What a Nursery Needs: The Walls

Next let’s take a look at the walls. Do you want to paint or do you need to paint? If your home was built before 1980 you might want to have the room tested for lead poisoning. Here is a great link that gives you information about lead poisoning, how to test your paint, and what to do if the paint has tested positive http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5054.html


You can now buy paint that is environmentally friendly that don’t have chemicals and odors. Cool, especially for a baby’s room. Look for these three types of paints, Natural Paints, Low VOC and Zero VOC. Here is a link will give you a lot more information. http://www.eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_paints.htm
Just to be on the safe side, don’t let the soon-to-be mommy paint. Make sure the room well vented but also the house.



Just a little advice. As cool as themes are for babies room, and there are lots of cool ideas out there, just make sure when you choose the theme for you babies room. Ask yourself these question?



1. Am I making this room for myself or for my child?



2. Is this a room theme that my child will like for at least a couple of years?



3. Am I going to get tired of this after a couple of months?



4. Will I be able to paint over the design or peel off the borders?



5. Can I clean crayons, markers or any other thing that might end up on the wall?



I love Classic Winnie the Pooh. I choose not to decorate my child's room in anything Pooh. I did have two things that were Pooh in the room, one was a gift and the other was a stuff Pooh Bear that I had before I got pregnant. When your child is around three they may want something different and you might have to change it. If you use a darker paint, wall paper or borders, keep in mind that one day you might have to paint over the darker paint and well, that takes a lot of primer and paint. Try and use a child friendly paint, that if you need to gentle clean the walls, the paint will not wear off or fade.



With all of that in mind, there is nothing wrong with keeping the nursery simple, plain or just an explosion of a theme. If it is what you reallly want, then do it.

What a Nursery Needs

Okay let’s start at the beginning. You finally decided what room at your place is going to be your baby’s room. Yeah! Not always an easy decision. First you need to clear everything out; you will need an empty room. That means everything in the closet too. Now you can really see the room. Take a look at everything. What needs to be and what you want to do are two different things.

First let’s look at the floor. Do you need new carpet? Are any of the tiles broke, chipped or dented? Is the linoleum so gross you wouldn’t want your baby to lick it? Do you have nails coming up from the hardwood floor? You should look into getting the floor fix or replacing what you have. There is nothing wrong with a tile, carpeted, hard-wood, or linoleum floor. Just make sure it meets your needs and your family’s budget. You might just need to have the floor cleaned, professionally or you might have to get down on your hands and knees for a good scrubbing. The only suggestion I have on flooring is, if you are getting carpet try and see if you can purchase vinyl-free, natural fiber carpet. Look at jute, sisal and wool carpets or other plant based carpets. They won’t be traces of PVC ingredients or harmful phthalates from adhesives. The other plus about vinyl-free, natural fiber carpet is they do not need adhesive, so you won’t need to air out the room after installation. If you can’t afford this type go with something other than shag and air out the room for a couple of days.

If you are choosing a hardwood, tile or linoleum floor, you might want to think about adding a rug, natural fiber is the best. This way your feet are not getting cold when you are in there in the middle of the night. Then when your child is older they can sit on the rug and play and not have a cold tushie.