8 Mistakes You’re Making when Decorating your Nursery

So many of us love decorating our children’s rooms but what are some mistakes that could be bringing the look of the room down? We asked Kaylah from Little Finch Designs to talk about eight common mistakes that are made and how you can avoid them…

1. Too much/ too big furniture

This is a pretty simple one but I’ve seen it a lot in nurseries and children’s rooms, people trying to fit such big furniture and so much of it and it can really leave the room feeling so cramped and small. If you don’t have the room size to accommodate a lot of large furniture it is much nicer to have a little less/ smaller furniture and to have a more flowing, spacious feeling room. Empty wall space is a good thing and doesn’t always mean we need to find something to fill it!

When buying furniture, consider the size and shape of the room and work with what you have. Take measurements to see what will fit comfortably and go from there.

2. Too many colours

Before I start this one- I absolutely love colour! (I’m a designer – I have to!) and for fear of sounding like the fun police, too many different colours can be something that can give children’s rooms a less cohesive look.

I know this can be hard when your child probably owns something in every colour of the rainbow, but if you’d like a more cohesive look choose two, maybe three favourites that go well together and use just those. Once you’ve chosen your colour scheme and you decorate within the scheme you will be surprised how nicely a room can come together.

3. Avoid character themes

Character themes can have such a short life span. While baby animals are pretty cute are you planning to replace everything when your baby becomes a toddler and they might not be so fitting anymore? Or will they still love Peppa Pig as much in a year or two? It can save a lot of money and time if you design your child a room that can easily grow up with them.

If you don’t want to avoid character themes all together you could try picking one more appropriate for older children as well as younger. That way it’s suitable for longer and you won’t be changing the whole room and paying for a new theme straight away. Another idea, if you have your heart set on a character theme try keeping the larger and more expensive items (like walls and furniture) neutral and add some smaller pieces of your chosen theme.

4. Incorrect size rug

The wrong size rug, or in particular a rug that is too small, can bring down an otherwise well designed room. A centred, large rug needs to be big enough to cover most of the floor and be tucked under furniture; anything smaller than this leaves the room feeling smaller and awkward. If you would like to use a smaller rug, anchor it to one item- a chair or bedside table for example, rather than having it floating in the middle of the room.

See how well this nursery from www.theposhhome.com flows:

 

Compared to this lounge room  with the incorrect size rug:

5. Unbalanced Furnishings

If you would like your nursery or child’s room to flow nicely one important thing to think about is the furniture and decor placement and how they cooperate to create a balanced room. To ensure the ‘visual weight’ of the items isn’t all in one area plan where they are going to be placed in relation to each other.

So, if you’re placing a cot on one wall a large set of drawers should not be right next to it but maybe on a wall opposite. This rule also goes for patterns, texture and colour. Make sure dark and bright colours, busy patterns or decor with interesting texture aren’t all placed together. Distribute these evenly so that the layout of the room is balanced.

6. Not making the most of the change table

A lot of people can look to change tables as a necessity and only that, without thinking of ways they can include it in the style of the room. As it is usually one of the main pieces of furniture in a nursery it has great potential to bring the room together. To decorate it you could use some storage boxes that go with the colours in the room, add a nice change mat cover, some small decor or even a nice shelf or mobile above it.

Another idea that is good to really utilize your space if you have a smaller room is to use drawers as a change table by adding a mat or changing basket.

 

7. Treating storage as an after thought

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, storage is KEY in children’s rooms. Small humans need a lot of stuff (or so we think) so to avoid a room looking cluttered organise a great storage system. This could include drawers, shelves, wardrobe, storage boxes the list goes on!

There are so many ways to add storage that will go with your child’s room – I’ve covered a few storage ideas here.

8. Too ‘matchy-matchy’

Another mistake made frequently is decorating in too much of the same colour so that the room is ‘matchy-matchy’ and consequently, boring. To solve this try adding an extra colour to your scheme like a contrasting or bright colour and just add a few pieces of decor to create some interest in the room.

Texture can also be used as a different feature to a flat room – what about some textured cushions, or a nice throw rug? The room below gives a good example of this; it is monochrome, which is a colour scheme which can easily look boring, but with all of the texture that has been added it is a beautiful space. Pieces like the jute rug, throw rug and wooden logs create a visually appealing room.

By avoiding these eight points that are often overlooked you can decorate a more put together looking children’s room. Hope you enjoyed! ~ Kaylah

Kaylah Haeren is a qualified interior designer and decorator, mum to two little girls and a wife from South West Australia. She loves all things design, and her passion is transforming dull rooms into beautiful spaces. You can connect with her here: