Nursery decorating in a rented house

olga1311

I currently live in a rented house and will be there for at least 2 years after LO is born. We can't paint the walls or do any major changes to the room since its a rental. I looked at a gazillion websites about how to decorate a nursery and tips & tricks but all start with wall paint and its just not something that I can do. The walls are regular white with a dark hardwood floor. Can anyone help me with ideas/suggestions as to what to do? I am at a loss as to how to decorate the nursery for our little baby girl and its driving me crazy! Thanks for any input!

kjenkins346

You check out all the cute wall stick-on decals that can be purchased.  I don't believe they require repainting the walls but you should make sure they can be removed without damaging the paint.  They are a great option for those of us that are artistically challenged!

katie.725

kjenkins346:

You check out all the cute wall stick-on decals that can be purchased.  I don't believe they require repainting the walls but you should make sure they can be removed without damaging the paint.  They are a great option for those of us that are artistically challenged!

 

Love wall decals... my experience is that they just require a clean wall..

https://www.uppercaseliving.com/  --> This site has great options, I've used them as well.

Other options may be colored accent pieces... so a pink rug and/or a painted bookshelf or toy chest..

 Happy decorating!!! I can't wait until Tuesday when we find out!!! :-D

 

kjenkins346

BRU and Target also have limited options available online.

tcoolumd

I'm in a similar position. I plan to use embroidery hoops with different fabrics to create wall art. Should be simple to hang and will only put tiny holes in the walls. There are lots of cute ideas on Pinterest. I just Googled it and found this:

https://makinglemonadeblog.com/easy-diy-wall-art-kids-room-deco/

blondii428

We also live in a rental but so far the nursery has been coming along great!  Putting up curtains makes a huge effect, especially if they go nicely with the bedding and changing pad cover.  I'm also getting big wooden letters from Hobby Lobby, gluing ribbon on them and hanging his name on the wall. A lot of bedding sets come with a quilt which shouldn't be placed in the crib with babies anyways, so a lot opt to hanging it on the wall.  A nicely decorated lamp looks nice too.  I'm doing DIY pictures to hang on the wall with a cheap frame, scrapbook paper and cutouts glued on them (either animals, cars or both).

Check out Pintrest if you haven't already for some inspiration, paint is one of the last things you need to make the nursery look nice!

HerbanMom

Lots of nurseries these days seem to be leaning more towards that modern, clean look if you like the style you could really work with that, especially with the dark wood floors. Cluster of artwork, someone else mentioned paper lanterns. Lots of pops of color, a nice rug. There are lots of things you can do. Funny, we are moving my boys into the front room and putting baby in the room they currently share- and will be more than likely painting the room a fairly light whitish-grey neutral shade in favor of the style I've mentioned above.

olga1311

I am extremely artistically challenged. I can look at a pic of a nursery and love it but I have no idea how to replicate it. Is there any resource out there for decorating for dummies? Like a step by step instruction as to how to decorate. I looked at some decals but I don't even know what size to get and where is best to place them. Should I get a few and place on each wall? Should it go on the wall the crib is next to? These are the questions obvious to most I am sure I struggle with! Decorating is so hard for me.

kjenkins346

Most of the images that come up for the decals show them positioned on the wall behind/around a crib and/or dresser so I would go with that.  The great thing is you should be able to pull them down and reposition if you don't like how the whole thing comes out.  A basic google image search for nursery decals will give you TONS of examples.  I'm not artistic myself at all and I sure as heck plan to pick my favorite and copy as close as I can.

megswen

I'm planning on having my baby's room painted white. White is my wall color of choice, but I also love color in bedrooms. Here is what I'm doing:

 1. Fabric garlands. You can do pom poms, flowers, flags, tassles... the list goes on and on. Just hang them over the crib, or in a corner. https://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=fabric%20garlands

 2. Framed wall art. Our nursery will have a kind of woodland theme, so we're buying watercolored paintings of baby woodland animals (fawn, fox, and owl) and hanging them up. We also got the wooden letters "V" and "F" (the first letter of our girl and boy name) and we're going to paint them and hang them on the wall. I also found a beautiful framed painting of some flowers at a thrift store that we'll use if the baby is a girl (thrift stores are AMAZING for art anf frames). https://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=framed%20art%20for%20nursery

3. I am obsessed with childrens' books. I want to have a gigantic collection. Since I love them so much, and since I don't like walls to be too bare, I'm going to buy shelving and display the books on the wall. That way, when the baby's older, he or she can take them down and look at them. https://pinterest.com/pin/169236898469843041/

4. I agree with what another poster said about curtains. They make a huge difference in a room. If your walls are white, I'd go for colored curtains.

5. Since I'm having very plain-colored furniture in the nursery (white and brown), I'm adding color with crib sheets (I'm making my own--look up a tutorial on Pinterest), decorative pillows (in the crib and on the rocking chair), stuffed animals and other toys, and a rug.

6. I'm not doing this in my nursery, but I've seen people make tissue paper pom poms for their nurseries, and hang them up from the ceiling. https://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=tissue%20paper%20pom%20poms

My advice is to go a hardware store and pick out 3-5 paint chips in colors that you want in the nursery, and pick out a theme, if you want one (jungle, chic, nautical, etc.). Then just keep your eyes open for fabric, wall art, pillows, toys, etc. that would match your idea. Soon enough you'll have enough to start decorating. And have fun with it.

Hope that helped!

alkvoelker

We aren't painting our nursery. We are putting up some wall art and accessorizing.

Mrs.AllyH

I'm in the same situation, but the walls are an ugly tan-yuck! We're actually going to hang a curtain rod behind her crib and then hang sheer curtains along that wall and drape them to the side of her crib... I tried to find a picture to better describe it, but I'm having difficulty. We're only in there for 15 months, and although we can paint, DH says "no way" so I'm going to decorate as much as possible in spite of the ugly walls! 

babymama619

kjenkins346:

You check out all the cute wall stick-on decals that can be purchased.  I don't believe they require repainting the walls but you should make sure they can be removed without damaging the paint.  They are a great option for those of us that are artistically challenged!

this. Also Nice curtains will help too. 

babymama619

kjenkins346:

You check out all the cute wall stick-on decals that can be purchased.  I don't believe they require repainting the walls but you should make sure they can be removed without damaging the paint.  They are a great option for those of us that are artistically challenged!

this. Also Nice curtains will help too. 

olga1311

Jaycarmelxo:

olga1311:

I currently live in a rented house and will be there for at least 2 years after LO is born. We can't paint the walls or do any major changes to the room since its a rental. I looked at a gazillion websites about how to decorate a nursery and tips tricks but all start with wall paint and its just not something that I can do. The walls are regular white with a dark hardwood floor. Can anyone help me with ideas/suggestions as to what to do? I am at a loss as to how to decorate the nursery for our little baby girl and its driving me crazy! Thanks for any input!

I would kill for hardwood floors! I would love to help if you have any general starter ideas? Or anything you think should be a part of it? Animals.. Boy? Girl? Any specific colors you are in love with? Or patterns?

 

Thank you!!! Its a girl, and while I am OK with pink I don't want the whole room to be just pink. I prefer more gender neutral, (maybe with sprinkles of pink). I really like animal theme - I got this adorable stuffed tiger toy and I want to incorporate it in the room. Our furniture is espresso colored. So far my only ideas are the tiger, an area rug and tree decals on each side of the crib, something like that. I saw an awesome pic but can't find it now  

olga1311

megswen:

I'm planning on having my baby's room painted white. White is my wall color of choice, but I also love color in bedrooms. Here is what I'm doing:

 1. Fabric garlands. You can do pom poms, flowers, flags, tassles... the list goes on and on. Just hang them over the crib, or in a corner. https://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=fabric%20garlands

 2. Framed wall art. Our nursery will have a kind of woodland theme, so we're buying watercolored paintings of baby woodland animals (fawn, fox, and owl) and hanging them up. We also got the wooden letters "V" and "F" (the first letter of our girl and boy name) and we're going to paint them and hang them on the wall. I also found a beautiful framed painting of some flowers at a thrift store that we'll use if the baby is a girl (thrift stores are AMAZING for art anf frames). https://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=framed%20art%20for%20nursery

3. I am obsessed with childrens' books. I want to have a gigantic collection. Since I love them so much, and since I don't like walls to be too bare, I'm going to buy shelving and display the books on the wall. That way, when the baby's older, he or she can take them down and look at them. https://pinterest.com/pin/169236898469843041/

4. I agree with what another poster said about curtains. They make a huge difference in a room. If your walls are white, I'd go for colored curtains.

5. Since I'm having very plain-colored furniture in the nursery (white and brown), I'm adding color with crib sheets (I'm making my own--look up a tutorial on Pinterest), decorative pillows (in the crib and on the rocking chair), stuffed animals and other toys, and a rug.

6. I'm not doing this in my nursery, but I've seen people make tissue paper pom poms for their nurseries, and hang them up from the ceiling. https://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=tissue%20paper%20pom%20poms

My advice is to go a hardware store and pick out 3-5 paint chips in colors that you want in the nursery, and pick out a theme, if you want one (jungle, chic, nautical, etc.). Then just keep your eyes open for fabric, wall art, pillows, toys, etc. that would match your idea. Soon enough you'll have enough to start decorating. And have fun with it.

Hope that helped!

Thank you!! That helped a lot! I have to decide on a theme and hopefully everything will flow from there. 

Country Mama72

I am in the same situation!  Only I don't know the sex of the baby yet.  So I decorated in Winnie the pooh.   I bought the wall stick art!  It looks so cute! 

 

AshleyF1234

You can break up the color on the walls by hanging curtains on the actual walls... not just framing the windows. I've seen this done in magazines where they actually hang pictures too... The curtain fabric is behind them, whether they hang throught the curtain or hang them at the seams. Its an easy way to get break up too much of one color (white walls).