So you’re having a baby, huh? Time to finally turn that old junk slash guest room into a nursery. If you are anything like me, you never want to have a nursery that has baby pink or blue walls with baby rattle boarders all over the place. It isn’t very conventional. You have to paint over it in a few years and will probably be sick of looking at it way before then. Try some new ways at decorating your nursery. Step out of the traditional blues and pinks and go for something that is a little easier on the eyes, and (in the long run) a little easier on the pocket book.
The first idea is to do a safari themed nursery. You can pick up some natural looking colors such as a deep golds, different shades of brown, and burnt oranges. This is where you can choose to paint all four walls the same color, or mix and match until you think it is perfect. This will also let the bed covers be either a solid cover or an animal print if you feel up to it. If you have a changing table, you can cover the pad in an animal print if you’d like. Solid colors, however, will work just as well if you’re the type of person that leans away from animal print items.
Add in a wicker waste basket or decorate the diaper genie with decals of animals. You want to make sure the decals are stuck on well, because one the baby becomes mobile, everything goes in the mouth.
At this point you are thinking, “so the walls are plain, what are we going to do about that??” There are several things that you can do. Toy hammocks will make a great accent to the room. After being sure to hang it high in the corner opposite of the baby’s bed, fill the hammock with toys. In order to stick with the theme, you could fill the hammock with stuffed animals such as monkeys, tigers, elephants, and the like.
What about wall hangings?” you ask? Try finding pictures that will stand out. A place such as Walmart usually have $1 pictures of different scenes. Take the time to go through them, and you could score a great deal on a wall hanging. You could also go to your local zoo and take pictures of the animals there. Have prints made and frame them. Try finding old national geographic magazines. Then you can cut out the pictures and create a collage for the focal piece of the room. Or, you could take an old white t-shirt and soak it in tea. This will make the shirt come out a little brown and look worn. Let it dry, cut it into a square, and attach it to some cardboard. Now all you have to do is paint an animal on it and you’ve made your own wall hangings!!
Lamps also give the room accents. You can buy animal print lampshades at almost any home décor store. Or, you could just buy a plain white lamp shade and paint a light, watered down coat of an accent color onto it. Take the rocking chair seat cushion and recover it.
As the child gets older, you can always add to or take away pieces from the room. You can let them help you decorate the room, or turn the bedroom into a guest room once again. You will never have to take down the baby rattle boarder before painting since the colors can be used as a theme or just as plain colors. Be easy on your checkbook and stray from the traditional views of a baby’s room.
