From vintage-cool to ultra mod, we found stylish baby room decor, themes, and colors from around the web. You can find every style be it bright and playful or calm and refined. Steal the stunning nursery decorating ideas you see or get even more ideas and tips.
Nautical Baby Nursery
Blogger Joanna Goddard of A Cup of Jo wanted to give son Toby’s room a nautical feel as a nod to her grandparents’ fishing village in Cornwall, England. The sailboat mobile, a gift from Goddard’s siblings, has the number of her grandparents’ boat embroidered onto the one of the sails. The piece de la resistance is the hand-painted cloud blackout shade, which creates a focal point out of something that could have been ordinary. “Our friend and interior designer Jenny Komenda, who helped us decorate the nursery, made it herself, and it gives the room an open and breezy feel, even when I’m up with the baby in the middle of the night,” says Goddard.
Wild Child Nursery Room
Zebra print in the nursery? In the hands of Karly Hand, one half of the blog Design Crisis, it totally worked for son Eero’s room. “I knew I didn’t want a typical baby blue room with any of the theme decor sold at baby stores.” Hand says. “I saw several great rooms out there and the ones I was drawn to most used a lot of high contrast black and white. Knowing that babies love black and white patterns, I took it and ran.”
Choosing Baby Room Colors
This gray and mustard nursery from blogger Melanie Bauer proves you can still have a nursery with personality even if you don’t know the baby’s gender. “[Daughter] Leighton’s nursery is also half of my home studio space. Since we weren’t finding out her gender beforehand, I decided to go with what would make me happy,” she says. “I was and still am in love with the grey/yellow color scheme.”
Baby Girl Room Ideas: Modern Pink
Want to do pink for your baby’s room, but in a modern way? Nicole Balch of Making It Lovely used shades of the color throughout her home, so it was only natural to use it for daughter Eleanor’s room too. “I knew I wanted to use pink, but not in a sugary sweet pastel way,” says Balch. “All of the black and dark brown elements help to keep the room feeling grounded.”
Two-in-One Nursery Decorating Ideas
Emily of Jones Design Company had the space to design a room that her daughter will be able to grow into later, both because it’s already got a big-girl bed, and because of its understated look. “I wanted to give our daughter a girly, elegant, pretty room, but wanted to do so without using pink as the main color,” she says. If you don’t have a guest room (or imagine you’ll be spending a few nights sleeping in baby’s room), adding a bed to the nursery is also a great way to stretch your space.
Baby Boy Room Ideas: Mellowed Yellow
Pops of color liven up the crisp gray walls of the baby’s room that Amy Bethune of the b-line pulled together for son Graham. The corner hoop collage makes for an unexpected and crafty-cool focal point. “After a long search for fabrics with the colors I wanted I got frustrated (everything I found in hues I liked had some sort of theme that I didn’t!) until I found that I could design my own fabrics and have them printed at spoonflower.com,” says Bethune.
Baby Room Themes: Easy as ABC
Katie Stephenson of Art Wall Online built her nursery around Ida Pearle’s charming set of colorful alphabet cards, which gave the room an anything-goes color scheme. “I didn’t want a particular 2 or 3-color palette, I wanted anything I brought in to work in the room, no matter the color,” says Stephenson. “I also didn’t want ‘baby’ colors like baby blue, light pink and light green. The colors in the room and bright and cheery.”
Girl to Boy Nursery Decorating Ideas
Laura Naples of Orange Beautiful had the challenge of making the pieces from her older daughter’s former nursery also work for her son, James. “I absolutely love the horizontal stripe crib skirt, which was from DwellStudio for Target,” says Naples. “I used the same Jenny Lind-style crib (that was once in [daughter] Catherine’s nursery) for James’ room, and the stripes give the bed a more masculine look.”
Baby Room Themes: Thinking Globally
Caitlin Wilson of Caitlin Wilson Design had recently moved to Dubai when she set out create daughter Olivia’s nursery, and wanted the room to reflect the family’s passion for travel. “I chose block printed Indian bedding from Rikshaw design and accessorized with quirky pieces that we collected at various markets and souks in Dubai,” she says. The Moroccan leather poufs added to the mini jetsetter appeal.
Nursery Decorating Ideas: Off the Wall
The bold metallic wallpaper anchored the room Maria Fe Calvo-Pierce of Layers of Meaning created for son Jack. “The starting point was definitively the wallpaper, an amazing pattern from Ferm Living,” says Calvo-Pierce. “The color palette was developed with this wallpaper in mind, and everything else—furniture and decor—revolved around it. I love the fact that is not something that you normally would see in a baby’s room.”
Baby Room Decor: Chalk It Up
Johanna McShan of Hanna Mac says the showpiece of daughter Mia’s nursery is the chalkboard wall, which was inspired by a room she saw in the Anthropologie catalog and required three coats of paint. It features Mom’s artistic handiwork for now, but will be a huge canvas for Mia as she gets older.
Unique Baby Rooms: The Dark Side
Black walls in the nursery? Lauren Bradshaw of Lauren Alane went bold with rich dark color for the walls in son Henry’s room. “I saw [J. Crew creative director] Jenna Lyons’ home in Domino Magazine, and her son’s nursery was one of my favorites. Her nursery is dark but very inviting,” says Bradshaw. “Henry’s room gets so much natural light throughout the day, and the dark walls make it feel cozy even in the bright Florida sun.”
Fine Vintage Nursery Room
Leslie Dotson Van Every of Modern Kiddo wanted to create a nursery with old-fashioned appeal for her daughter. “I wanted to take the best things of my childhood and bring them to this nursery,” says Van Every. “My grandmother had a love for vintage linens and I remember loving them from my childhood. I used vintage linens in making the curtains, the crib skirt, quilt and pillows. I think it really warms the space up with a vintage feel, but not an untouchable quality that can sometimes come from using vintage items in a nursery.”
DIY Baby Rooms: A Pop of Yellow
Caroline Drake of Armelle started with soothing aqua walls, and then added in other shades via colorful fabric in hoops on the wall and the pillows for the rocking chair for daughter Norah’s nursery. “My favorite part of the room is the yellow Jenny Lind Style crib that I painted myself” she says. “It was a huge task to paint, but I love the results. I feel like it really makes the room.”
Nursery Room Ideas: Perfectly Pale
Kelly Doust of The Crafty Minx went for muted colors in daughter Olive’s room. “She has a cheeky, inquisitive personality and I felt anything other than washed-out colours in her bedroom would stimulate her too much,” says Doust. She livened up the light palette with a mix of DIY projects and and flea market finds. “I made the bunting above her mirror from some string and an old atlas found in a second-hand bookshop. The mirror itself is French and attached to the wall, but the letters above are random flea market finds. The canvases were originally 1950s vintage tablecloths, but I thought they went well together and stretched them over frames to make a small collection of fabric art works.”
Earthy Baby Room Design
Not sure where to start when creating a nursery? Choose a piece or two you love, and go from there, like Leah Steen of Revival Home & Garden did for her daughter’s room. “My inspiration for the nursery was the brown/white Dwell bedding I found and a fabulous baby blanket that had bright green polka-dots,” says Steen. “I didn’t know the baby’s sex at the time, so I thought the chocolate brown and green would be great for a boy or girl. I had my mom make the curtains to tie the seemingly disparate colors together, and I have some fun vintage art sprinkled around the room that bring in the browns and the orange of the Eames rocker.”
Family Ties Baby Room Decor
Gifts from family, like this vintage Sesame Street lamp, create a cozy, personal space for Kathleen Luttschyn of Soon, the Night and son Henry. “There’s so much history and love in all the handmade gifts and family heirlooms,” says Luttschyn. “Among other things, he has a gorgeous alphabet afghan made by a close family friend, a model airplane and side table made by my father and a rocking chair that belonged to my grandmother’s best friend. She gave it to my parents when I was born and my brother and I were both rocked in it.”
A Renter’s Nursery Decor
Melissa Esplin of I Still Love You wanted a personalized space for daughter Penelope. As a renter who can’t make any major changes to the space, Esplin warmed up the room with a scalloped contact paper border, a bright rug and a whimsical handmade mobile.
Whimsical Nursery Decorations: Into the Woods
Amanda of MODG eventually created a woodland-themed room for son Gavin, but it all started with dark neutral walls. “I knew I wanted bold colors to pop off of the gray walls. The browns grounded the room. I ended up with wood tones, which then created the ‘woods’ theme,” says Amanda. “I really think the blue chair pulled it together. It was definitely a risk buying a chair in such a bold color, but it’s such a standout piece.”
Baby Room Color Combinations
Jade Sims of Craft Hope created a serene space for daughter Chloe using her favorite color combo and a mix of homemade and vintage finds. “I love the colors aqua and red together and knew that I wanted that for my next nursery,” says Sims. “I also used all white furniture to create a clean space.”
Nursery Makeover: Room to Playroom
Erin Williamson, also of Design Crisis, wanted to give son Ike’s room an update as he grew into a toddler. “I knew I wanted a mini man cave for Ike, something that reflected how much he has grown and changed in the last 18 months. I tried to create something that felt very finished and sophisticated but still left plenty of space to just be a messy little kid,” says Williamson. “When I found the rug on Craig’s List I had some direction, but I was still left with a lot of disparate elements. The paint color (Wolf by Pratt and Lambert), really brought everything into balance.”
