eBaby Nursery Decoration

HOW YOU CAN CREATE  BABY ART FOR YOUR NURSERY WALLS

HERE’S AN EASY WAY TO GET LARGE PICTURES THAT ECHO THE COLORS OF YOUR BABY NURSERY DECOR

If you’ve ever colored or painted within the lines of a coloring book, try this idea to  decorate your baby nursery walls. No, it’s not altogether original, but close enough for braggin rights.

If you were to buy baby art of this quality, (that’s the quality you’re going to end up with), it would come at a high price. But I’m going to tell you about an inexpensive way to get around spending a fortune on original artwork for your nursery decor.

MY EYES ALMOST POPPED OUT OF MY HEAD

Today I was in Sams, a big box store you may be familiar with. When I passed the tables of books, a couple of huge ones reached out and grabbed me.

The coloring books were about 16 by 20 inches big. Cute line drawings, black on bright white paper, appealed to little kids. Of course they were created to please little tikes, but they were so cute, they’d please babies as well.

The Halloween pictures showed cute ghosties, darling witches and other scary (not!) pictures, all big enough to make a splash on the wall after you colored them.

Quite a few of the pages were universally appealing for any season, not just Halloween.

I immediate saw those pictures painted, matted and framed, hanging on a nursery wall.

The paper was high quality, ready to take acrylic or watercolor paint well.

Cost of each coloring book? A miniscule $6.98.

For $6.98, you can’t lose. From one book you can paint and frame several pictures. Plus, you can paint them with colors that are perfect for your decor. No “making do” when you want to cut corners buying some pictures for the nursery walls.

This idea is something I mentioned before. If you’re crafty, you may have had the same idea, and even acted upon it.

That’s it for today. Just had to share my excitement with you.

Remember, craft paints come in scads of colors and can be bought for about 88 cents each. Get a mat in a ready made size and a frame at the craft store or Dollar store.

Good luck.

‘Til later,

Dorothy

Name Your Pleasure, Treasure  

You have clicked onto this site for a good reason. Will you tell me what it is that you need to know or find out about baby nursery decoration? I need to know.

Unless I discover what my readers want, this blog will disappear the end of July. Please help me help you.

Leave your answer in the comments. Just click on “comments” and a box will appear. Thanks!                 Dorothy

Info PR: n/a I: 79 L: 0 LD: 382 I: 6 Rank: 7333625 Age: August 18, 2010 I: 0 whois source Robo: yes Sitemap: yes Rank: 8231349 Price: 0 Density

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2 QUESTIONS MOST PEOPLE ASK WHEN DECORATING A BABY NURSERY

1. Where do I find baby art?

2. is there good baby art that’s reasonably priced?

The first question is easy to answer. All one has to do is ask Google for baby art or baby artwork and plenty of sites will offer all kinds of artwork suitable for a baby nursery. Some of it is good, and some is just awful. That’s not to say the good is expensive and the bad is cheap. You’ll find a gamut of prices for both good and poor quality art.

It’s partly a matter of taste. Do you want nursery decorations suitable for a boy or a girl? Clean and simple or more traditional and romantic? It’s your preference that counts.

No one can tell anyone else what good art is. Not even Picasso is loved by all, and I’m in that category. A colorful painting done by a kindegartener can be worth millions to you.

The trick is to trust your instincts along with your eye. If you like it, your baby will, too.

The second question isn’t so easy to answer.

From what I’ve seen, nothing available is reasonably priced.  I have trouble suggesting that anyone buy an 8″x8″ or 10″x10″ canvas print on wooden stretchers for prices that range from $15 to $43 For Each One.

You’ll need four of the tiny ones or three of the larger ones to make a statement on the wall. And, usually shipping charges have to be added. That means 4 little pictures could cost you a goodly amount.

HOW TO WIN THE GAME OF LOW PRICED BABY ART

Want to know a way to decorate your baby nursery without breaking the bank? Trust me. This works fine.

1. Go to Goodwill or any resale shop. Yard sales work, too. Find big picture books (not thick, just big) with  illustrations. Buy the books with pictures that will look good with the theme you’ve chosen for the nursery. If you can’t decide between a couple of books, buy them both. They’ll cost you only 10 cents to $1.00.

2. Tear out the illustrations and lay the ones that go together on the floor or dining room table. Group them in different ways until you like what you see.

3. If you decide on two or three different groups, make sure all illustrations in each group are close to the same dimensions.

4. Next step. Go to Dollar store and buy frames to fit your illustrations. You may need to buy mats to put in the frames to fill in the edges if the dimensions of print and frame aren’t the same. Take an illustration with you and play with it in the store.

5. Now, you’ve got your showy, but inexpensive baby artwork. All you have to do is hang them on the wall like you grouped them on the floor or table. It cost you next to nothing.

WHY BABY ART COSTS SO MUCH    

My intention for this blog has been to eventually offer original baby art. It seemed a natural thing to do through Baby Nursery Decoration. But I’ve run into a problem while researching ways to get my artwork reproduced.

The reason why prints and canvas prints are so expensive, I discovered, is because artists have to pay so much to have their work reproduced. They have to charge their customers enough more than they paid to make a profit. Many artists don’t add a lot to their costs, but the final price is still high, IMO.

It’s sad, but I’m determined there’s an answer.

So, dear readers, I intend to concentrate on producing reasonably priced art for baby nursery decoration. While I’m working on that, I won’t be adding posts to www.ebabynurserydecoration.com/

When I find a way to offer a picture with quality I’m proud of, at a reasonable price, you’ll find it on this site or ebaby’s sister site, www.babyroomideas.biz/

Don’t forget me. I’ll be back.

‘Til then,

Dorothy

Great Baby Art With a Little Paint 

 All artwork by Sandra Lett, decorative artist. (www.SandraLett.com)

 Maybe you don’t think you can afford someone like Sandra Lett. There’s still a lot of baby art you can do all by yourself. Take advantage of a few children’s books from the library.

Name Art Becomes Focal Point of Baby Room

A real trellis acts like a canopy. Neat, don’t you think?

Flowery Vines Add a Touch of Whimsy and Romance to your Baby Art

Vines wind around the top of the room and dip down the walls in graceful arcs. Just enough flowers adorn them to make you think you can smell jasmine in the air.

 I hope you enjoyed seeing Sandra Lett’s recent baby art. If you can’t hire a professional artist to paint your baby art, maybe these pictures will give you incentive to do something similar for your baby.

 Little Changes Turn The Motif Into Baby Art For Boys

So you’re looking for ideas for a boy? What  could you do differently to keep it from being so feminine?

Make the vines less curvy to start with. Instead of flowers, let fruit grow on them. Add a few animals around the base of the walls, ones that boys like– a bear, turtle and a few creepy spiders. A funny, colorful parrot could be perched on a thick vine.

Paint the boy’s name not in script, but bold letters. Still keep the highlighting like Sandra did. I think they adds a specially nice touch.

Have fun with Baby Art

Remember, you can always fix mistakes with paint. Don’t be afraid to make a few slips, because in the end nobody will know you fixed things but you.

 ‘Til Later

Dorothy

  A Few Cans of Paint Make Baby Art

 Young House Love: Nursery Paint Treatment    

I loved this video because it shows some of the things I’ve been telling you about, like using blue painters tape to make straight edges and how things don’t have to be exactly perfect to work out well. 

http://youtu.be/sX0K3ACcFy4

“You know we love painting stripes, so we invaded John’s sister’s nursery to inject some fun in the form of colorful, modern and totally random slices of color. Here’s how.”

Duration : 0:5:6   

 There’s something about the crazy stripes that really excites me…and I’m a big girl. How much more will the striped walls appeal to a young’un? 

A Fantastic Way to Use Your 3-Color Scheme

In your baby nursery, choose a neutral color for the base coat on the walls. This non-obtrusive color will be the biggest strip.

In the video it’s, Glidden’s “Polished Limestone,” a soft, gray-blue. You could use a pale pink, green, violet, beige, coral, whatever.

The smallest color in the video (French Gray) is what I’d call the accent color. It’s strong. Too much of it would overpower the other colors and look like bars on the wall. There might come a day when you’ll wish you could cage up junior, but that’s not the kind of baby art we want in the nursery.

The other 3 colors, “Warm Caramel,” “Vintage Yellow,” and “Muslin White,” are all warm colors that play against the cool “Polished Limestone.” Then the little bit of “French Gray” brings in the blue-gray of the large stripe and acts as a foil for the warm tones. 

Now You Do It

Go to the paint store and look at the samples. It’s okay to take the color cards out and put them back, so don’t be shy about playing put-and-take with various colors. Make a fan with some and see if the combination sings to you.

Move them around to make big and little stripes. If they hurt your ears, put one back and take another. You’re creating baby art, so take your time.

Yes, this is going to take a while. It might be something you and hubby want to make a date to do together.

Sorry to tell you this, but there’s no combination that’s “right.” It all depends upon what you both like. Isn’t that wonderful?

Happy to Tell You This! 

In our local Walmart recently I noticed they now carry Glidden with those nice big color sample cards you see in the video. Also…ta da! Walmart and Glidden now provide those tiny bottles of paint colors.

I’m sure they don’t have every color, but be aware that Glidden, as well as Benjamin Moore, will allow you to test your color choices for only a small charge. Bring a little bit home and put it on the wall without having to buy a whole quart, or heaven forbid, a gallon of the wrong color. Also, use the small bottles for smaller baby art projects.

About that Wiggly Blue Tape 

It would be awfully nice if you could make a mark near the ceiling, start the tape and just let it drop  to the floor. One might expect it to go straight down. I did.

Well, you’d be wrong, same as I was the first time I tried it. You must make several small marks just as she shows you in the video so you can guide the tape to each mark. It does wiggle and roam if you don’t. Good thing about it is you can lift it easily to move it.

Be sure to press it tightly to the wall or the paint might seep under the edges. It’s a good idea to have some base coat you can dip into at the end of the job, to fix boo boos.

Another thing to be aware of, (it gets hard when you get so much tape on the wall,) is that where the blue tape is, the base coat will eventually show. So your wide stripes will consist of (a) width of tape, (b) empty space of wall, (c) more blue tape.

Yes, it is importand to pencil in the colors on each stripe before you start painting. Easier to correct that than paint, don’t you know?

It’s also important to take the tape off soon after you’ve applied the paint. It comes off easier, believe me. Don’t leave it on there until the next morning or until the paint is thoroughly dry.

Good Luck Painting Wacky Stripes in the Baby Nursery

I’ll love to hear how your nursery turns out if you do this project. Send a photo email to ebabydecor@gmail.com so I can share it with everyone.

‘Til later,

Dorothy

PAINT FOR BABY NURSERY DECORATION COSTS $2000  

Who’d pay that sum for a couple of cans of paint? I wouldn’t and neither would you. But guess what? You can make 2 or 3 cans of paint worth $2000.

      What’s the Magic Spell?   

 An original hand painted mural in your baby nursery will cost that or more if you have it painted professionally. What if I told you how you can do it ?    

  You’re not an artist? Don’t worry  

  Have you looked at children’s books lately? Simple people. Simple animals. Simple everything. Just shapes that any 2nd grader–and some 1st graders–can draw.

Babies understand that kind of art. You can paint that kind of art and end up with a wonderful mural that baby will love looking at. So will you.

Baby Spends Hours Watching Mural

  When he wakes up, he doesn’t get bored and cry for you to run to him. He watches the boys and girls, the animals and the colorful shapes.  

When she’s supposed to go to sleep, you lay her down in her crib, knowing she’ll drop off to dreamland as she studys the pictures on the wall.

Do this for your baby and yourself. Your husband, friend, mother, cousin or aunt will help you and you’ll have fun doing it. What a sense of accomplishment you’ll have when you wash out the last brush and settle down to survey the world you’ve made.  

IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT PAINTING MURALS

  Here’s 2 how-to-do-it the easy way videos

  1. Painting clouds in a blue sky above green grass

  2. A fun and easy way to brighten the lower part of the wall under the mural using paint, sponge and a cardboard template

 NOTE: Youtube won’t open in this blog since I stopped the WordPress service, so plug the blue links into your address bar to get videos to run. Sorry for the inconvenience.

  Video 1. http://youtu.be/71FasopDWpY

Duration : 0:3:47  

 White clouds and grass will add some nice detail to the mural. Paint grass and clouds for a child’s bedroom mural with tips from a professional artist in this free home decor video. Expert: Matt Cail Contact: www.homepaintings.biz Bio: Matt Cail is an artist who works in oil, water color and acrylic paints, among others. Filmmaker: randy primm.

Video 2. Wavy stripes: http://youtu.be/386or3omf9M

Duration : 0:0:58 

For the complete video demonstration and more faux techniques for kids rooms, go to our website http://fauxfun.com How-to paint decorative finishes and borders for childrens spaces and kids rooms with easy faux painting techniques, or http://www.fauxfun.com/Videos/kids/index.html .

A MURAL NEEDS MORE THAN GRASS AND SKY

  Did I hear you say, “Durn tootin’?” Thought so. I heartily agree. Let’s say you’ve sponged stripes on the bottom half of the wall using your 3 favorite colors. With a blue sky and green grass, it’s a given that 2 stripes will be blue and green.

The 3rd color is unknown to me, but will be one you use in the mural. Perhaps it’s brown if the mural has tree trunks and monkeys. It could be yellow if you paint a yellow lion, giraffe and big sun in the sky. You get the picture.

  I’ve talked about color schemes in previous posts if you’d like to go back for a quick review. They aren’t listed below, yet.

  Time to face the big question  

What’s your theme? What’s the story you want your baby nursery decoration to tell? When you decide, pick out three major colors you want to use in the mural and an accent you’ll use sparingly. (Black outlines could be that strong color.)

Now that you have your color scheme decided, you can paint the bottom half. It’s okay, too, to paint the mural first to see what colors will look best on lower wall.

It’s also okay to pick bedding first and take your colors from that.

 13 Theme Ideas for a Baby Nursery 

  * Jungle with elephants, giraffes, monkeys, lions, birds, leafy trees with thick trunks and branches, vines and flowers in the trees  

* Seashore fun–instead of grass under the sky, a deep blue strip for ocean and warm yellow/tan/beige for sandy beach. Sea shells, sailing ship on the horizon, sea gulls in the sky, kids on beach in bathing suits, pails and shovels, sand castles, crabs scurrying, sea oats near front and green vines. Big sun in sky peeking out from behind a cloud

* Ships at sea–simple shapes for hull and sail, (find types of sailing ships on Google and use them as guides) windsurfer, deck of a ship with steering wheel and figure (Fisher Price Little People) Blue ocean under sky all the way down to chair rail– no land in sight. Waves with white caps.

  * Pirates at sea–ship firing canons at another ship with lots of smoke (this is better for kindegarten up) Simple shaped Pirate ship with gaudy pirate and saber or sword. Ocean is wide strip under sky and narrow beach close to chair rail. On beach a half buried treasure chest with lid open and baubles and jewels spilling out.  

* Farm animals and barns, tractor, corn field, vegetable rows, fences, children dressed in overalls and straw hats, sun in sky

* Fairies (fairies are smal enough to sit on mushroomsl), big mushrooms growing in the grass, big grasshoppers, frogs, over sized flowers on stems growing up high

  * Princess in flowing dress, crown under flowing veil, castle on the hill with path leading down to where princess stands, cluster of trees nearby, a prince on or standing next to a big white, brown or black horse, a lake near the castle with a stream meandering through the green low hills

* Nursery Rhymes-Jack and Jill holding a wooden pail heading toward a covered well up on a hill. Over to the side another nursery rhyme character. On the other side a 3rd nursery rhyme character

* Cowboys and Indians, horses, teepees and sage brush on open land with buttes in distance–think figures that look like Fisher Price Little People toys

* Space-silver and white space rockets and astronauts tethered to rockets or zooming on space skooters. Stars, asteroids, planets and moon with American flag planted on surface, sky is darker blue than sunny sky would be, but not dark navy blue for baby rooms.

* Children of the world with boys and girls (Fisher Price again–simple figures) dressed in native costumes. This is a favorite theme of mine because right now in 2011 the whole world dresses the same. Before long, cultural memory of traditional native costumes will be lost. This theme helps instill a curiosity in baby/child to know more about world sociology, geography and history. 

*Circus with tent, circus animals, Ringmaster, clowns, trapeze artist, juggler, tigers, elephants, parade with fancy lady standing on a horse

Choose Your Favorite Theme

Did you see one in the list you liked? One you can improve upon? Make a rough sketch of how you see it in your mind and in your baby nursery. Draw with a dark pencil on regular 8.5×11 typing paper and then scan it into your computer.

A SPECIAL FREE OFFER

  Because I know you can do this, I want to encourage you to get started by offering an incentive.

The first 100 sketches I receive before June 6, 2011 will get my comments and suggestions for making it better, plus partial re-sketching*, a $50 design service.

(Those who don’t need my advice probably aren’t reading this and if they are, they won’t bother asking for help. I’m assuming all entries will be from beginning artists.)

  Here’s what you need to send me:  

1. Your scanned sketch on 8.5×11 paper

2. Size of the area mural will cover (ceiling to 4′ down and width of wall) along with any questions and other notes I should have  

3. Colors you particularly like and want to use. Or, do you want me to suggest colors?

  4. The theme you want to use and what images you think should be shown in the mural

‘Til Later, Dorothy

 POSSIBILITIES FOR BABY ART

If you want something special to make your baby art unique, something that turns a plain nursery into a room that entertains and delights baby for several years to come, this new designing too for murals ought to do the trick.  

I recently discovered this new way to come up with professional looking wall art for nursery decoration. Of course it’s great for big kids, too.

You don’t have to accept just any old thing off the rack anymore. Whatever you select will become an original design because you choose every element of the mural.

The process excites me. I thought you might like it, too.

HP Wall Art – Design Demonstration

http://youtu.be/9wGuEtxopVg 

Paste the blue link into your address bar to see the video. Sorry I can no longer get Youtube to come up in the blog.

 Duration : 0:2:31  See how easy it is to create just what you want. This is a brief tutorial of the HP Wall Art software functionality. To design your own wall, please visit Nick Walls by HP: http://www.nickwalls.com See more videos! http://www.hp.com/go/wallart

Other videos they have show how creative you can get with the designs.

Only an experienced mural artist could possibly paint a similar mural. It would cost and take a lot longer to install.

How Much Will This Process Cost?

The mural is sold by the square foot, but it looks to me like you could order a motif to cover less than a whole wall. I’d do that if money were a concern. Go to the video to see all about prices and all details.

Can I take the Mural Down When Baby Outgrows It?

Yes, you can! It’s that cost effective. Sell it to a friend, on Craigslist or give it as a nice present to someone you care about who’s having a new baby.

You could certainly use it if you’re renting because it’s so easy to remove with no damage to wall.

Some More Views of What You Can Do

Click on: http://youtu.be/_RZT4AA4SOk

Don’t Understand How it Works?

Neither did I until I watched this next video. See what the product actually looks like when it comes to you and how to install it. You can do it, easily.

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce3pduAV7Ss – Cached 

I’ll leave it at that and not burden you with more words. Hope you have fun deciding what exactly you’d like to see on the walls of your baby nursery. Let me know what you think about this way of doing a mural, okay?

‘Til later,

Dorothy

PS. I wonder what kind of Dr. Seuss images they have?

Duration : 0:6:53 Inspiration at its best 

  The Journey Begins in a Nursery

  Whether the room is large or small doesn’t matter a bit to baby. Colors matter to his or her vision and   sound matters to her sensitive ears. The feel of soft fabrics next to his fragile skin make him feel at ease. With all this, add food and protection from Mommy, the light of his life. His world is happily complete.

  Dr. Seuss Sets the Theme for Baby Nursery Decoration

Last week Candace commented she needed help with space planning for her baby nursery. She and her husband will paint Dr. Seuss characters on the walls. Isn’t that terriffic? She wondered just how to arrange the necessary furniture into the 10′X10′ room and still have wall space for baby art.

  Start With the Most Important Piece of Furniture

  The crib is it. Standard size is 28×52 in. See this government pdf for research purposes: http://goo.gl/iiRmc Drop down sides are passe. Convertible cribs are long lasting, though a bit more expensive to start with. Cribs run from under $200 to well over $1000.

You probably know you can find  lots of customer’s comments on Amazon. See what other buyers think of almost any brand crib. I’d advise you to take your time to discover all you can about baby cribs, especially if this is your first child. It’s the most important piece of furniture in the nursery. Said that.   Sorelle Lynn 4 in 1 Convertible Crib, Merlot This comes in oak and cherry, too.

Floorplan for a 10′x10′ Baby Nursery Room   

Shelves Hold Toys, Books and Other Good Stuff  

On each side of the east facing window, build shelves up to the ceiling. Use 8″ wide lumber, which trims out to 7″. You’ll be surprised how much this narrow shelf will hold. And the shelving takes up hardly any floor space. Paint them white to match the woodwork.

Play Table Gets Lots of Light

  Under the window, between the bookshelves, wedge a piece of 3/4″ birch plywood. It is held up by wooden strips that attach to the sides of the shelving. Easy peasy.

Paint it like the shelves/woodwork. Or, you can varnish it with clear acrylic for a woody look. If you have a wood finish on crib and dresser, this might be pretty. Also, varnish doesn’t chip like paint does. Since the table surface will get plenty of hard wear, that might be a factor to consider.

This play table will be low since the window sill rests on the top of it. The height suits a little kid fine. He can sit at it for several years. After that, the top is always good as a window seat or surface to put things on. (In case you sell the house to people w/o children.)

If You’re Renting

  When you can’t build and attach shelves to the walls, purchase free standing shelves as wide as the walls on either side of the window. They probably won’t be ceiling height, but will still serve the purpose for books and toy storage.  Under the window put a child’s table and chair or a big toy box.

Closet Doors Will Be Sliding Mirrors

In small rooms, the closet door is usually narrow, not double. If so, consider putting a mirrored door on a track. Sliding mirrored doors solve 2 problems: 1- No door swings out into the room to take up wall space. 2-Mirrors reflect light and brighten an otherwise dark room.

The east facing window in our example room lets in mostly early morning sun. When the sun goes around to the south, the light in the room becomes cool and dim.

If you’re renting, you can attach a big mirror to the door you have.

A Large Chest of Drawers

On this floor plan, there’s plenty of room for a standard 18″ deep x 30″wide x30″ high chest. It could even be a little bit wider. I’m coming back to the chest and some baby art later.

Changing Table Piggybacks Chest

Yes, a changing table is nice if you have plenty of space and money. However, I consider them a baby nursery luxury for a lot of couples. While the baby is in diapers, why not buy a foam pad to fit the top of the dresser and let that be your changing table?

When baby is out of diapers, you can toss it out. Not so easy to do with a piece of furniture. Make sure the dresser you get is a good height for you to diaper baby: 30″ to 33″.

Chair for Mom and Pop to Hop On and Rock Tot

Guess I’ll never make it to Dr. Seuss’ level, will I? The chair in this baby nursery floorplan is plenty big to cover any chair you’re going to want to use. The gliders will be daintier, and of course that’s what I like to recommend if you can manage it. Bottom line is, you have plenty of room for a Mom chair to cuddle and read to baby. Keep color in mind as well as size.

Other Stuff for Baby Nursery Decoration

My bad for leaving off a small table next to Mom’s chair. The field is so open on this: round, square, rectangle, floorlamp with table attached…You’ll have to be in charge here. Most important–make it be sturdy enough that baby won’t pull it over when he starts crawling and pulling up.

What else? I wrote a post about “What goes into the Baby Nursery.” It was loaded with stuff, diaper stashes, waste can, whatever else you think of. We’ve got clothes covered, bed, chair, changing  table, toys and books, play table for when he’s walking. What else?

A Fan is Nice to Have

A ceiling fan is funcional and out of the way. I hope you have one if you’re renting or can install one if you’re not. The light that attaches to this is good for full room lighting, but lamps offer much softer and nicer light.

Consider a lamp that attaches to the wall near the bed. Not so close that baby can grab it, of course. And a lamp near your chair. This could be a wall lamp, too.

Baby Nursery Decorating Theme is Dr. Seuss Art

Candace was concerned about having enough wall space left for murals when she got all the furniture in. Good news. There’s plenty wall available for two good sized murals. Keep them above chair rail height. It’s all you need in most baby nurseries. That’s where the baby art shows up best.

Mural #1 | The Crib Wall

I suggest a crib with a curved side that will become the headboard of the full bed the 4 in 1 crib turns into. The crib looks perfect centered on one wall. The mural over the crib will be a unified picture that perhaps extends across the whole wall, easing off toward the corners.

Mural #2 | On Wall Opposite Crib

This is where the chair will be and where the door opens to cover part of the wall. Again, the mural can be centered or extend the width of the wall.

Mural #3 | Over the Dresser

This small area doesn’t want to be a major piece of artwork. A little bit will do ‘ya. It might be that if you have a framed Dr.Seuss, this would be a good place to show it off.

We have a gallery in town that features Dr. Seuss works. Prints, of course.Otherwise, just a favorite character will do the job.

#3 |The Dresser Itself

I’m not going to call this project a mural, because it’s just an added attraction. The dresser is a good place to expand on your theme and add more color if you need it. With two big murals and something over the dresser, this room may not need any more baby art.

Start with a dresser that has a plain front. Paint it a solid color. (The dresser will be inexpensive, probably from Goodwill or a yard sale.) On the front, paint themeatic characters on each drawer.

You can paint a seamless scene over the entire front. Ignore the cracks between drawers and turn the pulls into part of the design.

Varnish it with clear acrylic varnish when it’s dry to keep it from rubbing or scratching off too easily.  This is if you want to paint smaller murals on the walls than I envision. You don’t want the poor baby to have nightmares from all the paintings, for goodness sake. Exercise some restraint.

How to Choose Colors For Baby Art

The Places You’ll Go video above has colors that suit a baby, whether boy or girl. They also do well in a small baby nursery.

These fresh colors are unlike many early Dr. Seuss stories. They are illustrated with mid tone to dark colors with lots of black. Often, white is included and there’s a high contrast.

Thise colors make the stories exciting to look at in books. Seuss’ colors are part of the charm of his stories. There’s a reason for them.

When he started out, Seuss was stuck with black and white and maybe two other colors for printing purposes. (He was born in 1904.) “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” is a relatively recent work. The whole printing process had changed by then, allowing him to use many colors in clear light tones.

All this is a long winded way of saying that when you decorate with large painted murals in a baby nursery, it’s important to keep the major colors soft and at low contrast. You don’t want them to shout and jump out at the baby.

Consider “Cat in the Hat” as baby art in a nursery. The cat is fine with his black, red and white, but you wouldn’t want much of him cavorting around unless you’d like to raise a hyperactive baby.

The thing to remember is this: the wilder and crazier your baby art is, the less you need of it. That’s all there is to it.

Stretch a Small Baby Nursery Bigger With Paint

You’ve got your mural theme going for you, so why fight it by putting a bright “color” on the walls? Simply paint them very light, like white. Not a stupid white white, but a white with a hint of color. For Candace’s baby nursery decoration, I’d suggest a warm, sunny white to offset the cool east light from the one window. Seuss used a lot of yellow in his art, so it ought to work exceedingly well. (That’s a Dr. Seuss word I thought I’d throw in.) But not yaller, please. Think white with a touch of buttercup–just a hint. This will keep what natural light you get bouncing off the walls instead of getting gobbled up by a darker color.

When you paint murals for your baby art,  you’re going to use several colors. I can think of exceptions, but usually not for babies. That’s going to be enough bright color to make a happy baby nursery.

That Should Cover All the Bases

Look at the crib I showed you, and then look at some others to see what you like. I think Amazon does amazingly well on their prices and service.

Did you know that when you buy something from Amazon within 2 weeks after clicking on a link in this blog it costs just the same as when you go directly to Amazon? But, I get a sum of money. Yes, indeed, the whopping sum of 4%. So click on my links and get what you need. I’ll appreciate it. It will help pay my blogging fees.

Trend Lab Dr Seuss Cat Crib Set, 4 Piece (See all Crib Bedding Sets) So, I hope I helped answer your query, dear reader. I’ll sure love to see what you do in that baby nursery. Do send photos.

‘Til later, Dorothy

PS: The scale of the floorplan is 1/2″= 1′.

 Nursery Art Can be Fun

Choo Choo Train Wall Mural by Create-a-Mural.com / 4′wx3′h / Baby Wall Stickers

  WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TYPE OF WALL ART FOR THE BABY NURSERY?

 A baby nursery without the excitement of colorful and meaningful art on the walls is just another room. There are several kinds of baby art to choose from. I’m going to talk about three:

*Pictures that hang on the wall

*Pictures painted directly onto the wall

*Pictures on vinyl decals that stick to the wall

When you’re cutting corners to save money, should you cut baby art?

 Please say no. You’ll be glad you didn’t skimp. But, there are ways to get around price. I’m going to share a couple of baby art tricks a little later.

What choices do you have with baby nursery decoration? Unless you’re a pretty good artist who likes to paint your own mural,  border or canvas paintings, you have to rely on store-bought products. But, hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. As you see from the picture above, mass produced baby art can be colorful, cute and captivating–bound to hold the attention of baby over a long span of time. And that’s exactly what you want your baby art to do, isn’t it?

There’s another “c” we have to add to the colorful, cute and captivating series. The word is “cost.” Still, you have to figure the $157 price of this 4′x3′ vinyl choo choo train mural is about half what you’d pay a professional artist to create something of similar quality.

If you love the piece that fits your baby nursery decoration plan, try to make room in your budget for it. It can make a success of the simplest room.

Category #1 | Pictures That Hang on the Wall

These come small usually. You can find them on Amazon and other places. The elephant, monkey and giraffe from my Jungle Baby post are good examples. For these small pictures to have any effect in the baby nursery, you need to group at least three. Sizes 10″x10″ to 10″x15″ stretched canvas prints range from $10 to $29 each.

Stretched canvas prints look like real paintings, but they’re photo copies. Larger ones cost from $35 to $350 and even more. They’re great baby art for your nursery if your budget allows.

Here’s a way to have an original canvas “painting” that’s personal. If you have a small drawing, painting or photo you’d like to turn into baby art for the nursery, here’s what to do. Send it to one of several different companies that specialize in canvas reproductions. They’ll take your sketch, blow it up to the size you require and print it on stretched canvas. This baby art doesn’t need a frame because the wood stretchers that hold the canvas are wided enough to give the painting that gallery look.

Something I love to see is artwork by an older brother or sister turned into baby art, using this method.

Is your baby nursery theme trains? Ask the older sibling to draw a picture and color it with crayons. Be sure they sign it before you send it off to be enlarged on canvas. What an heirloom that will be.

Category #2 | Pictures Painted on the Wall

Immediately, don’t you picture a gorgeous, huge mural with skillions of colors in it. Nice, huh? Please send me a picture of yours if you get one. The baby will love it and so will you. It will only cost about $2,000 to hire an artist to paint that baby art.

Think you’re up to tackling the job? Why not? You can do it if you think you can. First thing you want to do is drop the skillions of colors. Stick to 3 or 4 that are your main color scheme. Next adjustment to make, don’t make it huge…big, but not humongous. I have no doubt it will be gorgeous, so that’s not a problem.

I’ve told you how to do this in previous posts, but quickly, here’s how.

To Paint Your Own Baby Art Mural

1. Find a simple picture in a childrens book that fits your theme. Simple means big shapes and few characters or objects.

2. Use an overhead projector you borrow from the library to project the picture onto the wall. With chalk, outline the shapes. Keep the book handy until you finish the mural so you can refer to the shapes. You may have to alter the colors to suit your scheme.

Remember that soft colors send a signal to our eyes that things are farther away. Bright colors jump out so they seem to look like they’re near us.

I tell you this assuming your baby art mural is going to be a landscape of some sort. It might be a nursery rhyme or a teddy bear picnic.

Notice in the illustration of the choo choo train above, all the colors are bright. I like it. Shows to go, rules are made to be broken.

And btw, the illustration above is called a vignette. The edges are irregular; no firm geometric edges  define it.

For the mural colors, use water soluble craft acrylic paint from the craft store/department of big box store.

When a Mural is Too Durned Much For You to Tackle

How about this? Use a painted border for your baby art. Is your theme trains? Cut out a bunch of rectangles and small circles that will be wheels. Use them as a patterns and draw around them, creating box cars and engine with wheels on a railroad track. Make them jiggly or straight. Be creative and have fun.

Look at pictures to see what kind of trains you like for your baby nursery. Shamelessly copy the best one… maybe the easiest looking one. Then, with your craft paints, fill in the lines where you drew the boxes. Whooha! Aren’t you the smart one making such cute baby art for your nursery?

Instead of Wallpaper in the Baby Nursery, Make Baby Art?

You no doubt know exactly what a stencil is. If you don’t, go to the craft department of Walmart, Joanne’s, or Michael’s and take a look at the white plastic sheets with fancy holes in them.

This is another way you can make a train border. Skip  the cardboard patterns. All you have to do is pour some paint onto a dish, dab a sponge in it and, with the stencil held or taped tightly to the wall, sponge over the plastic. The tighter your stencil stays to the wall, the crisper your edges will be. Practice on paper first to get the hang of it.

About the wallpaper. Why not let your baby art show up all over the walls? Stencil a big initial of your baby’s first name, like R for Richard, in a repeat  pattern. You might be able to eyeball it, but to be safe and sure, use your yard stick to make a few critical marks where the initial will be.

Keep the color you use for the initial soft because if the R contrasts too much with the wall color, things will begin to look spotty. You want it all to blend in an elegant baby art way, not attract undo attention.

Category #3 | Pictures on Vinyl Decals That Stick to the Wall

Small or large, this baby art is not hard to find online or in stores like Penneys and Target. The simplest decals are the dots. They’re an easy way to  add a lot of zest to a baby nursery when you group them creatively.

The next easiest decals to apply are balloons. You’ll want to add some strings hanging down, but don’t use a magic marker to do it. It will never come off and covering it will become a major endeavor.

Decals are called stickers, wall tattoos, wall vinyls and wall pops

Stick them onto smooth clean surfaces. They all come off easily, but some can never be put back on. It’s because when you take them off they stretch and collapse. Others have a laminated skin over a colored print. This makes it possible to take them off, stick them carefully back onto the paper they came from, save them flat and reapply later. 

Decal murals of a decent size, like the 4′x3′ train scene above are available. You can get even larger ones. But be careful about the itty bitty ones. The market is flooded with dinky decals that are cheap to buy, and they look cheap, too. That’s not to say all small decals look cheap. If you do use small decals, like butterflies for instance, cluster them to make a statement. If you paste them helter skelter around the room, things will begin to look a little tacky. I’m being nice. It will look like something hit the fan. 

Make your baby art statement with a group of decals, use them in a border at ceiling or chair rail, or use just a couple to “hold up” the canopy, etc.

While the choo choo train seems to be of one piece, large decal baby art usually comes with separate color parts on separate sheets. This is because of the color printing, as you can imagine.

The big trees you see in ads don’t come like the picture shows. There are many pieces you have to sort out and stick on a certain way. Read the directions well, peel off a piece at a time and place it just so on the wall.

You need some patience, but this also gives you a chance to be creative. See the video in my Baby Rooms post. The girl uses the parts of a tree decal as horizontal branches that stick out from the sides of the nursery windows. 

And Now, For the Closing Event, Ta Da!

Did you know you can make your own decals? Here’s how.

1. Make simple shapes of animals, trucks, trains, toys, whatever you like. Trace them onto to the back of different colored contact paper. Cut out, peel away the paper backing and stick baby art to wall. 

Hint: Stick a little piece of contact paper in a hidden place, leave a day or two and then peel off carefully. Did it come off without too much wall damage? Did it leave too much stickiness?Better use something else for your baby art.

2. With adhesive backed shelf paper, do the same thing. The only difference will be the shapes will show a pattern instead of being plain colors.

To hold ornery decals down, use a little of that putty that’s for holding photos in albums. Make a little ball very flat. Stick it under decal in a few places. It will act as a good adhesive and come off anytime you want to change baby art.  Spray  glue works. So does a glue stick.

3. Still keeping your shapes simple, cut them out of medium weight fabrics. Soak the fabric in plain ole ironing starch, made strong. Smooth the art objects out on the wall like you would wall paper or decals. When they dry, they’ll be stiff and stuck to the wall. You can easily peel them off when you want to with no damage to the wall. Another reason to use eggshell finish latex paint. Yes, I’m firm on that.

4. Make large murals with simple shapes by building them up the same way you would a collage. Practice with paper shapes on the floor first. You can make a tree with a brown trunk and limbs, green leaves (one by one) and a few birds, monkeys, bears, boys…I once painted a big tree with the boy of the room in the tree. Your baby art is endless. Castles, nursery rhymes, whatever you want. Just keep the forms elementary, simple, plain, rudimentary, easy. What fun you have in store. And so cheap!

Okay, that’s about all I’m going to say about baby art today. Under each category, there was more I could have said, as always with crafts, modern art or baby art. I hope you found something you can use in your nursery. I’d love to hear what you do with your baby nursery decoration. Let me know in comments.

Have a good week, and happy painting, gluing, sticking, cutting and hanging.

‘Til later,

Dorothy

But Where Will We Put the Baby?

Baby nursery ideas are plentiful and free. But baby furniture, crib bedding and lots of supplies to furnish baby’s room are also plentiful. They take up a lot of room. Unfortunately, they’re not free, but they can be cost effective.

What’s the answer for a small room and small budget?

Are you one of the many young couples who struggle to get by these days? 

I grew up in the South, guided by my father who had been taught by his mother and she by her grandparents, that though they’d lost everything in the Civil War, they still must use cloth napkins and behave like refined ladies and gentlemen. Money be damned; having good taste, good manners and being well read were more important.

My mother grew up with thrifty New Englanders.

I guess that’s how I got to be so interested in making a home extra special without spending a fortune on it. Baby nurseries, too.

Making Silk Purses From Pigs Ears

Here’s a video I want you to see. The girl who made it gets the prize for Smart Cookie of the month. You can do what she did. Maybe not exactly like her…more in your own fashion. Enjoy. Paste the blue link into your address bar to see video.

http://youtu.be/2feVn7Mj650

11 min – Apr 22, 2011 <iframe width=”560″ height=”349″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/2feVn7Mj650″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

cheap and easy nursery tips!

When your pockets aren’t deep enough to get everything just the way you’d like, you have to be flexible with your wants and desires. Find the bargain to get you started and then add to that. Be ready to find a diamond when you’re looking for silver plate. Just like this girl, you’ll put a darling room for baby together that you and everyone will love. Go for it! 

‘Til later, Dorothy