New Trends for Nurseries in 2021

If you’ll be bringing home a baby in the next few months, you may be thinking about decorating a nursery—a cozy space designed to nurture, inspire, and grow as your little one does.

Whether or not you know the baby’s sex, recent trends are to gender-neutral colors over traditional blues or pinks, partly because many parents don’t want their little boys or girls conditioned from early on, but also because neutral backgrounds allow for greater decorative freedom.

Here are some of the top decorating trends for nurseries in 2021:

Gray is the new yellow – While yellow still works as a gender-neutral shade, gray provides a fresh, modern update that is versatile enough to pair with almost any color palette. Bright hues in décor or furniture look especially beautiful against a light or medium gray.

Wall murals are back – …and they’ve gotten a major upgrade. Gone are the days of the simple baby duck murals. Beautifully illustrated trees or a choice of playful scenes are now available via wall decals. A bold, graphic wallpaper is another great idea for upping the design game in your space, typically on only one wall.

Gallery walls add interest – Instead of hanging one or two larger pictures, consider a gallery wall featuring a dozen or so illustrations from children’s fairytale books displayed in varying sizes of simple white frames, or choose any theme of your liking. You can even choose a mix of subjects to add more visual interest.

Animals are timeless – Animal decor is always a fun option for a gender-neutral nursery. Again, you can choose to stick to a theme—woodland, zoo, or farm animals for example—or feature one type of animal throughout the space. Add a giant stuffed animal and/or an animal-shaped hamper for extra fun.

Don’t forget the ceiling – Wallpapering the ceiling is another great nursery option when you want to up your design game. Pair the theme of your ceiling with curtains for an unexpected, super modern look.