Your little one’s arrival is imminent but despite hours spent on Pinterest or trawling through department stores, you’ve still no clue how to make a start on the nursery. Here’s some helpful inspiration on how to create the perfect place for your baby to sleep peacefully and thrive naturally. 

Sweet dreams

New parents can be overwhelmed when it comes to selecting a cot for their prince or princess to sleep. A cot bed is a fantastic option as it can grow with your baby. The most practical, are those that benefit from having adaptable sides which you can take off to form an open bed when your baby turns to toddler.

While clean lines in natural materials are still the norm, the design of cot beds has changed immensely and they are becoming a statement piece of furniture. Stokke, understands that mum and dads want their child’s first bedroom to be special and offer a range of knock-out nursery furniture to suit every style. Its ‘Sleepi’ creates an oval shaped nest for new-borns and opens to accommodate the changing needs of a growing child, while maintaining a comforting familiarity. An investment, but one which should stand the test of time.

New-age scandi

We’d normally associate clean, white and uncluttered with Scandinavian home décor but patterns which clash and unexpected combinations of colours are bringing excitement and personality to babies’ environments this year.

To take inspiration from this style you’ll need to be bold and beautiful with a mash up of stylish wallpapers, fabrics and retro items based on Scandinavian living.

Fabrics should be pattern-based and pop with colour. Those which are popular are classic stripes, stylised trees and animal prints teamed with geometric embroidery. The iLiv ‘two by two’ collection provides the perfect patterns to kick-off your new-age Scandi nursery.

Clashing wall colours such as corals, yellow and turquoise can create a cool, yet warming room for baby. However, don’t go overboard so your little one needs sunglasses to enter.

Imaginative storage

With a new-born in the home you’ll find yourself getting up several times in the middle of the night and often you’ll not want to wake your baby by putting on the light. It’s therefore important to keep walkways and floors clutter free, avoiding trip hazards. There’s so much playful storage available and we absolutely love the simplicity of TELLKIDDO’s paper bag bear which is great for keeping loose nursing items and objects free from under your feet.

As ever, Ikea is always a good place to seek storage solutions and its children’s section is always growing. You can pick up cheap and cheerful hangers for as little as £4.75 for five and open-front shelves for books.

Speaking of bedtime stories, for those with a thirst for design, Rowen and Wren has launched a wooden character sheep to contain books. It’s proved a massive hit with both parents and children and we can see why.

Monochrome for high contrast

Your new-born baby can hear your voice, feel your touch and smell your scent. While baby’s vision may be one of the least developed senses at birth, visual input during the early months can have a profound effect on your baby’s developing nervous system. An emerging trend for nurseries is to help stimulate vision by using black and white stripes or light and dark contrasting colours.

To do this effectively choose white walls, changing units and dressers and blend with black and white bedding, monochrome storage and accessories to mix and match your décor with style.

Black and white nursery pieces can make it easy to experiment with colour later too so your nursery can be transformed as your baby develops.

Are you in the process of decorating a nursery ready for your new arrival? If you have any questions about the iLiv range of fabrics, do let us know in the comments below or call 01772 651 199. 

  • Images used courtesey of LeMewBaby.com and tellkiddo on Etsy