It’s a combination of exciting and scary when it comes to preparing the house for your baby’s arrival. This includes baby-proofing every space, while also not losing the comforting and homey feel of the atmosphere. However, the main area that you and your baby will eventually spend the most time in is the nursery. So is it possible to create the perfect baby nursery?
The short answer is yes, and the secret to achieving the best baby nursery is to be one step ahead. Even if this means looking for cribs at multiple stores or scanning reviews of the best humidifiers for baby months away from your baby’s arrival. Trust us; you’ll be thanking yourself later when you barely have the energy to choose a wallpaper color.
Here are the things that you can do ahead of time:
Set a Theme
Before you start adding and organizing the room, you have to settle to a single concept first. We don’t mean that if you want a nature theme, you should not buy that wallpaper because it doesn’t have lions in it. But it will help if you already have a specific idea in mind. This helps with “decluttering” your purchases, and you will have a more structured way of decorating the nursery.
Consider the Paint and Wallpaper
Once you already have a theme in mind, the next step is to choose your paint or wallpaper. This step is going to be easy, considering that there are a lot of color palettes available in the market. And since you already settled to a specific style, you can easily cull your wallpaper options.
Choosing whether you want to use paint or wallpaper is going to be a personal preference. Wallpapers will sometimes already come with designs, so you don’t need additional wall decors. On the other hand, with paint, you can easily change the theme by using another color over it.
However, you have to consider that you’re going to use it in a baby’s room. What we mean by this is to select paints that don’t give off fumes. You can also look for paints that give an easy-clean finish so you can just wipe the area and keep it looking great over time. And speaking of which, paints that you can scrub are useful for maintenance against marks and scuffs too.
Consider the Flooring
After the walls, the next area for consideration is the flooring. Would you prefer a carpeted flooring over a wooden one? The slight cushioning that the former offers might be more forgiving to dropped objects. It also feels warm and comfortable to walk on, and at the same time, it doesn’t emit as much noise compared to other floorings. However, carpets are quite harder to maintain against dirt and stains. It might also trigger allergies in some babies.
Wooden flooring, on the other hand, is very easy to clean and easy to match with whatever the theme of the nursery is. And if you’re using reliable materials, you can easily keep it looking pristine with simple refinishing.
Besides these two, laminate, vinyl, and rubber flooring are also popular options for baby nurseries.
Plan the Arrangement of the Baby Things
When you’re done with the first two, you will now have an empty room waiting for baby must-haves and equipment. Just like having a blank canvas, the next step is how you would actually design the placement of the furniture and inclusions.
Nurseries usually have the baby crib as their focal point. This makes sense since it is what you want to see immediately upon entering the room. You can also have the changing center near the door for easy access, and then have the nursing area in a more quiet and relaxing corner.
Now, since we’re talking about placements, you should also be strategic and consider the convenience of their positions. For example, you want to have everything that you’ll need near the changing table.
These items include diapers, wipes, extra cloths, and even the diaper pail. You can also compile all the sanitation supplies in one tray so you can quickly clean surfaces. With strategic placements, you don’t have to step away from your baby and worry about him/her rolling off the table.
Plan the Storage
Another useful step that you will be thanking yourself later is if you organize the drawers and the closet. There will come a time when you’re a bit groggy from lack of sleep, and you can’t find where you’ve put the pacifier. And you are also carrying your baby from place to place while searching for it.
Don’t be stressed out since this experience is avoidable. Always remember to put the items within the same category in a single drawer or area. You can also label your storages so even other caretakers will know where to put and find the baby stuff. This is also true when you’re organizing your little one’s clothes. Once your baby outgrew them, place them in the less accessible space, so they don’t get mixed up with the currents ones.
Prioritize Comfort and Safety
When designing the nursery, always ask yourself in every step, “Is this safe/comfortable?” We’ve talked earlier about how the arrangement of things can work at your convenience. But you also never neglect any details that affect the room’s overall safety and comfort.
Of course, you should keep anything sharp, electronic, or heavy away from your baby’s reach. Even if he/she is still limited with mobility, assume that your little one can walk around and reach anything his/her curious hands can get into.
Nursery paraphernalia such as jumpers, changing table, or crib should also have reinforcements or features that’ll keep your baby contained inside. You can also opt for textures that are soft to the skin and easy to clean for the comfort of this paraphernalia.
Lastly, parents usually add other nursery inclusions such as toys, humidifier, and nightlight in the room to soothe their babies. The toys can keep them engaged, while the latter two give a calming ambiance in the room. Humidifiers help with air quality, allowing babies to breathe more comfortably.
While a nightlight, on the other hand, soothes your baby’s fear of the dark, while also helping them sleep faster. And as a bonus, you can even get better visibility for nightly visits without waking your baby up.
Shift Frequency © 2019 – How to Create the Perfect Baby Nursery