Among other joys, having a baby girl means you get to create an unabashedly pretty nursery, full of cute, girlish charm. Even if the rest of your home is stark contemporary, you can make your baby girl's room a sweet, feminine space designed to enchant. For ideas, explore traditionally feminine decor and fashion, and then adapt the details to suit a baby's room.
Dress Display
Dresses designed for baby girls are undeniably adorable. Display a rotating selection of your daughter's most beautiful dresses on one of the nursery walls. Include favorites that she's already outgrown to enjoy them a little longer.
To hang them, mount several rows of wooden pegs, with each row at a different height. In her book "Children's Spaces: From Zero to Ten," Judith Wilson suggests attaching the pegs to long, beveled boards, and then painting them with pastel paint. Hang the dresses from child-sized hangers adorned with trailing bits of raffia or ribbon. Hook the hangers over the pegs so the dresses hang flat.
Monograms
For a cute yet elegant touch, personalize your baby girl's nursery with monograms. Use scrolling script letters in a traditional room, or use block letters for a more contemporary look. Embroider monograms onto pillow cases, towels and blankets for a classic, subtle look. To display your daughter's monogram more prominently, stencil it on the wall above the baby bed, and then edge the letters with black, silver or gold.
Vintage Millinery
The velvet flowers, delicate ribbons and other exquisite decorations that once adorned ladies' hats--called millinery--make charming accents in a baby girl's nursery. You can use them to tie back fluttering curtains, decorate throw pillows and garland tables. For an enchanting touch, perch a sweet, stuffed bird on the branch of a chandelier.
Hobby-shop reproduction supplies rarely have the charm or quality of the originals, but you can still find vintage millinery items today. Browse antique and vintage clothing stores for damaged hats you can disassemble for their parts, or shop online auctions for unused millinery supplies using the term "new old stock."
Chalkboard Wall
Paint one wall of your baby girl's nursery with chalkboard paint, and stock up on pastel-colored chalk. Adorn the chalkboard wall with sketches or favorite quotes, and change them as often as you like. When your baby girl gets a little older, she'll enjoy watching you draw. Eventually, as she becomes a little girl, she'll use the chalkboard wall to create her own art.
Don't worry about the flat black finish making the room gloomy, even if the room is full of pale pink and white. As long as you restrict the chalkboard finish to one wall, it will enhance rather than detract. The contrast will ground an otherwise pale palette. If your furnishings are delicate and curvy, the effect will even look rather French.
References
- "Children's Spaces: From Zero to Ten"; Judith Wilson; 2008
- Wayne Shielly; Bartlett Home Furnishings; Memphis, Tennessee
- "The Paris Apartment: Romantic Decor on a Flea-Market Budget"; Claudia Strasser; 1997
