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Planning A Baby Nursery Design Step-by-Step:

• Choosing Your Baby Crib.
• Selecting Complementary Furniture.
• Providing Night Time Light.
• Deciding On A Nursery Flooring Option.
• Choosing A Nursery Theme.
• Finalizing A Color Scheme.

The first step is to choose a baby crib.

The baby crib usually forms the focal point of the baby nursery, and why not - that's where the baby is right? So choosing the right one is a pretty important decision.

Your choice of baby crib will influence to a large degree, your options when it comes to selecting the rest of the baby nursery furniture. In addition, the shape you choose can limit your layout options, and the finish you choose can limit your baby room colors and the baby nursery themes available to you.

Be aware of this, take your time, and choose wisely. (If you are undecided on your baby nursery colors and/or your baby nursery theme, you can always finalize the finish of your baby crib later, during the decorating stage.)

Remember to take baby crib safety into account, look for a crib that is durable and make sure that the crib you decide upon fits in with the nursery room style you have chosen.



Click here to visit the Baby Cribs section of planning a baby nursery design.




Almost as important as choosing a baby crib, the second step in planning a baby nursery design is to select the rest of the baby nursery furniture. Make a note of the dimensions of your nursery room and keep them in your wallet. You will need them when you go shopping.

The most important baby nursery furniture items you should be looking for are:

• A baby changing table.
• A rocker or glider chair with ottoman or footstool.
• A nightstand or small table, and
• A nursery hamper.

Click here to learn more about the five baby nursery furniture essentials.


Many baby cribs are available as part of a baby furniture collection. These collections normally consist of the baby crib, dresser and/or baby changing table, and sometimes an armoire.

If you want your baby nursery furniture to be perfectly coordinated, this is the way to go. Many outlets offer baby furniture collections at substantial discounts.

Perfect co-ordination is not to everyone's taste, however. Neither is it necessary. For instance, settling for an iron baby crib does not necessarily dictate the purchase of an iron baby changing table. Iron and wood go beautifully together in a baby nursery as does wood with two different finishes, if carefully selected.

After making your furniture choices, make sure there will be enough nursery storage space and draw a floor plan to plan your layout and make sure that your baby nursery will not be too crowded.

Again, remember to take baby furniture safety into account, look for furniture that is durable and make sure that the furniture you decide upon complements your baby crib and fits in with the baby nursery style you have chosen.


Click here to visit the Baby Nursery Furniture section of planning a baby nursery design.

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The third step in planning a baby nursery design is to decide how you are going to provide night time lighting.

There are so many nursery lighting options out there that it's difficult to know where to start. The exact lighting you eventually decide upon, will be influenced by your decor choices and will be dealt with further on. But it is important to decide on the type of lighting you would prefer, upfront while planning a baby nursery design.

This is so that if you need to run wires in the walls, ceilings or floors or add plug points in the nursery room, you can do it now, without wrecking all of your hard work. You know hubby won't be popular when he angle-grinds right through your painstakingly created nursery mural!

Examples of baby nursery lighting options to consider:

• A dimmer switch (this works really well - I used one in my last baby room.)
• Nursery lamps

• Chandeliers
• Sconces - (Not above the crib for safety reasons)
• Ceiling lights
• Nursery night lights
• Nursery light shows

Remember to take safety into account, and make sure that the lighting you decide upon fits in with the baby nursery style you have chosen.


Click here to visit the Baby Nursery Lighting section.




This seemingly simple aspect of planning a baby nursery design can be complicated by such issues as:

• The flooring in the rest of your home.
• Susceptibility of the family to allergies.
• Whether or not you have the budget to replace the current baby nursery floor.
• And, last but most definitely not least, what's best for baby.

Because the floor in the baby nursery covers such a relatively large surface area, it is widely accepted that it has a significant effect on baby's health.

Make sure you are aware of the potential health hazards surrounding nursery flooring before making your decision. If you can afford to, you should apply these considerations to the flooring in the rest of the home as well. Baby will soon be crawling around all over it!

Click here to visit the Baby Nursery Flooring section.

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First of all - relax. You don't have to decorate with a theme if you don't want to. The modern and elegant styles in particular are usually more successful without one.

However, a nursery theme does add an element of fun to a baby nursery design, so if that's your idea of a nursery room, then go ahead - indulge. Babies' and kids' rooms are the only places in the home where you can really let your hair down!

I made a list the other day of all the theme pages I want to write for this site. I came up with 150...

And there was nothing way out in there. If you really put your mind to it, the themes you can decorate a baby nursery with are endless. Obviously I won't be listing them all here! - Maybe I'll add a list to the site soon.

In the meantime, use your imagination, favorite stories from childhood, nursery rhymes, your interests or favorite animals, magazine pictures and ideas from friends to decide on your favorite theme.

Don't forget to think about how the room will be used in future. If you don't want to repaint the room in the next couple of years choose your theme carefully. Will the room be occupied by another baby after this one, or will it be graduating to a toddler room.




When planning a baby nursery color scheme you have two options. Follow modern color theory, in which case a color scheme can be:



Monochromatic: Using a palette of different hues of one color.



Complementary: Combining colors that lie opposite one another on the color wheel.



Analogous: Using colors adjacent to one another on the color wheel.



Triadic: Decorating with three colors that are of equal distance apart from one another on the color wheel.


Or be like me - if it looks good, it's a color scheme - never mind the theory!

Either way, the following factors may play an important role in planning a baby nursery color scheme:

• Your nursery room style.
• Baby's gender.

• Your nursery theme.
• The colors in the rest of your home.
• Personal preference.
• Tradition (for instance, for some, it just isn't a baby room if it isn't blue or pink!)

Again, the best sources of information are pictures of baby rooms. You can have all the color theory in the world, but if it doesn't look good to you, it's not good.