Every mother to be wants a nest built with love, but most, especially new mothers, don’t have a clue when it comes to decorating a baby nursery. Chances are that you are going to have some questions like, “What colors should my nursery be?”, “What is the best theme for baby?”, and “What about safety for baby?”. This is to be expected and is usually a good start. In this article my aim is to give some answers to these questions so you can build a baby nursery that will be perfect for your little bundle of joy. When decorating baby’s nest I find the best place to begin our journey is to first decide on the colors, which lead to our theme, and are followed up with baby safety.

The foundation of your baby nursery is built first with the selection of your colors. There has been a ton of research done about what colors a baby needs to be surrounded with for the most benefit. Put yourself in baby’s shoes for a moment and think about all the new things that you will be introduced to and all the different colors that come along with it. Soothing and calming colors are better than bold and exciting. We don’t want to overload baby and give a bad first impression. This isn’t to say that bold and exciting cannot be used to bring a little flair to the room. In fact, using a bold color is fine to use on things like trim or an accent wall. Just don’t over do it.

Colors may have psychological advantages and disadvantages to baby’s mind and development. We want to use colors that will enhance baby’s senses instead of confusing them. Now this may sound like over kill, but why make things difficult for the little tike. Remember, baby is a sponge soaking in everything around. Let’s look at two colors and what their impact may be on baby’s mind.

Red may not be what you are looking for. At least not as a primary color. Red is a color that stimulates emotion. It has been known to increase the heart beat and breathing. If you must use Red in your baby nursery decor, consider using it only as an accent.

White is a wonderful color to use in your baby nursery decor. White symbolizes purity and innocence. What better way to represent a new life on earth? The added bonus of white is that it is a neutral color and goes with everything.

There are many reasons why you want to use a theme in your nursery decor, but the main reason is for baby’s first learning experience in the world. When deciding on a theme you should always have baby’s best interest in mind and not your own. When shopping around for themes you may think some things are a bit corny or over the wall silly, but the simplicity of the themes is want you want to look for, not what you personally like or dislike. This allows baby to focus on just a few objects that are simple in nature and is a great unobtrusive start in allowing baby’s brain to develop. Animals, butterflies, frogs, and nature are good places to start and are great themes to expand upon later. You could even go with simple shapes and patterns and build into nature at a later time.

So now lets get started and build this little nest from the ground up, but wait! We forgot the most important thing to plan before we jump in. There are so many horror stories of mishaps that happen in the nursery due to not baby proofing. Now is the perfect time to start doing things like buying a crib with safety features, removing small items that came with your theme like buttons that could be choked on, and finally covering all places where little fingers could come in contact with electricity. Also consider a baby monitor so you can hear baby’s cries or lack there of. Better safe today then sorry tomorrow.

In closing, remember you have many things to plan before decorating your baby’s nursery. Keep it simple and begin with selecting soft, soothing colors. Themes are meant for baby and not you so keep them simple in design so baby isn’t confused. Finally, remember that your baby’s safety is in your hands, so baby proof everything.

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