Set up baby room

Sleeping, drinking, changing - the demands on a baby room are still low in the first few months. When designing and designing a baby room, however, you should think about it from the start. We have collected the most important tips and tricks for you in terms of interior design, furniture that grows with you and sensible purchases for the baby room.

There are a few things that should not be missing when setting up a baby room: for the first time after birth, you need a changing table with fall protection, an extra bed and a cozy area for breastfeeding and feeding. A soft carpet, curtains and some pretty accessories and decorations are also a good start.

If you think a little ahead, you can also buy a cot or cot to grow with and set up a crawling and play area at floor level. We will tell you which furniture you really need and how the design for your baby room is unique and yet perfectly tailored to your child's needs.

Furnish baby room with furniture

Start with the purchase of a convenient changing table with changing mat, a cot that grows with you if possible and a cozy piece of furniture such as an armchair. With this basic trio you already have everything you need for the beginning in the baby room.

Buying tips for the baby bed

A growing baby cot is very useful as an acquisition for the baby room. It is therefore not worthwhile to invest in expensive extra beds. You can also buy these used and then sell them again. Instead, invest your money in a pretty new bed that is as good as new and that your child can use for many years.

Make sure you also buy a suitable mattress. Some furniture manufacturers have folding mattresses for growing beds in their range. Anyone who buys an ordinary baby bed or cot should take into account an area at least 70 centimeters wide and 120 to 140 centimeters long. Similar to the side bed, baby beds are also available on wheels, so you can vary the location flexibly. A cozy, padded nest protection surrounds your baby's sleeping area and protects against drafts.

All around the changing table: The little 1x1

The changing table takes a central place in the baby room, after all you will not only change your child there several times a day, but also move, wash, massage, pamper and play on it. When buying, pay attention to a fall protection to the left and right of the changing area. Many furniture stores offer combi changing tables that you can use later as an ordinary chest of drawers. Or you can get a practical changing unit that you can install on an existing chest of drawers. So you have space to store baby clothes.

A soft padded changing mat with washable covers is mandatory on the changing table. Utensils, which you hang on the wall next to the baby changing area, have also proven their worth to store creams, powder, diapers, etc. Because dirty clothes and garbage accumulate at the changing area, you definitely need a waste container with a lid and a laundry basket.

Midwives also recommend a radiant heater for babies born in autumn and winter - for safety reasons, this should be installed at a distance of about one meter from the changing area: This is what your baby will have in the early days when he is not yet optimally regulating his body temperature can, nice and warm. With a mobile above the changing table, your baby also has something to look at.

Little space in the baby room? No problem

Do you only have a very small baby room or corner? Simply solve the space problem creatively with a space-saving changing table with integrated drawers. So you can stow baby clothes and utensils directly below the changing area. Wall shelves above the changing table are just as practical. But be careful: Such installations must be installed so that they do not fall on your baby.

Blue tinted baby room with painted rabbit motif on the wall.

Photo: living4media / Gallo Images

Set up a nursing area and crawling area in the baby room

Whether rocking chair or wing chair: A personal cozy corner where you can breastfeed your baby or feed it with a bottle should not be missing in any baby room. A few pillows, blankets and some pretty wall paint and decoration all around are enough for the design. A carpet visually delimits this area and ensures cosiness - so it can later be used as a reading or sitting area.

On the floor of the bathroom, a crawling area is good, because after six months you will put your child down more and more so that they can observe and explore their surroundings. Also get a soft carpet or a cozy crawling blanket and cozy floor cushions for yourself. A play arch under which your baby can lie and occupy is a useful addition. A decorative eye-catcher in the baby room is also a play object such as a teepee tent made of beautiful fabric with pillows underneath or a rocking horse. Both not only look good, but are also popular in the first few years.

If you choose a coarse carpet for the baby room, you can also make it cozy with a pretty fur.

Photo: living4media / Bauer Syndication

Attention stereotypes

Do not let stereotypical ideas guide you in the design of your baby room. Pink for girls and blue for boys are no longer standard! Instead, opt for a color concept that suits your personal taste and harmonizes optically with the baby equipment and furniture. You can't go wrong with a sporty turquoise, a soft mint green, cream, gray or dove blue - no matter whether boy or girl. As your child gets older and develops their own taste, you can still paint over the walls in the nursery.

Wall design in the baby room

So whether you paint the walls in the baby room in delicate pastel green, mint colors or dusky pink is entirely up to you. Do not be afraid to be individual, but it is better not to use colors that are too intense. For a baby room, light, tinted colors such as cream, gray, mint, rose or pastel blue have proven their worth. You can set accents, for example, with an unusual wallpaper, such as one with geometric patterns such as wavy lines or dots. If you stay solid with the wall color, you can upgrade the walls in the baby room with pictures or a pretty wall sticker for children.

Decoration ideas for the baby room

Carpet, pictures and lighting are an integral part of the decoration in the baby room. Online shops and concept stores now offer the most beautiful print motifs, illustrations and pictures especially for baby rooms. Perhaps you would also like to decorate your baby room individually and uniquely with personal photos from your childhood or the first baby photos of your child? These can easily be enlarged and printed on canvas. Smaller pictures are particularly appealing if you hang them side by side or grouped in two to three-part collages.

Indirect lighting creates a cozy atmosphere in the baby room.

Photo: Lights4fun

Baby-friendly flooring

The carpet in the baby room should be soft and cozy so that your baby can lie comfortably there for the first year and watch the world. If you choose a coarse carpet, you can also add coziness with a pretty fur or a playmat. Knitted carpets are a real eye-catcher - they convey the traditional look from grandmother's times and, with additional floor cushions, become an inviting seating oasis for parents too.

Lighting in the baby room: night light & Co

Combine at least two to three light sources when choosing lamps for the baby room. A ceiling lamp or a ceiling washer provide optimal illumination when changing and playing. With another table or wall lamp you can make the lighting mood more cozy and still illuminate the room optimally. The third light source should be a nice night or snooze light for your baby, which you ideally mount directly above or next to the baby bed.

Inexpensive or expensive? What a baby room costs

The cost of furnishing a baby room differs greatly, of course, but depends primarily on the parents' wishes. Anyone who buys the complete furniture for a baby room in the furniture market has the advantage that the pieces of furniture are made of one piece and fit together. The average cost of a three-person team - consisting of a baby bed, changing table and closet or shelf - is usually between 300 and 600 euros for standard outfitters, with premium manufacturers for baby furniture the upper limits are open.

Popular in the children's room: Mix & Match

Individual solutions for furnishing in the baby room are cheaper and often visually more beautiful. In fact, more and more parents are opting for a modern mix & match interior with a mix of newly bought and used retro baby furniture. In many cases you also use memorabilia from your own childhood. This creates a very personal concept for the baby room. You can also buy a lot of baby furniture individually in online shops and baby specialty shops - and put together your own personal design.

Anna Engberg