Babies’ Rooms Are Usually Traditional… But Not Always
When painting a nursery, typical paint choices are pretty obvious. Traditionally, pastels – pink, baby blue, pale yellow, green or lavender have been the style. Austinites tend to buck trends and we’ve seen a lot of, shall we say, not-so-obvious paint choices for new babies.
Bright turquoise with a sand color to contrast made for a lovely island-themed room. We’ve seen everything from brighter colors like turquoise and coral to straight up white. Most people want to choose something soothing for baby, and since colors have such a profound, yet subtle effect on our moods, chill for a baby is always a good idea.
Here is a handy guide to choosing paint colors for a nursery.
A new idea we’ve seen is the chalkboard accent wall, which creates a fun and creative space for the kids (and the parents). This can be applied directly to the existing wall surface and works like a regular chalkboard. Here are some great Pinterest examples of chalboard walls.
Murals Will Always Be Cool
Painting a nursery with Dinosaurs, the jungle, under the sea, the Milky Way? Many parents want a themed room for their babie’s or kids’ rooms. Some parents are artsy enough to pull it off themselves. Some will hire the mural painting out. There are also some great resources out there for murals that you order and just adhere to the finished wall.
Whichever route you go, the result can be fun and stir creativity, giving the kids an inviting place to call their own. You are limited only by your (and your kids) imagination. This is most fun when the child can be involved in the process, though make sure to protect the flooring well!
And Then… The Kids Get Older
At some point, the kids get a little older and the pastel baby room just isn’t cool anymore. If you want your kid to get experience making big decisions, you might want to get them in on choosing the color for the room. If you’re really feeling bold you might talk them into actually doing the painting, though we would be happy to help.
The first thing that needs to happen is to cover what was there before. If you went with a neutral or light solid color, we can do this simply with high-quality latex paint with primer, such as Sherwin Williams Superpaint. If you went with the dark, crazy, or bold colors, or if the walls look like a graffiti wall tended by the spawn of satan…. well, that requires a little more love that a few coats of primer can take care of.
We’ve heard stories about the kids getting free reign to choose color and people ending up with some pretty questionable results – dark purple, kelly green. Dark purple is an elegant choice right now for dining rooms, but for a kid’s room, it could be a bit heavy. There’s nothing wrong with bold, bright color choices. They are quite popular, actually. However, some of those choices are simply easier on the eyes than others. And keep in mind, color can also affect mood!
We suggest choosing five colors that you like for your child’s room and letting them choose from those five. As always, our professionals at SurePro Painting are available to help with suggestions. We’d love to help!
Choosing The Paint When Painting A Nursery
It is always important to keep in mind the kind of abuse a child can put a painted wall through. We always recommend using high-quality paints. The choice of sheen will be important as well. You will usually be limited to using an eggshell sheen at least, since flatter finishes don’t have as much durability. This is also true of bathrooms, where moisture requires a higher-sheen finish.
For trim and doors, a high-gloss and high-durability paint is recommended. Traditionally this meant an oil-based finish, though there are now very good latex products available. This is especially welcome since these paints have low or zero VOC, meaning they are safer for the environment and our kids.
