Nursery décor: it’s all for the parents, not the baby!

(And that’s okay!)

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, as I start pulling together design ideas for our unborn child’s nursery. It’s a deliciously self-indulgent pass time really. Kids’ rooms are really good fun and can be beautiful, cute, dreamy, whimsical, soothing and many more lovely adjectives. But will baby benefit? Not so much. It’s all about the parents. And when I say parents, I mostly mean the mums (not to say some dads aren’t also interested in the wallpaper choices for their newborn!).

Will the baby care about that carefully chosen wall art with cute inspirational quotes or the wallpaper pattern, the carefully picked colour scheme, decorative accents or coordinating linen? Um, no. They just want a comfortable cot mattress, a dark, quiet room at the correct temperature and someone to attend to their every cry. It will be months before they can work out what’s going on with that designer mobile hanging above them or are even capable of clearly seeing it. It’s even more ironic and amusing when you consider many people’s babies won’t even sleep in these perfectly prepared sanctuaries for months after their arrival as they snooze in the bassinet in your room first!

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No, nursery décor is definitely all about the parents!

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong in that if you ask me. As I prepare to spend many hours in that room feeding my child, damn straight I want a comfortable chair and some pretty things to look at. And practically, yes, I need sufficient storage for all those nappies, clothes and seemingly endless baby paraphernalia.

And designing kids’ rooms is so much fun, it really is (I remember interior designer Greg Natale once telling me the very same thing). It’s nothing like designing a grown up room. And, especially when it’s your first, working on it really adds to the anticipation and excitement.

Of course, later on, when your child’s a bit older, they’ll appreciate the bright/soothing colours and interesting textures you’ve lovingly chosen for their room. But you can bet your bottom dollar it will be something garish and plastic which keeps their attention longest. Or, like my friend’s baby girl Audrey, it will be the energy rating sticker on the fridge which they can’t stop looking at!

In a future post, we’ll talk about the practical and safety elements of designing a nursery (no, you can’t have the cot under the window, even if it looks better there, damn it!). Later on, as it comes together, I’ll be sharing the work in progress that is Baby Interiors Addict’s nursery too. Watch this space!

If there’s a serious point to make in this post it’s that while gorgeous nurseries are fun and enjoyable to decorate, what babies really need most is love, care and attention. And nappies. And milk. Lots of that.

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