Are you planning your baby’s nursery and want to know how to design it from start to finish? If so, then this is the post for you! This is the step-by-step process I used to create the perfect space for my little one.
*This post may contains affiliate links. That means if you purchase something using a link I may receive a small commission (at not additional cost to you). Read the full disclosure here.
Planning Our Baby’s Nursery
When I found out I was pregnant, I was flooded with a range of emotions. First came shock, then some nervousness and then finally the excitement kicked in!
When I could finally think straight again one of the first things I did was envision the nursery I wanted to create. We didn’t know the gender of the baby or even my exact due date at that time, but my head was full of random ideas I had seen over the years.
After looking at what seemed like nearly 100 different pictures of my absolute favourites, I felt like I was on the right track to narrowing down some concrete ideas for the baby’s nursery. It was fun, but it was also very overwhelming.
Creating the Perfect Baby’s Nursery
Eventually, my husband and I settled on a theme and slowly began putting together what would become my daughter’s nursery. When I began I could have never envisioned how perfect the space would turn out, but I must say I’m in love with the finished product!
It took us most of my pregnancy to finish the room if you include all of the research to execution time, but I must say it was well worth it. The room was used as a storage space and needed a lot of work.
No matter what look you’re going for for your baby’s nursery, I think that you can learn a lot from our process!
Whether you want to create something similar to ours, or a completely different look, these tips are helpful to show you the steps we took to design a functional and beautiful space from scratch.
If you are interested in creating a safari theme nursery similar to ours, be sure to check out this post where I share how I found a lot of the amazing pieces we added to our nursery.
Related post: Safari Theme Nursery Finds
I hope that by sharing these tips you can create the perfect baby’s nursery for your little one!
How to Design your Baby’s Nursery in 12 Simple Steps!
1. Consider the room (or area) size!
No matter the size of the space you’re working with, and whether it is a room, a corner or another designated area, you can have the perfect nursery space for your baby. I say corner or space because realistically you don’t actually need a whole room right away for your baby. You may instead choose whatever designated space based on your preference, ease of access and available space in your home.
Our first consideration was to figure out what location in our home would be best for the baby. We discussed its functionality, size, safety, and other factors we thought were important. Did we want a short-term or long-term space? Will they share it with other siblings?
No matter where you choose and how big or small it is, this location will eventually become your baby’s primary space and house their belongings. This warrants some serious thought!
We chose a small room that we knew we could make functional for long-term use. Our hope was that she would be able to grow into it and make it her own once she’s older.
2. Envision what you want the room to do!
Although it is recommend that babies sleep in their parents room for 6-12 months, some may choose to have baby occupy their nursery space right away. Even if baby isn’t sleeping there, it can be used it for diaper changes, naps, storage or other reasons.
Think about what your nursery space will be used for right away and how you want it to change or develop as your baby grows.
Some factors to consider are: Do you plan to use it for baby to sleep right away? Will this be a temporary space or baby’s permanent room as they grow? Is storage important?
Think about what is important for your family and how you want your nursery space to work. These answers will inform the decisions you make in the proceeding steps.
3. Complete any needed renovations!
Does your space need to be renovated? Maybe the flooring is damaged or inappropriate for the space. Do changes need to be made to the wall? Does the area need painting? Do you need additional closet or storage space? What about lighting, windows or doorways? Consider the structure of the room first, and then any major cosmetic changes you may want to make.
It is a good idea to complete any major renovations first and get these out of the way before you actually start furnishing and decorating the room.
These could be DIY projects that you complete with your spouse, family members or friends. Alternatively you could hire someone to complete the work professionally. Consider the changes you want to make and decide which option is best to you to get them done.
To give you some ideas:
We installed new flooring, painted the walls and ceiling, and removed an old closet and replaced with a new one with lots of storage; These were primarily cosmetic changes. We also removed an old window that wouldn’t open so that we could ensure the room would get lots of fresh air and was safe for baby.
The room had not had any renovations since our home was built, so we felt like this was the best time to make these major changes, considering that we wanted the space to be used long-term for baby.
4. Choose a theme or concept for your perfect baby’s nursery!
The next step on our list was to select a theme for our baby’s room. This one was hard for me because there are so many cute ideas! I scoured Pinterest for something that my husband and I would both like.
Our goal was to find something gender neutral because we still hadn’t found out the gender of our baby (and didn’t until I was about 6 months pregnant).
We considered that we may have other kids in the future and wanted to create a nursery space that could possibly work for future children, without having to make extensive changes.
We thought of how various themes would work with certain colour preferences, lighting in our particular space, the tiles we chose etc. Although you may like a certain theme, it may not suit every space. It is a good idea to consider the current fixtures, molding, flooring and other fixed elements in the room when finalizing your choices for a theme.
This is really a personal preference and one that you’ll have to live with for some time, warranting some serious thought! We chose a neutral safari theme and gave it a little twist, which you will read about later.
To read more about our safari theme look, check out this post.
5. Choose your colour palette for your baby’s nursery!
Now that you have a theme, with it in mind choose colours that you feel will compliment the space.
When choosing room colours I like to go with a base colour (white), a neutral (grey), and accent colour (pink). We complimented these with a metal and/or wood . I have noted our choices to give you an idea of how these choices can come together. We also chose silver and a light wood.
It is important to consider how light or dark your space is. Our room needed brightening so we chose light colours that would do just that.
Next, figure out how you will utilize the colours in the space. Will you do one wall colour or multiple? Will you do a feature wall incorporating wall paper or decals? What colours will be used to accentuate? Which will be focal colours? For example, I found it important not to use too much of certain colours (especially pink), as we didn’t want it to overpower the small space.
We used our base and neutral colours for the main elements in the room (paint, tiles, furnishings) and accentuated with the others, to give the room a clean look.
You will notice in pictures that only my accents and small pieces are pink; My logic was that if we have another child and I wanted to swap out this colour, we don’t have to make any big changes. Perhaps you may consider a similar idea.
Because of our theme we also incorporated a touch of green in our room for some safari greenery. You can add in some additional colours if it fits your theme but try to keep focused on a few key colours so the room isn’t too busy.
6. Choose furniture based on your needs!
You want to furnish your baby’s room with durable, safe and nice looking pieces that you’ll feel good about. Consider reading reviews that you can find on company sites, amazon, youtube, parenting sites and other sources. Before purchasing any of my large pieces of furniture, I sought out reviews from other parents.
Choose furniture based on what you will actually need and use in this space. There is no point buying things that will sit and collect dust for years. We tried to keep it simple by choosing a few pieces since we were working with a small space.
We were really impressed with the reviews on the Dream on Me cribs and change tables, so selected one for our nursery. Click the link above to check out their range of products, 
Dream on Me Marcus Change Table and Dresser
Dream on Me Chelsea 5 in 1 Convertible Crib
You don’t have to break the bank! Consider your budget, and choose pieces that work for you. Do your research and shop around. New or used items will work quite well once they’re clean and safe.
7. Pick bedding and linens to accentuate your theme in your baby’s nursery!
Next on my list were linens. These are often fun ways to play up your theme and bring some uniqueness to the room. We required bedding, curtains, change table cover and a bed skirt, based on the furniture we chose. We wanted to bring in elements from our theme without it feeling overdone, so did not choose a coordinated set.
You may get a full set, which typically come with all the linens you will need. Alternatively, you can choose individual pieces that will compliment each other.
Remember to be mindful of the fabrics and quality of materials that you choose. Organic cotton is often recommended for hypoallergenic qualities.
Look out for any safety hazards or disclosures, such as items that may be choking hazards or contain toxic materials. For bedding, remember that bumpers are no longer recommended for cribs because of suffocation risk.
This was also a great opportunity to add some pink by add (our unique twist on our safari theme because at this point we had found out we were having a girl). For example, we chose light pink blackout curtains as well as some thinner white sheer curtain with pompoms to match the bed skirt for when we want to let some sunlight in.
tie backs
Some of the items we purchased were:
- White Sheer Curtains with Pompoms
- Lambs and Ivy Pink and White Leopard Fitted Sheets
- Little Unicorn Tropical Leaf Change Table Cover
- Pompom White Bed Skirt
-
- Curtains
-
- Crib Net Canopy
I love how all of our unique separates fit so well together and created such a beautiful look!
To check out more of the items we used in our daughter’s room, click here.
8. Add accent pieces and wall decor to your baby’s nursery!
Accent pieces and decor are important to bring the theme and final look together. This is where you can really get creative and add unique touches that will make the space your baby’s own. Really make it stand apart!
Do you have cool gifted items or some DIY projects you made yourself? Perhaps you have some pieces from your own childhood? Whatever you decide to incorporate, choose simple additions that will help to make the space one-of-a-kind!
To tie together our neutral safari theme, we chose some signatures pieces that went a long way to add boldness and colour to the room. We opted for simple animal prints, which we put in pink frames, and added some greenery wall stickers around to make them stand out. You can find out more about them our theme here.
Next, we installed wall shelves for a book corner, a mirror, a shelf to place trinkets on and a cross over the door. My favourite addition was our animal print focal wall. We purchased the decals online and stuck them on ourselves! Everyone tells us how amazing it looks.
Filling up wall space can make the area look completely different. There is so much that you can do! I hope that sharing what we added gives you some inspiration.
Here are some of the items used:
- Floating Bookshelves
- Animal Prints
- Pink 11 X 14 Frames
9. Add final touches to your perfect nursery!
Items such as little toys, picture frames, books and baskets are great ways to fill shelves and round off your look. The baskets also double as storage space! We incorporated a lot of baskets, containers and other items that could store clothing, headbands, toys and all the other things that need to be put away in a baby’s room.
Next, we scattered the room with safari themed stuffed animals to help the room come alive!
You can read about some of our favourites in this post.
Other items you may want to add are rugs, ottomans, jewelry box, knitted items or small gifts that you cherish.
In our nursery, some small touches such as lights, a dream catcher and stars added to the window area gave it a special touch. We also hung a picture made by a family friend and one of a giraffe I painted years ago.
Our final addition was a name sign that I ordered from Etsy. It was the perfect final touch to give the room a special look.
This is where you can really go crazy and add your creative touch, so have fun with it!
Here are some of the items used:
- Dream Catcher
- White Woven Baskets
10. Organize closet space and drawers in your baby’s nursery!
Now that your room is basically decorated and filled with furniture for your baby, you can move to filling the closet space with items you will use to store clothing and supplies.
Depending on the layout of your closet space (or clothing and storage area if you don’t have an actual closet) you can add hangers, storage baskets, dividers, tubs or other items that will help you to keep the space organized.
Start by thinking of what items you will keep in this area. Will it be used for only clothing or do you also need space for things like toys, diapers, toiletries or other items. This helped me to decide what organization tools I needed.
Some people choose to label or use dividers to block of space for specific items or clothing sizes. This can be really helpful for big spaces that will hold a lot of items, so that they stay organized even when full. The worst thing is to have just a big cluttered area.
It is a good idea to use dividers or little baskets in dresser drawers because baby clothes and stuff is so small. It can easily get disorganized or become hard to find it those big drawers.
Use whatever you need to make it functional and work for you. This is another area that you can be really creative and design it based on your unique needs.
We opted for large storage baskets and zippered bins, baskets, dividers to separate clothing by size and baby hangers. We used labels on the large storage baskets to identify what was in them as we have a tall closet which makes it hard to see exactly what is in them.
This helped me to create a very organized functional space that holds clothing, shoes, toiletries, travel items, nursing supplies, diapers, wipes and other items.
We used these baskets:
- Grey Closet Baskets
11. Add technology as needed in your baby’s nursery!
At this point we felt like the room was pretty much complete and ready to be filled with the baby’s things, but then realized that there was one more step! Technology! This will be different for everyone; Depending on your needs you may choose to add a camera, baby monitor, oxygen monitor, tablet or other monitoring device. These days there are so many different options available, but we felt that it was important to consider where these items would go and what we needed before baby arrived.
We added a camera to the room so that we could monitor the baby. We installed it right on the wall above the crib; It gives us not only a great view of our baby girl’s sleeping quarters, but also monitors temperature and humidity in the room. It has some other great features and my favourite part is that it works with an app on my phone.
Here is the camera we chose:
- Cubo Ai Plus Camera
12. Final preparations for your baby’s nursery!
So, you’ve made it to the end! You’re basically done at this point and the room is finally ready for your little bundle of joy.
The final step is to fill the room with anything and everything else you need for the baby.
This means clothing, toys, stuffed animals, blankets, personal items, caddies, diapers, wipes, etc.
For ideas on what you may need for the baby’s first 6 months and how to fill up your baby registry, check out this post.
Related Post: How to Create our Baby Registry.
You will determine what you need and where it goes in your nice organized space. We did this about a month before the baby arrived because we wanted to feel ready in case she arrived early, and it was a good thing that she did because less than two weeks later our beautiful daughter was born.
My best advice is not to wait too late to complete this final step, although it is fine if you do it after they arrive too.
We were just grateful to have everything complete so that we could spend every moment possible with our baby girl once we brought her home. Things certainly got busy once arrived!
Final Thoughts
I hope that you have found this post helpful. My hope is that it has given you an idea of the steps you can take to design your unique perfect baby’s nursery!
I Would Love to Hear From You
If you have questions about these tips or about any of the items we used in our nursery, please feel free to contact me. I would love to share more photos with you!
I love how you’ve broken this down! I’m in the process of transitioning my daughter to her own room, and this is a perfect step-by-step process on how to create her space! Thank you!