The arrival of a new baby signals a fresh start, and the opportunity to decorate with excitement and exuberance. But it’s important to balance the needs of a tiny little human with thoughts of the future. I’ve always been a proponent of taking a long view towards nursery decor and trying to avoid the urge to festoon the room in cutesy, juvenile motifs and decorations that will soon tire and feel outdated for the room of a rapidly growing child. Instead of embracing all things adorable in nursery decor, I try to branch out and create a collection of fun yet flexible pieces that will stand the test of time.
Making the most of every surface and every element of an existing space helps transform a room from a blank canvas into a fully realized vision. When thinking about how babies experience their rooms, I found myself occupied with thoughts of staring at the ceiling, which morphed into imagining how to apply the principle of “blue sky” thinking to this room. If you think of your ceiling as the fifth wall, it can become a feature instead of a nonstarter. Putting this strong paisley pattern on the walls might translate as busy and formal, but applying a traditional element in an unexpected way takes it in a fun, contemporary direction.
I’m a tactile person and need to touch and feel anything that I’m considering using in every room. Your home isn’t just filled with decorative objects that look good. Your nest should be feathered with elements that feel good, especially if they’re coming in contact with newborn skin. Shirting cotton that is commonly used for men’s dress shirts is some of the finest, smoothest fabric I’ve ever touched. It’s also reasonably priced, so why not take Dad’s shirt fabric and turn it into baby’s bedding? You’ll only need a few yards to create custom pillows, sheets, and duvet covers, and your baby will have the best nest to inspire deep sleep!
If you’re pondering pattern on the ceiling, be sure to create a visual connection that helps focus your sight line at eye level. By dressing the window in a strong blue-and-white geometric pattern, a seamless connection between the window and ceiling is created and pulls the focus down.
While you may never embrace my idea of applying paisley punch to your ceiling, you might want to wake up your walls with sporty stripes. Start by extracting a collection of colours that appear in one of your key fabrics, then match them to paint chips and buy a quart of each. Use painter’s masking tape to mark wide bands in varying widths along the length of the wall (don’t make the stripes too narrow, as they will accentuate any unevenness in your taping job). Use a small roller or brush, and you’ll have a dramatically dynamic wall of stripes in no time. Note: do try to enlist the help of a friend, as it’s much easier to wrangle long lengths of tape if someone is on the opposite end to keep it stuck to the wall instead of you!