Baby Nursery Paint Ideas

Baby nursery paint ideas are fun! Whether you’re currently expecting, planning to expand your family, or simply want to redecorate your current little one’s room, there are few rooms more open to creativity and nostalgia than a baby’s nursery.

When I first found out I was expecting, the thought of creating and decorating the baby’s nursery was one of the things I looked forward to the most!

This comes in part from the fact that you have to wait just short of a year before he/she arrives and it gives your hands something to do in anticipation.

Baby Nursery Paint Ideas, Nursery Stripes

Unlike other rooms in the home, baby nursery paint ideas can be nearly limitless in creativity and color and design. You’re not under pressure to maintain the same flow or mood you have created in the rest of your living space!

Welcoming a baby into our home encourages a walk down the memory lane of our own childhood. What was comforting and meaningful to our youth? We tend to be nostalgic when creating rooms for our own children.

This brings me to my first important suggestion when you want baby nursery paint ideas.

Fun With Color

Baby nurseries are great places to play and experiment with color that you wouldn't use in other parts of the home!

Pastels, bright blues and pinks and greens, anything fun and whimsical is fair game when discussing baby nursery paint ideas. Find some bedding or a mobile or (as mentioned below) an heirloom piece or a toy to serve as a color inspiration.

Like in any space, however, it's important to balance bright colors with neutrals such as white, cream, gray, or tan. This helps build contrast and helps keep louder colors from assaulting the senses.

A wonderful way to incorporate bright colors is through accent walls, stripes, half walls (separated by a chair rail or trim), or even utilizing the ceiling as a painted surface!

Many of these ideas are covered in more detail below.

No Fashion Like Old-fashioned!

Find an heirloom piece to bring into the nursery and let it guide your decorative imagination. Start with a favorite hand-knitted blanket from Grandma, a treasured stuffed animal, an antique rocking chair, or have an old nursery print or art piece upcycled to hang in your baby’s special place.

Finding inspiration in fabric and artwork is a simple and personal way to add style and comfort. All you need to do now is a pick a coordinating color out of your accessories and go!!

Head in the Clouds!

One of my favorite baby nursery paint ideas is to paint clouds on the walls and/or ceiling. There’s something about babies that makes us feel very whimsical. If you look at nursery bedding online or in-store, you’ll find a plethora of cute woodland animals designs and floral patterns.

When we think of babies, we think of nature and of new beginnings. And nothing feels more like a new beginning than Spring. So let nature be your guide here and let the sky be the limit.

Accentuate the Positive!

Accent walls are a great option for a baby’s nursery! There is no doubt that babies grow quickly and I often find myself recommending accent walls to parents whom are concerned with the longevity of a nursery.

Those little munchkins grow so fast and you’ll get a lot out of a neutral room! Neutrals are the masters of flexibility in the design world. You’ll be able to mix and match different bedding and accessories effortlessly and have options as they grow! But still, this is a baby’s room! And you’ve waited a long time to splurge and think outside the box.

An accent wall is the perfect way to add extra splash of color without the commitment of it EVERYWHERE. Placing an accent wall behind the crib is a fantastic idea for maximum style with minimal commitment. Repainting one wall in a few years is so much easier than repainting an entire room.

So consider using a grey, tan, or white as a base and then pick a big pop of color on a prominent wall and welcome that tike into their own personal space.

Fun color options: grey with bright pink, lilac, yellow, or turquoise! Tan with red, navy blue, or mint green!

Raise the Roof!

Okay, you’re not really going to raise the roof, but you ARE going to elevate the style factor in a nursery if you paint the ceiling. This is a fantastic way to bring your eye UP and add a splash of color all while doing something extra unique.

Your friends will be in awe of your creativity when you think “inside” the nursery box!! And what better room than a baby’s nursery?

The little one is going to spend a generous amount of time on their back looking at the ceiling. After all, that is why we hang those mobile toys above the crib!

Take a chance and do something dramatic and spontaneous in the nursery and paint their roof!

Bar None

Painting stripes in a nursery is the most frequent request I get from parents-to-be. Bars, bands, stripes….they all evoke a magical, formal appearance to a space. Think circus tents and pinstriped suits and expensive upholstery.

They can be regal and demand attention. Or they can be playful and subtle. It depends on the colors and the size and orientation of the stripes chosen.

Painting stripes is a little more ambitious than some of the other ideas I’ve mentioned on this page, but don’t feel overwhelmed.

Check out my page on painting stripes to find detailed, step-by-step instructions. Remember, stripes can be vertical, horizontal, wide, thin, monotone, or dramatic. You can even do a very subtle version by alternating stripes of the same color only changing the sheen from flat to glossy.

Chalk Talk

One of my favorite baby nursery paint ideas is the use of chalkboard paint. Please don’t confuse this with chalk paint. They are very different from one another.

Chalkboard paint is traditionally black (although there are many colors available now) and gives your walls a surface that can be written on with chalk. Think old schoolhouse here!

It is a fabulous way to let friends and family members (including siblings) personalize the space with a special note or a cute picture for baby. It can literally become a visual journal, a baby shower greeting card, a keepsake. You can also use chalk to draw a growth chart to mark the stages in the growing youth. The best thing about chalkboard paint is you can erase and reinvent the wall as frequently as you wish.

As the baby turns into a toddler you can even use the chalkboard wall as a tool to teach animals, colors, shapes, letters and numbers, weather, moon phases, planets etc…. The thing about baby nursery painting ideas is their ability to be whimsical and playful without repercussions.

How precious to see a stick-person version of your family, including pets, on a wall behind the crib? Even a hand drawn sun radiates warmth and comfort. This really is a versatile and creative way to be imaginative in the nursery and beyond.

Want more vibrant colors or a smoother finish when using chalk on your chalkboard paint? Chalk is notoriously gritty. Wet the chalk first. The color becomes brighter and your script will flow effortlessly.

Castles in the Clouds

When it comes to baby nursery paint ideas, nothing says childhood quite like fairy tales. Life is a new and grand adventure!

An imitation stone faux finish can give a fairy tale spin to your prince or princess’s nursery. Painting a fun, whimsical stone wall in imitation of a castle or country lane is much simpler than it sounds. And your friends and family will be awed by your creativity.

This approach can be combined with some of the previous ideas, such as painting clouds, to create a whole miniature world for your new child to grow, adventure, and set down roots!