Do’s and Don’ts For Designing The Perfect Nursery
Designing the nursery is one of the fun experiences of pregnancy. You get to choose the furniture and all the baby items. There are many do’s and don’ts when it comes to the nursery that isn’t always shared in magazines and online, but they’re important!
Keep reading for some tips on the do’s and don’ts before you put your nursery area together.
- Do Pick a Specific Style or Theme But Don't Go Overly Themed
In designing a nursery room, you should pick a theme and a color palette so you have a starting point, which helps you design the entire nursery room. This doesn’t mean you have to stick to the theme you’ve picked.
Don’t limit yourself to blue or pink. Look for other pastels, which can suit the child’s room and fit into your house’s overall decor. Choose decors that will grow with the baby so you don’t have to shell out a ton of cash too soon for another design.
- Do Install the Right Lights and the Nightlight But Don't Use Harsh Lighting
In designing the nursery room should have a lot of light. But they have to be placed far enough from the crib so they don’t affect the baby when they are on.
Go for the dimmer light which can be adjusted according to your needs. You also need to install a nightlight, which is going to comfort the baby. It can also be used during the nursing time or bed-time reading.
- Do Keep Safety in Mind and Don't Put Loose Items Above the Crib
Choose pieces that help to create a peaceful, calm and happy space in designing your nursery room. You and baby will be spending a lot of time in this room, so make it somewhere you want to be. Keep in mind to design the space with safety, no sharp edges on the tables and furniture.
Avoid putting decors above the crib. Your baby will eventually try to grab it. It ever, there's an earthquake or another occurrence that will make the wall move. all those sharp cutesy decorations on the geometric wooden shelf are going to fall on him. Opt for decorating the wall with fun painted patterns, with decals, or with flat well-mounted letters instead.
- Do Buy the Essential Needs of the Baby But Don't Buy Expensive Cribs and A Changing Table
Keep the nursery room simple. Just stick with the essential need of the baby and the mother. in feeding or changing the baby.
A soothing music player is best in the nursery room than putting a television set or a computer set. The electronics emit a bit of radiation that newborns just don’t need. Put a rocking chair and enough spaces for the diapers will add points to your nursery.
Expensive cribs and costly changing tables are quite unnecessary for the nursery room. Using a dresser as a changing table is a piece that can grow with the baby well into the teenage years. Simply place a changing pad atop and the dresser is a perfect storage solution for clothes and toys.
- Do Organize But Don't Forget to Allow Room for Growth
An organized nursery makes your life so much easier. Sort and classify all the stuff that you and your baby need. Moreover, you have to think of long term plans when choosing your furniture in your nursery room. Keep in mind that your baby is growing and you will need to change some of the stuff in the nursery. Thus, planning ahead will ensure you get the most out of your money and your space.
This can all seem like an overwhelming task, especially for first-time mommies. But the desire to create a safe, warm, beautiful place for our babies is instinctual—it’s called nesting. So trust your instincts and enjoy the process!
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Children's Bedroom Design: Timeless Ideas To Consider
Designing a children’s bedroom can be as fun for you to do as it is for the kids to enjoy afterwards. Children’s rooms are a whole new ball game for colors, shapes, storage ideas, and furnishings. Coming up with creative ways to include the practical elements of a bedroom is a fun challenge.
You might even see how excited the children are when it’s finished, making the project rewarding. Whether you are looking for inspiration or considering a redesign, here are the things that you should know for designing a room that has everything a kid could want. The more innovatively you can combine fun and function, the better!
Make it a happy place
A child’s bedroom should make them feel content. Think unique color combinations, mixing fun patterns and incorporating some of their favorite animals or accessories in the room, which can easily be swapped out when they're no longer obsessed with aforementioned item.
Ensure there is space for creativity
In this bedroom we redesigned, we incorporated a reading nook, a cozy little corner in this bedroom, as a place that little ones, or mom and dad could lounge in during story time. This encourages learning in a relaxed environment.
Let Imagination Run Wild
Kids bedrooms are for more than just bedtime! Their rooms should be fun and inspire creativity as well. Turn the space itself into an exciting place to be, rather than just a room containing a few essentials. I’d like to discuss more high end ideas vs. the traditional "little kid" stuff.
You could build an indoor tree house that they can climb a ladder to get into. Paint their desk with chalkboard paint so they can show off their art skills! Make a building station that encourages critical thinking! Giving kids a creative space allows them to be imaginative and think outside the box. Parents lives will also be much easierif their children really enjoy being in their own rooms!
Make it cozy
Kids need to feel safe and secure, so fill your child’s room with items they can use to self-soothe, like a large soft blanket with enough weight to feel like a hug. Bedding, pillows, and rugs should be soft to the touch, so feel all materials before bringing them into the room.
Have fun with wallpaper! So many options are full of personality. In the coral bedroom shown above, we used wallpaper on the ceiling to draw the eyes up, and truthfully, mother wanted to avoid her daughter peeling the paper if it were on the walls. By installing it on the ceiling, it created an element of surprise.
So let your creativity go wild when it comes to designing your child's bedroom, they do after all deserve the most beautiful room in the house.
If you’d like to talk about decorating a child’s bedroom or you want to add a touch of luxury elsewhere in your home then contact designstiles now for a free consultation!
Felix Bae Lovett and His Nursery
And just like that I had a baby. Ha, I wish it was just like that. It was more like 17 hours and 30 mins of pushing and baby finally came out, on November 1st at 9:18 am. Not too bad considering some of the stories I've heard. I actually think my labor was less scary than I had imagined and my overall pregnancy went by pretty smoothly so I definitely consider myself lucky, which brings me to our baby's name: Felix.
When looking through a baby name book with over 10o,000 names, I was starting to feel overwhelmed and felt like we were going to arrive at the hospital nameless. We knew we wanted a baby name that started with an F to commemorate TH's grandpa's name, Fred. I wanted a name that could easily translate from English to Spanish and nothing on the popular list. It was TH who came across Felix and as the name slipped off his tongue nonchalantly, I remember saying, wait say that again. I liked it pretty much immediately. Short, strong, familiar but not particularly common; it was the definition though that really sold us.
Felix: one who is happy and prosperous; lucky, favored by luck or the lucky one.
Furthermore, reminding me of a quote that TH's dad always says, "I'd rather have luck than skill any day."
It took us a bit longer to decide on a middle name. For a while, I wasn't really sure I wanted one but then thought it'd be nice to give him a name in honor of TH's 93-year-old grandma who's been asking for a baby pretty much since we got married. So we took Baeila, the name TH's grandma was named after and shortened it to Bae.
While in the hospital, Sabra emailed me the pictures she took of Felix's nursery and I finally got some time to look through them and share.
Remember before it was just a guest room where the dogs loved to hang out? I never really put any effort into decorating it because I knew it would one day be a baby's room.
And now it's Felix's room.
After
I knew I wanted to create a window seat for our dogs to continue to hang out on, with drawers underneath for extra storage and bookshelves on either side for displaying books and personal accessories.
Baby's only friends right now.
Green pillows gifted to me by Arianna Belle.
Striped fabric is from Calico Corners and window fabric is from Perennials, welted in fabric I had leftover from another project.
I found this vintage artwork on Etsy titled, Mexican Journey, as a reminder of his heritage.
The Aviary wallpaper, from Schumacher, was the jumping off point. Cool little birds that remind me of TH's nickname, baby bird, still used by his mom.
The moose toy rocker is from IKEA. Moose was a nickname I briefly gave TH when we were first married.
Sparrow crib from Oeuf with sprout kite sheets from Serena and Lily.
I had the campaign style dresser/changing table custom made and lacquered in Benjamin Moore Stratford Blue.
Rocker and midcentury footstool were both found on Etsy. The rocker, however, was refinished and reupholstered.
Check the little guy out
Happy Thursday!
photography: Sabra Lattos
Baby Lovett is A...
This weekend I revealed the gender of our baby to family and friends at my baby shower. Other than immediate family, no one really knew the sex and it turned out to be a fun way to keep my friends and cousins on their toes.
Of course everyone has their theories. Like, you've been craving sweets so it's a boy. Or, you conceived on a full moon so it's a girl. I just made that one up.
But yeah, people take one look at your stomach and suddenly they think they have x-ray vision. They knnooow.
Me? I just go on instincts. I was right about my nephew so I was one-for-one and thought I was on a roll. I was so certain TH and I were having a girl I was ready to tell the ultrasound technician, I know, when gender was revealed. Instead I couldn't help but utter, really? When he told us...
I was totally surprised, which was actually nice because that's rare.
But what about my motherly instincts, I couldn't help but think? Is there such a thing as fatherly instincts because TH was right. He called it and any time he'd say it was a boy, I'd roll my eyes.
I was already starting to scheme out a nursery for a girl. I was clueless as to what to do with a boy's room.
But slowly the wheels starting turning and now I can't even picture us starting with a girl. And if we have a girl next, well then she better like blue because they'll most likely be sharing a room.
He's an idea of the route I'm taking.
I wanted something kid appropriate but nothing too babyish. Something to grow into, if you will.
I first saw this wallpaper in our hotel room at the Soho Grand in New York a few years ago and when I was reunited with it, I knew it was the right choice. It's a bunch of birds and serves as sort of a nod to the fact that my mother-in-law still calls TH baby bird.
Wallpaper, blinds and built-in are up but for the most part, room is still pretty much full of things that need to be organized and furniture-less, most of which should be coming in this week.
I'm hoping to have it complete by mid October. It'll be nice bringing baby home to a finished room.
There's Nora being dramatic.
It's getting there though.
Happy Tuesday!
Prepping for Baby
Most of yesterday was spent Spring cleaning. Technically summer cleaning since it is now August.
Gawd, it feels good getting rid of stuff. It's also a little embarrassing 'cause you're reminded that every now and then you have bad taste. Like, whoa, I bought this because? So you hide the evidence and take it to Goodwill. And there are other things that you just need to toss. Like, I don't care how in need people are, no one should want this. Trash.
And while cleaning, I feel like 50 percent of the time is spent me convincing TH that, yes, I'm positive we don't need a pile of old papers from 2004. He likes to keep every.thing.
All this cleaning is due to project, Making Room for Baby Lovett.
We're fixing up the garage and creating real storage in there as well as starting on the nursery. Dun Dun Dun.
For nursery, we're creating a window seat with bookcases on either side and pull out drawers for a few different reasons.
A) we need more storage B) I've always wanted a window seat and C) The dogs need somewhere to lay now that Baby Lovett is taking over Bams's hang out room, per TH's request. The dogs, specifically Bams, loves sitting in this room and staring out the window. He lays on the floor now that the guest bed has been taken out.
Don't feel bad for him though, TH created a makeshift bed and he looks mighty comfortable.
You just keep on relaxing, Bams. I know this is a big adjustment for you.
So yeah, this baby thing is really happening. Every day I wake up, see my reflection in the mirror, and know I'm a day closer to being a mom. A mom.
I'm less than three months away. Every day feels like it goes by faster than the last.
And the only thing I feel like I know how to plan for is decorating a nursery (and Baby Shower input. More on that another day)
Hi kid, welcome to your room. Now what?
Exciting things nonetheless.
Happy Monday!
Contributor
Somewhere between decorating my nephew's nursery and my biological clock ticking, I guess, I discovered how much I love nurseries and kids' rooms.
I thought I'd redirect my decor business and specialize on just that, rooms for kids - I'm still taking other interior spaces until I have enough baby work to keep me busy - The idea came to me over the summer and since then TH has been helping me re-write my business and marketing plans. I've reached out to some of my favorite baby blogs and will start advertizing my services with them come April.
And the very first baby blog I ever discovered, which was actually one of the very first blogs I found, Spearmint Baby, asked me to be a contributor on their site.
I'll be guest posting for them every other week, starting today. So if you're interested in some of my favorite picks for kids' wallpaper, go check it out.
I'm excited for this new endeavor. But this here blog will continue with grown up interiors and all things I'm inspired by.
So cute. Check out the rest of my picks HERE.
Playful Nursery
And then I became a photographer.
I wish.
Check it out though, I shot a nursery project for my former boss, Vanessa De Vargas of Turquoise, and last week it was featured on Pop Sugar.
Though it may not be my design, press is press and so appreciate the mention.
Photography mention.
I'm like Irene of all trades.
Check out more of the nursery and my pictures here.
Happy Monday!
Inspiration for a Little Girl's Nursery
An e-decorating client came to me for inspiration for her little girl's nursery. She mostly needed help picking out a color scheme, then she realized she was also stuck on how to mix stiles. She was looking for some contemporary items blended in with some vintage pieces to create a bit of a mature and slightly sophisticated look while still bringing in some childlike elements. She really didn't know where to start and was new to this whole e-decorating thing so she really just wanted me to give her some inspiration to figure out if this was something she can then do herself. I pulled a few different things for her but this one was my favorite. And a little more on the higher end side. Isn't that usually the case? But I think the overall feel and palette can still be achieved if the extra time is spent searching for the right affordable pieces.
I've loved this Serena and Lily chandelier for so long now and knew immediately I wanted that to be the starting off point. It's pretty freaking pricey, but the soft, pale blue is worth it. Maybe not, but it's still so beautiful.
I thought about keeping most things at eye level neutral, and having the bursts of color and pattern up above on the ceiling with the wallpaper and down below with the area rug, creating some unexpectedness. Having the ceiling and area rug the same color gives the room some balance.
The vintage elements come from the dresser found on Craigslist, the fabric for cribskirt found on Etsy and the gold mirror for the framed red squirrel. I love that guy. He's fancy. I bet he smokes cigars. The blue in the print also ties in with the blue of the chandelier.
Then we have the glider. I like the idea of using 'boys colors' for girls rooms. It too is unexpected. The blue coordinates with the blues in the floral fabric, which is definitely feminine, and when you rest a cute hugs and kisses pillow on top, it no longer appears boyish.
The elephant hamper is so cute. Now I want one.
The yellow lamp is meant to bring out the yellow from the birds on the wallpaper. And it's always a good idea to have eye level lighting.
The love paperweight is a cute little accessory I brought in as a reminder to the child how much she is loved. The I love you to the moon and back print is another reminder, again coordinating the colors with the blue and yellow font. Because it's cursive it feels a little more grown-up too.
I'd love to see this come to life. Maybe I'll save it for me. Ha!
Happy Tuesday.
Spearmint Baby
Spearmint Baby is featuring my nephew's nursery today! They were one of the very first blogs I'd read. Ironic considering this was a time when I questioned having a baby. But I've always been enthralled by all things cute so I'm sure that's why I kept tuning in. This was nearly four years ago and seeing one of my projects on their site makes all giddy.
I'll hope you'll stop by and check it out.
Happy Thursday!
image via Gladys Lara
Claire
When photographer Gladys Lara contacted me to help her with her little girl's nursery, I quite literally jumped at the opportunity. At the time I hadn't yet started my nephew's nursery and a nursery is a room I had been wanting to decorate.
I adore nurseries. Probably because they're most similar to my design aesthetic, cute.
The crib, changing table/dresser, a few accessories and paint color had already been selected for baby Claire's room but mom was having trouble pulling it all together. Mom Gladys wanted the room to reflect her photography, soft and romantic. She didn't want the room to feel too girly and wanted to avoid anything pink. I managed to convince her to go with a pink rocking chair and it turned out to be a piece in the room she loves the most.
Here's the before.
After
I had such a great time decorating this room and now I can't wait to do more nurseries.
Any preggo mommas out there?
Happy Monday!