Tips for Choosing Your Nursery Theme and Color Scheme

ECOS Paints 09/19/2024
Tips for Choosing Your Nursery Theme and Color Scheme
Neutral, light green modern nursery with plant  and sophisticated furniture


When people mention nurseries, the first images that come to mind are often color. Specifically, pink and blue - whether it's the freshly painted walls or carefully curated decor. Still, there is an entire spectrum of themes and paint colors to choose from the traditional pink and blue.

While there's nothing wrong with sticking by tradition, it's good to be aware of all your options when it comes to decorating your little one's space.

If you want to explore the rest of the rainbow for your baby's room but aren't sure where to start, here are some tips for choosing your nursery color scheme.

How to Pick a Nursery Theme

Sometimes, simply picking colors that look good together can be challenging. Many new parents find it easier to pick a theme for the nursery first. In most cases, a color scheme will naturally follow.

For example, a mermaid-themed nursery will likely make you gravitate toward blues, whites (and beiges), with accents of pinks and purples. Supplement with under-the-sea decor that matches the color paints you've selected, and your new baby will drift asleep like they are being calmly rocked by the ocean's waves.

A jungle theme will give you different shades of green, brown, and a touch of yellow for a furry lion's face. Or, you can choose to center the room around a favorite animal: black and white zebras, yellow and brown giraffes, or gray elephants. This animal-focused theme is the perfect opportunity to cater to your favorite wild creatures, mixing and matching paint colors as you go.

How to Pick A Nursery Color

When it comes to picking a paint color for your nursery, there are a few important factors to consider beyond just choosing a color you love. You'll want to consider things like how the color will affect the overall atmosphere of the room, as well as how it will look under different lighting.

It's also helpful to choose a color scheme that can grow with your child, making it easier to update their room as they get older. Here are some of our tips for picking the perfect nursery paint colors for your new arrival.

Neutral, light purple modern nursery with plant and tasteful stuffed animals

Balance Fun Pops of Color With Soothing Tones

Color can influence your mood, and the same goes for you and your baby. Warm colors-like red, yellow, and orange-are associated with energy, fun, and creativity. Cool colors-like blues and greens-are associated with rest and serenity. This rule isn't 100% set in stone, and different shades of a color are often associated with different emotions. For example, dark purple is often considered a bold color, but a light purple or lavender is considered more soothing

When it comes to your baby's space, you don't want to go too far to either end of the spectrum. It's always good for a kid's room to be a place of fun and creativity, but babies spend most of their time sleeping. When choosing a color scheme, you want to walk the line between both.

Consider soft, soothing blues brightened up with pops of orange, or sunny yellow tempered with natural and calm greens. Be wary of going overboard with colors, though. Too many colors and patterns can become busy and chaotic which will work against any emotion you're trying to convey, and can also distract from the overall theme of the nursery.

Pick Paint Colors That Can Grow with Your Child

When you're looking at that precious little face, it's easy to think that your little one's youth will last forever. But any parent will tell you that children grow up faster than anyone wants to believe. That means growing out of clothes, growing out of diapers, and growing out of the pretty pastel color scheme you picked out for them.

While having to redecorate your child's room as they grow older is inevitable, you can make life easier on yourself by choosing a color scheme that will grow with your child or that is easily adaptable. To do this, consider muted paint colors for the nursery, like muted purples and lighter reds, or timeless neutrals. You can then supplement with pops of color through decor, like crib sheets, stuffed animals, and window coverings.

Soft neutral nursery with light wooden furniture and modern white crib

Consider Your Nursery Furniture Style

Baby furniture is a huge expense for new parents. For many, they can't pick a custom crib to fit their desired nursery design. If you are in this situation, make sure you keep your furniture in mind as you select a color scheme.

There are many ways of working with the furniture you have to achieve the look you have in mind, such as adding decor and accessories that give you that pop of color you're looking for.

You could also consider repainting the furniture, so it matches your intended color scheme. Our Lullaby non-toxic and zero-VOC paints for furniture are perfect for updating cribs and other nursery pieces without breaking the bank on a whole new set. Plus, they are safer for both your baby and the environment, in carefully curated colors that are sure to match your vision for the room.

On the other hand, if you can buy the furniture new, be sure you buy furniture with your color scheme in mind or options that you can easily repaint later if you change your mind.

Soft light blue nursery with white crib and changing table

Choose Colors That Complement Natural Lighting

When babies are first born, their eyes are sensitive to bright light. When it comes to lighting a nursery, focusing on natural light can help your child adjust to light as their eyes develop in the first few months. That means favoring bright sunlight and choosing bulbs that mirror natural light rather than fluorescents.

The lighting in the room also affects how colors appear. Some colors, like lavender and pale yellow, tend to look better in natural light while some paint colors, like certain shades of white, tend to look more washed out than others. A great way to determine what colors will work best in the room is by testing them out first.

Test Out Paint Colors in the Room

A color on a screen can look very different than a color on a wall. We recommend ordering a paint sample or color card before deciding on a color so that you can test it in the actual light of the nursery throughout the day.

Don't just bring the paint swatch into the room; put the color on a decently sized piece of wall and move it around the room throughout the day. This will give you a better sense of the undertones in the paint and how they will look on your nursery's wall with the room's light.

Also, if you are trying out more than one color, be careful not to paint your samples right next to each other. A color that looks good next to another color may not look as good by itself.

Consider the Focal Point of the Nursery

Many interior designers will tell you that room designs often center around a central focal point. This is something that you can keep in mind when considering color schemes. What in the room do you want to draw your attention first? Is it an accent wall? A piece of furniture? A wall decoration? The color of your focal point will help you determine complementary colors for the rest of the room.

We have mentioned the 60-30-10 rule before, and it's a good thing to keep in mind here. This rule is a pretty foolproof design tool for how much of a color you want to exist in a room.

One color should take up 60% of the space, the next should take up 30%, and the last should take up 10% of the space. If an object in the room is meant to draw your eye, its color is probably going to be the 10% in your room. From here, it's easy to choose two other colors to make up your scheme. The 60% should be a color that is complimented well by the 10%, and the 30% is usually a neutral color that balances the other two well.

Lullaby Paints by ECOS 2 ounce sample pots with brush

Create the Perfect Nursery With Help From ECOS Paints' Lullaby Collection

Choosing your nursery color scheme doesn't have to be limited to just pink or blue. That doesn't mean that it has to be an impossibly complicated process, either. Trust your instincts. When it comes time to paint your nursery walls or baby's crib, come back to ECOS Paints for your zero VOC* primers and a rainbow's worth of non-toxic nursery paints to welcome home your newest family member and create a space that supports their first few months of development.

*Zero VOC: Conforms to CDPH 01350 (VOC emissions test taken at 11, 12, & 14 days for classroom and office use).

CATEGORIES Design Inspiration DIY Projects Lullaby

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