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Think Ahead - Save Time Later

Nursery lighting is an important consideration in planning your baby nursery design. Good light placement can make the difference between happy feet and stubbed toes - especially in the middle of the night.

The right level of lighting at the right time is also an essential element in establishing your new born's sleep routine - and we all know how important that is - right?

There are plenty of nursery lighting options available, but before you dive in and spend more of your ever dwindling nursery room budget, take a few minutes to plan the nursery lighting you need...





During baby's first year you will need to provide a wide range of nursery lighting. Choose at least one option from each of the following categories to make sure you have everything covered...

Ambient Lighting

This type of nursery light brightens the whole baby room.


Choose from among the following:

• Nursery chandeliers
• Mini chandeliers
• Hanging nursery lamps
• Recessed baby ceiling lights
• Ceiling Medallions
• Wall baby lamps
• Wall sconces
• Kids' ceiling fans

Click here to find out more about nursery chandeliers and other baby ceiling lights.

Area Lighting

Area baby lights are for specific tasks such as feeding and diaper changing. You will want to shed light on a small area, for example the baby changing table or the feeding area, without flooding the entire room with light. The idea is to keep baby in a sleepy state!


These are among your options:

• Directable wall sconces
• Table nursery lamps
• Baby floor lamps
• Floor chandeliers

Click here to find out more about baby lamps for your nursery room.

Subdued Nursery lighting

Soft nursery light is essential for moving around the baby nursery at night without waking your sleeping baby and without stubbing your toes.

Here are some ideas:

• Dimmer switch
• Plug-in night lights
• Night light lamps
• Light shows
• Constellation night lights
• Teddy night lights
• Fairy lights
• Paper lanterns
• A monorail with night light pendants

Click here to find out more about nursery night lights.

En Route Lighting

Don't underestimate the value of a dim glow to light your path between your bedroom and baby's nursery. It's bad enough having to get up three times a night without having to wander around in the dark!

Baby Nursery Lighting Safety

The safest types of baby nursery lights to use in the nursery room are ceiling fixtures for ambient lighting, wall sconces for area lighting and dimmer switches for subdued lighting.

These all share the advantage of being right out of reach of curious little fingers. Think ahead - one day soon you'll be dealing with a troublesome toddler, not an innocent, bouncy baby.

• Do not place any type of baby lights directly above the crib. They could fall down on your baby causing painful bruises, cuts and burns. (This includes wall sconces)
• Keep all baby lamp cords secured against walls or wound up. Loose cords can be grabbed and pulled by a curious toddler resulting in baby lamps falling and breaking.
• Loose cords also present a tripping hazard for both yourself and little ones. Avoid having cords trailing across the nursery room floor by choosing the location of your lighting carefully.
• Make sure nursery lamps have a stable base to prevent toppling.
• Keep table lamps out of reach of your baby and young children. Babies can pull lamps down on themselves or burn their fingers on hot bulbs.
• Use florescent bulbs where possible. They do not reach the same high temperatures as conventional bulbs.
• If you use a nursery floor lamp, make sure it is tucked away behind a table or something - out of baby's reach. You may need to remove it when baby becomes mobile.
• Keep nursery night lights away from your baby's eye level and turn them off when baby is sleeping. It is possible that night lights cause near sightedness if they are left on all night. The research conducted on this topic is controversial and inconclusive, but it's always better to be safe than sorry. Read more about this on our nursery night lights page.
• Nursery night lights should be placed a safe distance away from any fabric, such as bedding or drapes, to prevent fire.

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Decide Where to Put Your Baby Nursery Lighting

Baby nursery lights form part of your overall baby nursery design, therefore, the best way to decide where to put them is to look at your floor plan.

• Make sure you include area lighting near the baby changing area for midnight clothes changes and diaper checks.
• Make sure you have soft lighting near your nursery rocking chair for feeding and story time snuggles.
• Check to see whether or not you have enough wall sockets for your planned nursery lighting options. Are the sockets conveniently located? If not you may want to install more.
• Remember to avoid trailing cords across the nursery room floor.
• Sockets for baby lamps should be close to where you intend to place your nursery table or shelving, but far enough from the crib for the lamp to be out of baby's reach.
• Sockets for plug-in nursery night lights should not be close to the crib or at baby's eye-level
• Decide whether or not you need to run extra wiring for baby wall lamps or sconces or a nursery chandelier.

Think About Your Baby Nursery Lighting Budget

By the time you get around to buying lighting fixtures, your baby room budget will probably be straining at the seams. But don't worry - there are several ways to save money on baby nursery lighting if you need to.

• Dimmer switches are more functional and less expensive than nursery night lights.
• A directable wall sconce can pull double duty as ambient and area lighting.
• Nursery lamp / night light combos also do two jobs in one.
• Shop in the budget department for basic lighting fixtures and do them up yourself.

• Simple wooden table lamps or floor lamps can be beautifully painted to match your nursery decor.
• A basic colored nursery shade can be spruced up with fabric paints and fabric cutouts, or you can make your own from scratch.
• A plain ceiling fan can be decorated with stickers and paints.
• Use old lighting fixtures you are no longer using.
• Old kids ceiling fans can be redecorated giving them a new lease on life.
• Similarly old lamp stands can be refurbished and jazzed up with new nursery lamp shades.
• You can even recover an old lamp shade if you have one lying around.

Planning your baby nursery lighting is loads of fun - just remember to use your imagination!

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