How To Plan And Design A Nursery You Love

When I became pregnant with my son, it was a total surprise. My husband and I were not planning on trying for a bambino for a few years, so contrary to a lot of mommas, it took me a long time to get excited to start planning and preparing for baby. A huge part of my process in coming to terms with having a son earlier than I thought was designing his nursery. I was nervous to become a momma, and throwing myself into the nursery was just what I needed to help me fall in love with my little boy before he arrived.

But planning and designing a nursery from scratch is hard work! It’’s hard to know where to start, let alone get everything completed by the time your little one finally makes their presence known in the outside world. From my experience, here are a few easy steps that help break down the process of designing a nursery to keep it as stress and worry-free as possible.

1. Clear the clutter. Assuming you know the room your baby will be in, clear out anything that won’t be staying in the room. We converted an old “catch-all” room into Eli’s nursery, and I knew right away that nothing would be staying. Having an empty room will help you visualize the future space and determine your needs if you’re not trying to work around things that won’t be in the room anyway. Plus, it forces you to find a place for all that extra stuff, so you don’t have to deal with it after baby comes.

2. Determine your budget. Before you get too far down the planning road, talk with your husband about your budget. You can easily throw down $4,000 if you’re not careful, and for some people, that might be perfectly reasonable. But for most of us, the budget lands somewhere (far, far) below that. Settle on a number before you start falling in love with too many pieces that are out of your budget.

3. Measure your space. Take time to go around the room and make measurements of everything. The size of the windows, the space between windows, how high your ceilings are. Everything. Since by now the room should be totally empty, it’ll be easy to grab a tape measure and get those numbers down. Write them on a small piece of paper that you can carry in your wallet. You’ll be referencing it often to make sure you get things in the right size.

4. Determine your needs. While you’re measuring your space, you will likely starting envisioning where you might put the crib or the glider. Take notes of the things you want, and make a list. There are so many things out there that you can purchase for a baby, but only a few things you need. Make a point to plan your space thoughtfully. Think about things like if you have room for an overstuffed glider, or need something smaller and more simple. Are you planning on this room growing with your little one? If so, consider a crib that converts to a toddler bed. There are many questions you’ll face as you plan the room, it’s a good idea to write down the necessities before you get too deep into selecting items.

5. Decide on a color scheme and/or theme. Now this is getting to the fun part. Take a look at Pinterest for ideas on themes and color schemes for nurseries. If you’re like most moms-to-be, you probably already have a board with 845 photos pinned of nurseries you love. Narrow it down to some of your favorites and print them out. Or take your laptop up to the future nursery and try to envision some of the colors you’re thinking of in the space. Decide if you’d like to go gender neutral, or if you’re going to go all out “boy” or “girl.” My husband and I wanted the nursery to work for multiple children, so we chose to do a mostly gender neutral nursery – with a few items that looked specifically “boy.” By changing the curtains, pillow on the glider, and some of the artwork and small items, the room can easily be transitioned to a girl someday, if we’re blessed to have another. This is a great time to determine the wall color as well, throw up a few swatches and watch them in different lighting throughout the day before you make your final decision.

6. Make a mood board. It’s time to start shopping! But before you make your actual purchases, create a mood board. You can easily create a mood board in PowerPoint, or even in Google Drive. Just save the image of a product you like to your hard drive, then bring the image into your document. This will help you visualize the room and see how products work together. If you’re out and about shopping, snap a pic with your phone, and add it to your mood board when you get home. Also, be sure to take photos of anything distinct or large that you won’t be moving out of the room and put them on the mood board as well. Because my husband and I have large amounts of exposed woodwork in our home, I included that in the mood board, so I would remember to make anything I purchased work with the tone of wood we have (ie: The color orange does not work well in our home, as it makes the wood look orange too.) BUT, don’t feel like you have to have every. single. item. you want on the mood board. This is to give you a general idea of the type of things you’re looking for. Often the large pieces will be the exact items, but the smaller, more decorative items, can just be samples. This leaves room for you to make things or shop the clearance aisles, to save a little money. One final note: Make sure to note your sources so once your mood board is done, you can actually remember where to get those items!

7. Make large item purchases. Finally! The fun part! After all the planning, you finally get to make purchases! I’d recommend starting with the largest items first, to build a base for your nursery. Even with all the planning sometimes things are larger than you envisioned, or don’t look the same in the room as it did online. The large items are the things you truly need to have, and usually eat up the majority of the budget. Make sure these items truly work in your own home before moving on to the “filler” items.  Plus, the crib and changing table/dresser are WAY easier to build in an almost empty room, rather than one that’s filled with the little design details.

8. Fill in the rest. Now this is the true fun part. This is where you can get super creative in preparation for your little one. For the smaller accessories consider making a garland or a mobile for your baby – when you DIY something, you can make it perfectly match the theme of your room, and Pinterest has tons of tutorials. And don’t forget all those baby gifts that are likely rolling in right now. Baby clothes, baby shoes, stuffed animals, books and more, all make great decor items. Or shop Etsy for some fun art, visit garage sales, or hit the clearance aisles at Target. I’ve found lots of great things in our home that I loved, but just needed a coat of spray paint to work in a room. These were the things that really helped me to feel like I was nesting in preparation for our baby – and these are the things that I love the most today!

I know it can feel so overwhelming to create a beautiful nursery for your baby, but ultimately, remember – they don’t care about what the nursery looks like when they come home, it’s really for you. So don’t put too much stock into finding the “perfect glider” or having a beautiful crib sheet. In the end, those things won’t matter. Try to enjoy the process of putting together a nursery, but don’t overthink it and don’t worry too much about it because the perfect curtains are not a measure of your love for your baby – it’s how you care for them and love them. What matters is how you develop their heart, not how you develop their bedroom. But it can’t hurt to have a space you enjoy, right? Good luck momma, I know you’ll do great.