Whether you intend on creating an elaborate or simple baby room, Yvette Muller at Expectation Mothers, reminds parents to make sure it's a room you'll love to be in. You'll want it to inspire your baby but since you'll be spending a lot of time in there too, include colors and designs that feel comfortable and inviting to you.
Variations on One Color
Pick one color--blue, yellow, green, or red, and decorate the nursery in multiple shades of that one color. For example, if you choose to cover the room in green, the carpet might be a solid light green, the sheets and blankets might be a green plaid, the rocking chair covered with a dark green print, the toy box stenciled with green letters and numbers, and the window treatments made with a fabric that changes from dark green at the bottom to light green at the top.
Book Theme
You and your spouse might select a favorite children's book as the theme for your new baby's nursery. For example, if "Little House in the Big Woods," by Laura Ingalls Wilder, were your favorite book, you might use gingham (cotton fabric with small printed floral patterns) for the bedding and window treatments. Several vintage editions of the book could be on the book shelves. Framed art on the wall might include the title page from an antique copy of the book. HGTV suggests that a row of framed pages can be instructive as a child learns to read, and also fill a large blank wall in a contemporary way. Other wall decorations in a book-themed room might include paintings or prints of woods or forests and a log cabin.
Seek and Find
For a bit of fun for your baby as she gets older, as well as for visitors to your baby's room, intentionally hide images around the room. Whether the nursery theme is shades of pink, trains, the beach or princesses, you can hide an image throughout the room. For example, with a beach theme, you might hide small images of a bucket and pail. The images might be a print, photo, stencil or embroidery. They could be put underneath the rocking chair, inside a drawer, on a wall in a corner or on the back of a pillow. If you make them moveable, the seek-and-find game can be played over and over.
Family History
Surround your baby with loving family members. Place photos of siblings, grandparents and great-grandparents throughout the room. You could frame all the pictures with white frames for a unified look. Or, you could create a wall mosaic of photos. Glue the photos to the wall and cover with a layer of varnish.
