associated with happiness and cheerfulness. Soft shades of yellow can create a warm and welcoming environment, promoting a positive mood. However, bright yellows can be overwhelming, so it’s best to use them in moderation.
Cool Colors
- Blue is known for its calming and soothing effects. It’s an excellent choice for creating a tranquil sleeping environment, helping to reduce anxiety and promote relaxation. Soft blues can also enhance creativity and concentration.
- Green represents nature and tranquility. It is a restful color that can help improve concentration and calmness. Green is believed to enhance learning ability, making it an excellent choice for a nursery for when your child is learning to understand the world around her.
- Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. It is often associated with royalty and luxury. Soft shades of purple, like lavender, can have a calming effect and are perfect for creating a serene nursery environment.
Neutral Colors
- White represents purity and simplicity. It can make a room feel fresh and clean. However, too much white can feel sterile, so adding colorful accents or textures is essential to create warmth. White paint shows wear and tear easily, so be prepared to clean the walls occasionally.
- Gray is a versatile neutral that can create a sophisticated and modern look. It pairs well with almost any color and can serve as a calming backdrop. Like white, it’s important to incorporate other colors to avoid a dull atmosphere.
- Beige is a warm neutral that can create a cozy and inviting environment. It works well as a base color and can be complemented with brighter accents. While people joke that beige is dull, trends declared it the dominant decorating color for 2024 due to its versatility.
Finally, consider using contrasts in color choices. Strategically using contrasting colors and patterns can create a perfectly balanced nursery between aesthetics and development. While this can be challenging, the rewards are great, especially in the long term.
Types of Nursery Wall Decor to Consider
Thankfully, due to many different print mediums, there are many ways you can decorate your nursery, and even swap the decor out as your child grows. Here are some types of wall art that could grace your child’s walls:
Vinyl Decals are an excellent way to liven up a nursery using contrasting colors. All you need is a wall with a contrasting color (although vinyl decals come in all colors, white is a popular choice for wall decals), a gloss finish for optimal adhesion, a metal spoon to buff the decal edges down and some warm hands to help the backing sheet lift off the decal. Time to change the decal? Heat from a hairdryer on a low setting will loosen the decal so you can peel it off effortlessly.
While you can buy a variety of designs and sizes online, vinyl's advantages include its versatility and accessibility. With a little patience and a computer, you can make your own decals using a Cricut or Silhouette cutter, two of the most popular machines on the market. Some models also cut other materials, giving you the tools to create scrapbook memories for your child for years.
Stickers are also commercially available and are generally a very affordable way to decorate a room quickly and easily.
Like decals, stickers come in sheets and rolls. However, unlike decals, stickers are commonly made with thinner materials like paper. They have designs printed on them and are available in various colors.
Stickers can be challenging to remove from a surface, and some sticker materials require additional effort to remove altogether, such as soap and water or other chemical-based adhesive remover.
Murals are the ultimate expression of wall art—large, custom-painted, and unique! Think of Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel, except that your child will be less fussy than the Pope. Fortunately, as a modern parent, you have two options for murals—painting it yourself, or applying wallpaper.
Murals are the most challenging of nursery wall decorations, as they require a significant amount of time and planning to execute, and perhaps a fair amount of artistic ability. Murals are also permanent—the only way to take it down is to remove the wallpaper or paint over it—so everything from furniture, floor coverings, wall art, and even bedding will need to match the theme or color scheme of the mural for it to work. However, once done, you’ll have a one-of-a-kind nursery that you and your child will enjoy for years.
Hanging Wall Art serves as an accent piece to tie all of the above together. Wall art can complement your decor and themes, while word art can add individuality to the nursery with signs such as your child’s name or aspirational words. You can also express your faith by punctuating the room with signs containing inspirational words or scripture. While your child is not yet old enough to read the signs, these beautiful signs are an affirmation of faith, and their presence alone will invite peace and God’s presence into the room.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve found this blog informative about decorating your little one’s nursery. We understand that your child’s growth and development are important to you, and it is our goal to help while adding beauty to you and your child’s journey.
At Cherie Kay, we love to create beautiful, handcrafted art for your home! Our travels around the world, our friends and family, our love of coffee, and our faith in God and His endless faithfulness to us have inspired us to create beautiful home decor, paired with fantastic customer service.
Browse our carefully curated collections today, or contact us to find out more!
