So, you’ve got a baby on the way and you’re full of ideas for the new nurs­ery… or maybe you’ve got no ideas, or just too many. Sit down and relax. The good news is, there are no set in stone rules any­more and nurs­eries don’t have to con­form to some idea of tra­di­tion. You can truly have some fun, and keep within the designed look and feel of the rest of your home. Yes, nurs­eries are going chic, so come on board!

It’s not the case that cold and heart­less, design-only minded par­ents are behind the psy­chol­ogy of this new move­ment for the chic nurs­ery, it’s more­over that prac­ti­cal­ity is play­ing a stronger role in the approach to the child’s room. Many are opt­ing for long-term decor that’ll blend with the rest of the house and will be suit­able for their new­borns as they emerge into tod­dler­hood and beyond.

There is a move­ment away from the tra­di­tional pas­tel pinks and blues, with themes of teddy bears and all things “baby”. Home­own­ers and new par­ents are opt­ing for bold col­ors and con­trast­ing geo­met­ric designs. These ele­ments are entic­ing, and stim­u­lat­ing for the new­born, but are often trans­fer­able to the rest of your home design. Like­wise, these looks are some­what neu­tral and will not out­grow the child as soon as he/she real­izes that teddy bears are for babies, while they’re strut­ting their for year old, big-boy or big-girl attitudes.

Another option for the nurs­ery is to stick to neu­tral tones for the paint. From here, you can add as much color as your like with bed­ding, pic­tures, mobiles and lanterns.

Of course the neces­si­ties are still there. You’ll need a crib and a change table. But today there are souped up, highly mod­ern and prac­ti­cal ver­sions of these pur­chases on the mar­ket. You can find cribs that can trans­form into sin­gle beds, and change tables that have a replace­able top, to grow with your child– so you don’t have to think about pur­chas­ing new items every year or so.

In terms of a theme inspired room, again many are opt­ing for themes that are gen­der neu­tral and that can carry on through and beyond the infant years. Think under the sea, the for­est and vir­tu­ally any­thing con­nected to nature.

Ide­ally you want a place that is stim­u­lat­ing for your child, but noth­ing too alarm­ing or dis­tract­ing. Great fin­ish­ing touches to con­sider are wall bor­ders, col­or­ful mobiles, throw pil­lows, afghans, dec­o­ra­tive lamps and theme inspired night lights.