How to kit-out your new baby room – flooring & underlay, lighting and more

Bringing your new baby home is a delightful moment. And you’ve probably been planning their room for many months before.

This article will give you a few tips on how to kit out the room so you can create a delightful place for your baby when he or she is ready to move in. Usually no earlier than 6 months old.

So, let’s dive straight in.

Flooring & Underlay

If you’re going to do a whole room renovation, you should definitely begin with the flooring. Maybe you like the look of original wood floorboards with a nice fluffy rug.

Alternatively, you might want to make it a bit warmer with a fresh, thick carpet. If cold is a key factor in your new baby room, it’s a good idea to choose an underlay which has a high tog rating. It’s a characteristic of underlay that many people don’t even realise exists.

Underlay4u.co.uk is one company who can give you the tog rating of any underlay in an easy-to-read format while browsing their product range.

Lighting & Windows

Lighting is an important part of all rooms and that doesn’t discount the new baby room. It goes for both natural light and electric lighting.

Firstly, it’s nice to have a big window so lots of natural light can get in during the day.

However, it’s also a good idea to have blackout blinds. That way, if your baby goes to bed when it’s light (or the mum) wants a lie in, he won’t be woken by the light coming through the windows.

When there’s very little light outside but you don’t want the full force of a big room light, you could fit a dimmer switch. This way you can control the lighting a lot more easily so it’s not ‘blinding’ the baby. Remember too – over-bright lights can affect a baby’s sleep.

While the baby is sleeping, you may not want the room to be completely blacked out. To avoid this, it’s worth putting a discrete lamp on the floor. So there’s just enough light to see but not too much that it keeps the baby awake.

Further, if your baby wakes during the night and is quite upset, then a good distraction and a bit of a tool to help the baby get back to sleep could be some projector Stars.

This is essentially a lamp with stars that project onto the ceiling and walls in different colours.

Some of them rotate too, making your little one think they are staring at the midnight sky.

Decorating the walls

Getting the décor on your walls perfect for your new arrival can be a big decision in itself. One thing to note is that it doesn’t need to cost the earth.

For example, you could paint the wall a single colour then invest in a few wall-art stickers that simply stick onto the wall.

Stencils are also a good choice. These are pre-cut paper or card, which you can spray paint over the top of the base paint to give a nice effect on the wall.

Alternatively, if your preference is to use real wallpaper, there a thousands of designs that can work great in a baby room. Decide on your style, then try to select a timeless design. Meaning you won’t need to redecorate every year – you’ll already have enough to do with your new baby.

Buying artist paints in a frame and hanging them on the wall can give any room a boost of life. Whether you put them on paint or wallpaper, they can still offer a brilliant uplift to a nursery.

These may require you to put something in the wall for hanging, so if you’ve already decorated, be sure to get it right first time. Otherwise, you could be left with hole in the walls with no framed pictures.

Creating Cupboard Space

Clothes accumulate fast when you have a new baby. Family and friends are likely to buy you clothing gifts or even give you some hand-me-downs from their baby’s wardrobe

What’s more, as your baby gets bigger and bigger, you’ll want to be going out with the old in with the new. Problem is that it’s difficult to find time to sort through all the clothes with everyday life to take care of.

So, you’ll probably end up with all the old clothes taking up space.

All this means creating a well-designed cupboard space that gives you lots of room without too much compromise on the size of the nursery, is crucial.

Keeping it clean

A clean place is a happy place. So, if possible, you should give your baby’s room a quick clean every couple of weeks.

Your cleaning routine might include dusting, vacuuming, or wiping the sides down. If you do the nappy changes in the room too, then you’ll need to empty the nappy bin regularly.

Setting the temperature

The temperature in the room is one of the most important things to consider. With advanced technology today, you can get thermostats which can be placed in the room to moderate the heating so the temperature stays at a constant.

Therefore, you might want to place the thermostat in the baby’s room for the first few months.

Alternatively, you can buy thermometers specifically for babies. One being a Gro-egg. These will constantly monitor the temperature and glow a different colour depending on whether the room temperature is too cold, too warm or just right.

Extra Equipment

You might want to consider a few extra bits of equipment that could help you be alerted to any dangers occur in the room as and when they happen.

The first one is a baby monitor. A good baby monitor will give you great piece of mind while you’re relaxing downstairs before going to bed yourself.

Most will light up automatically as soon as any motion is detected in the room. Meaning you don’t need to be constantly on the lookout for any movement.

The second suggestion is probably the least used but the most needed when it is used. It’s a smoke alarm.

If there’s any sign of fire while you’re sleeping, you want to be alerted immediately.

It might be one of those things that you think will never happen to you but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

The only thing left to say is best of luck with your new arrival and be confident that you’re giving he or she the best you can offer.