Four Tips for a Great Nursery

Mon, 6 Feb 17

For lots of moms and dads, decorating the nursery is a big project. Choosing paint colors, bedding, toys, and decorations is a fun way to prepare for the new life in your family. With the advice of our resident sleep expert, Kim West LCSW-C, The Sleep Lady®, we’ve prepared a few tips for making baby’s new space effective as well as adorable.

Think sleep

What you’ll want your baby to do in the nursery is sleep! Keep this in mind when you’re decorating. Paint the walls with neutral, soft colors. Keep the crib empty (see our post on safe sleeping here) and the decorations around the crib relatively unstimulating. A high-contrast mobile over baby’s crib might look cool, but Kim warns that it can send the wrong message at nap time.

Lighting is key

You’ll want the whole range of light levels in the nursery: bright and clear for when you’re trying to clean up a blowout diaper or diagnose a new rash, dark for sleeping, dimly lit for nighttime changes. Think about buying blackout curtains (especially if you live somewhere with long summer days), installing a dimmer switch on the main room light, adding a night light, and mounting an additional dimmable light near the changing table.

Drill those holes

Another thing that’s great to get done before baby arrives is taking care of any wall mounting that needs to be done. Once you’ve figured out exactly where the crib, changing table, and any other furniture will go, think about where wall-mounted shelves might be useful and where any necessary devices (baby monitor, white noise machine, wipes warmer) are going to be plugged in. Mount your baby monitor where it has a full view of the crib: we recommend mounting the Evoz Smart Baby Monitor high above the crib, looking down. Secure the power cord away from the crib along the wall. Don’t forget to add safety plugs to any unused electrical sockets to keep little fingers away from electricity.

Mount your Evoz Smart Baby Monitor high above the crib, looking down

Most important!

Tiny rented apartment? On a tight budget? Long working hours? Baby made an unexpected early appearance? It’s okay! We can say with 100% confidence: the new baby won’t actually notice if the walls aren’t painted that perfect shade of cool sage or if the sheets match. A second-hand crib in the middle of the living room and a changing mat on the floor will work just fine. The most important ingredient – what your baby needs most of all – can’t be bought in any store, not even online: your love and care. So take a deep breath and give yourself (and your partner) a break. And some extra hugs. You’re doing great!

Best Wishes,

Evoz

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