Guest blog: We've teamed up with family-friendly interior designers The Living House to share their top tips for designing the perfect nursery in your new build home.

A nursery can be one of the most fun rooms to design in your new build home. You're at one of the most exciting stages in your life, and creating a nursery for your new arrival makes it all feel very real. You want to get it right and end up with a beautiful space for them. With so much nursery inspiration online, it can feel overwhelming to know where to start: what colour scheme to choose, what furniture to buy, and how the layout will work, especially as the nursery is often the smallest room.

Layout

We would always begin any room by deciding on the layout first, as this will make it much easier when it comes to choosing furniture, even down to what size artwork or shelves will work best, as you'll know exactly where the largest pieces of furniture can be placed. Try a few different layout options to see what works best for the space to get the most out of it.

To really get a feel for the layout, we recommend using masking tape to mark out on the floor where the furniture will go. This also shows you how much floor space will be left in the room and how easy it is to move around without bumping into anything! If you're struggling with the layout, The Living House offers The Layout Fix service, which is perfect for getting your layout right and removing the guesswork.

Nursery furniture and storage

Of course, babies may be tiny, but they come with so much stuff, so incorporating furniture that includes storage space in your new build nursery will be important. It's worth considering how you could use multi functional pieces of furniture in smaller nurseries where space is limited. Instead of opting for a changing table, look for chests of drawers that are deep enough to fit a changing mat, or a cot top changer that you can attach to the top of the cot, freeing up space for more storage furniture.

Baskets are also an affordable way to add extra storage that can look pretty too, whether that's a woven storage trunk for nappies, wipes and baby towels, or a group of baskets for small toys.

On the subject of multi-functional furniture, a cot bed is worth considering over a standard cot, as these can be transformed into toddler beds, meaning you won't need to buy twice. Cot beds are generally slightly larger too, so if space allows, look for one with a storage drawer, or buy a separate pull-out drawer on wheels that slides underneath.

Decorating your nursery

When it comes to decorating your nursery, choosing colour schemes, wallpaper, panelling, and all those fun bits, you may want to consider the longevity of the design and whether you would like it to last beyond the baby years!

For instance, I'm currently designing my own nursery and have chosen neutrals and blues paired with splashes of orange and patterns to bring some fun, rather than going too neutral, so that it will still work when my baby reaches the toddler phase and beyond. Pinterest is always a great place to start for colour inspiration and finding colour palette examples to see which colours work well together.

If you're going to wallpaper your nursery, you could pull out the colours in the wallpaper design to create your colour scheme, which is always a great way of ensuring the colours all work together. Don't be afraid to wallpaper every wall or perhaps try a mix of panelling and wallpaper rather than a feature wall. As nurseries are often the smallest room, wallpapering only one wall can actually make the room feel smaller, as it draws that wall towards you, whereas wallpapering every wall can make the space feel bigger and cosier too!

If you're not ready to commit to wallpaper, wall decal stickers are a fabulous alternative. There are so many options available, and they are a brilliant way to transform your walls, and can be peeled off easily whenever you're ready for a change.

Add personality to the walls with artwork

Artwork is the perfect way to add some personality to a nursery, and it doesn't need to cost the earth either! Have a look at Etsy for art prints by small businesses; you can even buy digital downloads and print the artwork yourself in different sizes to bring the cost down. You could opt for animals, quotes, or the baby's initials or name (if you've already decided!). The options are endless with so many cute nursery prints online. Two pieces of art above a chest of drawers make for great placement, or why not create a gallery wall with several pieces in different decorative frames?

A nursery reading area

Space-dependent, it's always lovely to create a reading area within your baby's nursery. Even if you're tight on space, you can use the walls for book storage, with plenty of wall-mounted bookshelves specially designed for nurseries. Add an armchair or bean bag somewhere comfy to sit and complete the space with a rug to create a cosy reading corner for you and your little one.

If you need some interior design support to make your new build home work for you and your family, The Living House is here to help. They can remove the stress of making changes to your home with expert advice that will give you the confidence to move forward. Get in touch with The Living House today to find out more.

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