There are around 4 million babies born each year in the United States, and perhaps you're waiting for yours! Designing a room for your baby can be fun and fulfilling, but it can cause a bit of stress, especially if you have a lot of ideas going through your mind and don’t know what to do first. Here are useful tips on how to decorate your baby’s room.
Cleaning and Preparing The Room
Clean the room, including the walls and the floor. Infants are highly susceptible to allergens like dust and molds, so you should get the room as clean as possible. To help you get started:
- Use a sponge and water with disinfectant to clean the walls. Sweep and mop floors with disinfectant.
- Don’t use harmful chemicals to clean the room, stick to plain soap and water to disinfect the room.
- Avoid using carpets in the baby’s room since it can harbor allergens and bacteria. Plus you’ll be having a hard time cleaning carpeted floors (hello baby spit-up and body fluids!).
- Lubricate the door hinges so they won't make a sound. You can even do this with vegetable oil and prevent unnecessary noise when you're trying to get your baby to sleep for the thousandth time.
- Install safety features like a smoke detector. Your baby’s safety is a priority, so double check your existing smoke detectors are working. You may even want to get a carbon monoxide detector.
Don't forget to purchase all necessary diapers, ointments, wipes, and lotions. You may need shelving, baskets, or drawers to store these in securely. Having them accessible will save time.
Furnish baby’s room
There are a couple of things you can consider when it comes to furnishing your baby’s room. These include, but aren’t limited to:
- Buying a nursing chair. Choose easy-to-clean fabric, and look for padded, wide armrests for better positioning when feeding. Adjustable or reclining chairs are great, because you might even find yourself rocking your baby to sleep in the chair.
- Put a nursing table and dresser in the room. A place to organize baby’s clothes and changing table will save you time and will make caring for the baby more comfortable.
- Use non-toxic playmats. Baby play mats can stimulate babies to crawl using their legs, hands, and arm, which helps to build muscle. It encourages babies to lay on their stomach and strengthen neck, arm and back muscles.
- Consider installing a dimmer switch. Install a dimmer and avoid bright lighting fixtures, mainly if it’s located over the crib. It’s also a great idea to have a nightlight for a cozy glow.
- Choose proper window accessories. Install blackout curtains or heavy blinds on the baby’s room, this will make the room more conducive for sleeping and will help baby sleep in more extended hours. Additionally, it’ll avoid high temperatures during the daytime. You can purchase these curtains at Vision Bedding and choose a wide variety of curtains. If you consider using blinds, you can look for it in any home improvement store.
- Create a sanitation station. Sanitation is an essential part or your nursery. Have a tray set up with antibacterial paper towels and gels to prevent contamination of surfaces. Once a day you might consider disinfecting hotspots. Also, a diaper disposal system to get rid of waste that could harbor infectious bacteria.
Decorate the Room
When decorating your baby’s room, here are some tips to help get you started.
- Choose a theme. Limiting yourself in a single concept theme will help you save time and will narrow your focus and create a simpler design.
- Choose textiles before painting the room. It will be easier to chose textiles first and match the paint job on your purchased textile.
- Find space for the rest of baby’s things and essentials. Placing baby’s things and essentials in storage units will save space for other things that the baby might need in the future. Choose features that can fit your storage needs not only today but also for the future.
- Adding art. You can use storybooks that are full of color and use them as a design feature. Use shelves that blend to your wall colors to highlight the vibrant colors and add up visual interest to the wall.
Now you can get your nursery project underway! You’ll need plenty of time to air out freshly painted spaces and new furniture. Having a head start will prevent unnecessary stress and ensure that you’ll have ample time to finish the job. Enjoy and try to have fun on your nursery project!
