How to Do a Nursery - EP16

The beauty of nurseries! I love this kind of place, you may have so many ideas and you hope for this to be your kids future favorite place so it needs to be exactly right. Let’s dig into what it takes to create a nursery room!

Functional distribution

First of all, and most important is to have a functional distribution. For this, you have to understand what you are going to be using in this place. Nurseries generally are for babies and up to 2 years old; later people tend to transform it into something the child would like or into a space a bit more mature. It is crucial to establish if the baby is going to be sleeping in the parents bedroom or not. Experts recommend and by experts I mean other parents and pediatricians, they recommend that the baby sleeps in the same room as his parents in his own crib for a few months since he or she has been accompanied most of his early life in mommy’s belly. If you’re doing this, please don’t transform your own room into the nursery, since the baby won’t stay baby forever, and believe me, you’ll want your own space again sooner than later. 

Being said that, a nursery is composed of 4 main stations since there are 4 main activities for the baby: Sleep, Change, Feed and Play. In each station there are specific items you need to consider and some others you can add on.

Sleeping stations. Main item: the Crib.

Think of it as the place where your little bunny will be spending more time, so the crib needs to be located in the most perfect spot. This means a place where the sunlight does not hit directly (you don’t want to overheat your child), a spot that has enough ventilation (babies have trouble regulating their temperature so it’s easy to be too cold or too hot) and a spot with easy access to it (don’t overlap furniture with it. Babies move a lot!) Some people use baby moses baskets, other ones any small sized crib to handle the baby better. You can consider them as one of the sleeping station items. Also You can accompany the crib with a mosquito net and a nightstand for different gadgets (pacifiers, night lamp, some blankets, etc).

Changing stations. Main item: Changing table.

Best recommendations for this one is: not too close to a possible open window (it can get too cold and end up with a fussy baby when changing) and locate it near a place full of light (you´ll need to see clearly when working in this station) along with this item comes a few more: trash can (of course), hamper, gadgets table (for diapers, ointments, clothes), diaper bag, cloth furniture or closets.

Feeding stations. Main item: Rocking chair.

I’m not sure if you’re the kind of parent that uses this or is going to use this but believe me, it helps a lot. So if you’re considering putting one I’ll locate it near the crib since a lot of babies tend to fall asleep after feeding, or just to calm the baby when fussines attacks. Of course you can nurse your baby anywhere, anytime, but with a good latching position comes a comfortable mamma and this chair along with a boppy does the trick. You can replace the rocking chair with a normal chair or sofa. With this item comes a few more: a nightstand (to put mommy’s water, phone, night lamp, bottles, etc), foot chair (who doesn’t want to be more comfortable?) maybe a fan or a heater, you decide.

Playing stations. Main item: Playing mat.

I know many people think that the child is too young to play or to have toys. In reality, at two months old (sometimes sooner) the baby can enjoy a few sounding toys, and from day one they can start tummy time! So don’t be afraid of laying a mat, carpet, bouncer, or baby gym with a few toys on the floor. After all, they have an awake window and as days go by, they want to stay awake more. This can help you too, so you can establish a routine, and the baby won’t have to be in your arms all the time. This station is “optional” in the nursery but a “Must” in the house, so locate it wherever you feel more comfortable with, this may be inside a living room, TV room, or even a gaming room. 

We can arrange all the furniture in a way that the room feels open and bigger. Since most of the furniture you need must be attached or close to a wall, it gives you the possibility to have a central open space to move around. Locate all of the furniture thinking in a production process. Baby sleeps, then wakes up and changes diapers, then feeds, then plays and then sleeps again. Everything depends on your personal taste and style, but this might serve you as a blueprint to start developing your own routine.

Extra tip: A wall clock has been my favorite. Nothing like ‘’trying’’ to be in control with your newborn than keeping track of everything according to schedule and time.

Define concept. 

I think this is the only case where you are allowed to use a shape concept without sounding too childlike. As simple as defining the main shape (teddy bears, stars, clouds, dinosaurs, elephants, etc.) A concept can also be a sensation or a feeling, for example, you want your room to feel lovable and sweet (tends to have pastel colors, round shapes, fluffy and soft materials), or calmness (tends to have a more neutral colors, like gray, beige or light blue). People also use the baby’s gender to develop the whole idea. This idea will give you the clue to our next step:

Define a color palette.

Having a Concept defined is your cheat sheet to the next step. All the sensations you want to convey or your shape concept will determine the colors. Having a color palette will help organize your mind when going shopping and choosing one object over another. This also will help you to stay in line with whatever you want, instead of just adding things you liked randomly in a store. Try to keep it between 3 to 4 colors/textures tops. One color should be neutral, one light, one dark, and if you want, one accent color.  

Illumination 

A baby's bedroom doesn’t need a super illuminated room, quite the contrary. The more indirect light you have the better, this means installing wall lights or floor lights to illuminate the ceiling, avoiding using one single light bulb in the ceiling as many rooms typically have or those big office like lights that will generate too much heat and light. 

Consider warm bulb lights instead of white or cold. Some people use colorful led strip lights to accent certain walls. The important thing here is to avoid too strong lightning, like a stadium. Most of the time you will only be using a night lamp. 

Accessorize.  

Wallpapers, curtains, some paintings or pictures will do the trick. The accessories are all that are placed without any specialized installation (besides the wallpapers) Here you can go on and shop in your favorite store everything that goes with your concept and color palette.

Before building it, you can experiment with all the materials with a moodboard and some referential images, just for you to get the whole idea in the same page and your mind will be more ready when shopping every single item. Unconsciously you’ll choose one crib over another just by its colors or shapes. Now you’re ready to prepare the most beautiful and sweet space for your child and be sure to enjoy every minute of it.