10 Essential Nursery Design Tips for New Parents

You have a little one on the way. Designing a nursery is one of the most fun and inspiring projects you can undertake in your home. You get to tap into a sense of enchantment and wonder that you felt, once upon a time, at the dashing of Peter Pan and the mystique of the secret garden. If you’re starting to nest and feeling excited but, understandably, overwhelmed, here are a few pointers—one mom to another—about what to consider and prioritize when designing this precious space. 

1. Balance Functionality with Aesthetics

You’ve always pictured a child’s nursery to be magical. A place of exploration and inspiration, where pattern and color collide in a way that sparks joy and tiny baby giggles. And while that all still might be true, this is also a room where a lot of life happens.

Alongside your impeccable paint choice and collection of cuddleable lovies, consider how you need to function in the space (changing diapers, late-night feedings, and lots of rocking to sleep). Ensure you’re creating a space that doesn’t just look beautiful but works beautifully. 

2. Invest in Furnishings that Last

So many things you purchase for your child will be short-lived. Clothes, diapers, toys. It seems like the hamster wheel of buying, borrowing, giving. By contrast, your nursery furnishings are pieces that have the opportunity to last and grow with your child. A beautiful dresser, a well-crafted cabinet, a darling mirror, a whimsical chandelier.

Select pieces that can grow with them, or that you can see living new lives in other spaces. My daughter’s nursery has a charming white dresser, a ceramic lamp, and beautiful oak shelving.  I love these pieces and am excited to repurpose them when she’s ready for a new season. 

3. Opt for Beautiful, but Kid Friendly

Your job as a parent, chiefly, is to love your child and keep them safe. And while there are plenty of places in life where you can’t control the elements, you can do a pretty good job of it in their little sanctuary.

Select furnishings that have soft rounded corners, are sturdy, and extend to the floor. While this doesn’t keep all the boogiemen out, it does create a space where it’s naturally so much safer and easier for them to play. No tables toppling over, no crawling under furniture, no knocking their noggin on a sharp corner. Small wins, sweeter spaces, more exploration.

4. Prioritize Soothing Lighting

Late night feedings, afternoon naps, long stretches of rocking your little one back and forth. In these moments, the subtle details of ambient lighting create a setting that helps produce the coveted result: calm and sleep. Put your main lights on dimmers, and pepper the room with a table lamp, floor lamp, and nightlight. Each moment of lighting allows you to perfectly tailor your nursery’s ambiance.

5. Set the Mood

With the lighting box checked, you want to consider the other senses. Add a speaker to the room for the indispensable white noise and lullabies. If you’re feeling a touch ambitious (or if your husband, like mine, appreciates any opportunity to update your home’s tech), install Sonos speakers in the ceiling. Our Sonos has become one of my favorite elements in our home. It’s impossibly easy to cue on your phone and, especially in a baby’s room, I love having one less “thing” (i.e. the speaker) sitting on a surface. 

6. Shut out the Sun

Next, add blackout drapes. Your baby is not yet well-mannered enough to sleep through the night (tsk, tsk!), so you’ll want to create a dark and cozy space no matter the hour. I love pairing blackout drapes with sheers or shades to create a textured and layered look that can let light in or miraculously make it midnight.

7. Source Beautiful Storage

If there is one thing that’s consistently true about babies, it’s that they have an inordinate amount of things. Whether you buy them, are gifted them, or if they come magically via Stork, your home will become overrun with small objects that need a home. And if they don’t have one, they’ll lounge happily on the rug and in the hallway, a trail of tiny toy breadcrumbs for you to delightfully trip on.

The solve? Invest in beautiful closed storage. I love heritage-style cabinets and upholstered trunks, baskets with lids, and sets of dresser drawers. When it comes to storage, you simply cannot have enough.

8. Play with Patterns and Colors

There are rooms where you are always given a permission slip to be a little more daring and creative, and the nursery is one of them. Children are forces of magic, compelled by imagination, delight and connection, so let yourself have a little fun. Play with pattern. Throw a little paint on the walls. Try out that wallpaper. Consider your inner whimsy, and let it stretch its wings.

9. It’s Your Room, Too

Nurseries, naturally, are about babies. And while I’m sure they would marvel and be full of gratitude at the time you spent creating a space just for them, the reality is they’re more concerned about you than their space. They want love and adoration, not a write-up in Architectural Digest.

So consider this permission to realize that, at the start, the nursery is just as much a space for you as for them. You’ll be the one changing the diapers, manning the midnight feeding sessions, and reading books in the cozy corner. So lean into that. How can you create a space that honors the wonder of childhood, yet simultaneously sparks your heart with peace and warmth? 

10. Don’t be Too Precious

Last but not least, accept that your baby is a child. Glorious, prayed for, perfectly made and yet—simultaneously—primed with an instinct to color on walls on pee on floors. Instead of creating a space where you’re anxious about spills and water marks, design a room where you’re willing to live a good and real life. Stains can wash out, surfaces can be refinished, and smells can—eventually—evaporate. So if life happens, take it with stride and smiles. After all, the most important thing in the room isn’t a thing at all but a person.