Getting ready to bring home your baby is one of the most exciting stages of the surrogacy journey. Buying baby essentials, picking out outfits, and prepping your home reminds you how real this is and how soon the big day is coming.
Designing your baby’s nursery is the ultimate preparation, offering you opportunity to personalize every single detail and further express your love for your baby on the way.
Design doesn’t have to be in your blood to maximize the benefit of this experience. Stay true to yourself, stay focused on how you want your baby to feel in their space, and piece it together.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re designing your baby's nursery.
Choose a Theme
Deciding on a theme for your baby’s nursery is an exciting way to introduce your baby to the world they’ll live in.
Nursery themes range from simple to complex. You can choose a simple color scheme to reflect in the decorations, furnishings, and paint colors, or you can focus on more elaborate themes that recreate entire environments in the comfort of your home.
If you choose a more basic color theme, you can choose from a variety of shades to help keep your baby calm and comfortable. The color scheme you choose can affect your child, so be sure to consider more than aesthetics when choosing shades for your design.
Project Nursery has a great summary of simple color options. They include a basic rundown of color theory and the affect your color scheme can have on your child.
More advanced nursery themes are a truly creative way to create an expressive, engaging environment for your baby. Popular themes include woodland, nautical, or circus, though the more creative you are, the more options you have available to you.
Whatever theme you dream up, make sure your theme isn't so overwhelming as to cause overstimulation for your baby.
Create a Wall of Books
Rather than cramming a bunch of beloved titles on a book shelf, why not leave them on display in the nursery? The display makes it easy for you to pick your nightly reads and can be re-arranged or updated as often as you like.
Also, the visual stimulation from the colorful covers will only help baby develop core skills recognizing colors, shapes, and familiar things. If an entire wall of bookshelves seems a bit much, scale down to preferred size and still enhance the room’s décor by displaying titles.
Add a Touch of Mom(s) or Dad(s)
Accent the nursery with any cherished items you may have from your own childhood: a special money bank, a playful lamp, or a favorite toy.
As your baby grows older, they’ll love exploring the room and will feel extra special when they’re old enough to understand that some of their favorite things came from your own childhood bedroom.
Appeal to Baby’s Sensory Input
Early childhood development can easily be supported in the nursery through a few simple tricks.
Add wall hangings with bright colors or large pictures. The bright contrast or large objects that baby can begin to visually discriminate will help him/her build basic baby skills.
Auditory stimulation can be very appealing and soothing to newborns and young children. Consider a mobile with a music box or experiment with a sound machine or soother that generates a nighttime light show and/or plays music.
If you’re a DIY specialist or artistic by natural design, you might consider painting a landscape or design on a wall or the ceiling where baby will spend much time gazing and building his brain.
There really are infinite possibilities when designing baby’s nursery. Whatever theme or design you choose will be perfect for your child because as they grow, they will ask questions about details and know you chose each and every detail with love.
