How to Style a Nursery You'll Love as Much as Your Baby Does

Often, the only thing you know about your little one prior to birth is the gender, so it's understandable that parents want to design around it. In this age of sophisticated nursery design, however, gender references have been toned way down. Leura elaborates, "Even when people know the gender of the baby, they're not saying, 'OK, I'm using pinks and lavenders and white for girls or blues and reds for boys.' All the basic styling for furniture and color choices, people are treating the nursery in a lot of ways as just another room to be decorated in the style of their home. It doesn't have to be so gender specific."

Think outside the box when it comes to wall color because pastels and primary colors are no longer the only options. "Whether it's a gray nursery, an unusual color combination, or even all neutral, or just more sophisticated colors like maroons or teals, you're definitely seeing colors in nurseries that you've never seen before," says Leura.

With an increasing number of furniture companies jumping on the baby bandwagon, there are more product options to choose from than ever before. Instead of deciding between a light- or dark-wood crib, parents are now choosing among distinctive furniture styles, such as midcentury modern, industrial, and Mediterranean. Leura explains, "We have a wide variety of products that are accessible in mass market for every genre of design, and that's finally been mirrored in nursery design as well." Photo by Renee Hollingshead Photography via Style Me Pretty

There's no reason to work baby up from cartoon art to fine art. Hang stylish pieces from the start. "Before you had either wall decals or hanging mobiles . . . now you're seeing gallery walls, mirrors, and cool 3D objects installed on walls. Dynamic art and wall decor is something that's very new," says Leura. Photo by Nina & B via Style Me Pretty

Once an isolated kiddie zone packed with stuffed animals and Winnie the Pooh wall decals, the nursery is now being thought of as a natural extension of the home. Accordingly, it's being decorated in a way that matches the overall look and feel of the house. Whimsical touches are still welcome, but the rustic decor in the rest of the house, for example, is now being continued into the nursery.

In reality, the nursery is not just for the baby; it's for the parents who want a beautiful space to change the baby in and the grandmother who sleeps in the room during the early days when the newborn is bunking with Mom and Dad. As time goes on, the room is for the child the baby grows up to be. Parents are starting to shop with these multiuses in mind. "They're thinking about how the room will transition from nursery into toddlerhood or even to be used as a guest bedroom just because for so many of us, space is very limited," says Leura, who sees clients looking for daybeds to accommodate guests and convertible cribs that keep up with growing children.