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12 Ways to Display Art in the Nursery
Check out these interesting ways to bring art into a baby's room, to inspire ideas for your little one’s space
Art is a great way to create interest, elegance and whimsy in any space. It adds fun, colour and stimulation – making it the perfect choice for a baby’s room. Here are some favourite examples to inspire creativity in your child, along with a few design ideas to help your nursery show off its art to best effect.
2. Have your design pieces speak to each other
There’s lots to love about the whimsical nature of this assortment, and particularly the way the curvilinear forms on the artwork, blind, cushion, furniture and toys all ‘speak’ to each other.
TIP: Consider form as well as colour when creating your design aesthetic: harmonious shapes can be just as pleasing as harmonious colours.
Kids’ bedrooms for all ages
There’s lots to love about the whimsical nature of this assortment, and particularly the way the curvilinear forms on the artwork, blind, cushion, furniture and toys all ‘speak’ to each other.
TIP: Consider form as well as colour when creating your design aesthetic: harmonious shapes can be just as pleasing as harmonious colours.
Kids’ bedrooms for all ages
3. Try DIY
Look around the house to find objects you can turn into artworks – you can create a charming wall display with anything that takes your fancy. This simple arrangement is so pleasing, with its unified tonal qualities ensuring the toys, dress-turned-sculptural object and artwork all speak to each other, creating a sweet visual narrative of pinks and greys.
TIP: Be creative! Hooks and wall mounts mean you can rotate favourite dresses, scarves, toys, hats or fancy-dress outfits as a featured design object on the wall.
Look around the house to find objects you can turn into artworks – you can create a charming wall display with anything that takes your fancy. This simple arrangement is so pleasing, with its unified tonal qualities ensuring the toys, dress-turned-sculptural object and artwork all speak to each other, creating a sweet visual narrative of pinks and greys.
TIP: Be creative! Hooks and wall mounts mean you can rotate favourite dresses, scarves, toys, hats or fancy-dress outfits as a featured design object on the wall.
4. Turn toys into artworks
Sculptural toy storage as art is a terrifically clever use of wall space. Incorporating toys into your design aesthetic helps with storage in small spaces, while also adding a personalised design feature. To give toy storage a design flourish, try grouping pieces of the same colour or type together, and arrange them uniformly – as with the evenly spaced trucks in this orderly nursery.
TIP: You could keep things simple by using picture shelves, as in this child’s room, or you could get even more creative by asking for storage and mounting ideas at your local hardware store. DIY shops will have an abundance of hooks and ties, as well as informed staff who can help you get creative with this sort of project.
How to use kids’ toys to your advantage
Sculptural toy storage as art is a terrifically clever use of wall space. Incorporating toys into your design aesthetic helps with storage in small spaces, while also adding a personalised design feature. To give toy storage a design flourish, try grouping pieces of the same colour or type together, and arrange them uniformly – as with the evenly spaced trucks in this orderly nursery.
TIP: You could keep things simple by using picture shelves, as in this child’s room, or you could get even more creative by asking for storage and mounting ideas at your local hardware store. DIY shops will have an abundance of hooks and ties, as well as informed staff who can help you get creative with this sort of project.
How to use kids’ toys to your advantage
5. Add more art – it’s always a good idea
Don’t you love the abundance of art in this room? Walls filled with visual curiosities add narrative to a space. Choosing artworks in a similar colour range as the other design features in the room ensures all the disparate elements play nicely with each other.
TIP: A spirit level and measuring tape are essential tools for installations such as this.
Curate your own art gallery at home
Don’t you love the abundance of art in this room? Walls filled with visual curiosities add narrative to a space. Choosing artworks in a similar colour range as the other design features in the room ensures all the disparate elements play nicely with each other.
TIP: A spirit level and measuring tape are essential tools for installations such as this.
Curate your own art gallery at home
6. Let a view become your artwork
The vista outside a room’s windows can often be enough to create a focal point – especially if you incorporate window views as a design element. How? Consider the tonal range of the world outside and the design opportunities this offers. The tones in this room echo the colours of the city beyond, and thereby the view from the windows becomes a design element – a clever trick!
TIP: If you’re undecided about the colour palette you want, pick an object you love (artwork, furniture, toy, view…) and work from there.
The vista outside a room’s windows can often be enough to create a focal point – especially if you incorporate window views as a design element. How? Consider the tonal range of the world outside and the design opportunities this offers. The tones in this room echo the colours of the city beyond, and thereby the view from the windows becomes a design element – a clever trick!
TIP: If you’re undecided about the colour palette you want, pick an object you love (artwork, furniture, toy, view…) and work from there.
7. Break up a patterned feature wall with tiny pictures
Dynamic patterned wallpaper can make an excellent feature wall. In this stylish nursery, the energy of the design is tempered by the diminutive artworks hung at eye level, which provide a moment for your eye to pause while perusing the pattern.
TIP: Using the base colour of the feature wall (in this case, white) as the colour for the remaining walls and some furniture will help to ground the bold pattern.
Dynamic patterned wallpaper can make an excellent feature wall. In this stylish nursery, the energy of the design is tempered by the diminutive artworks hung at eye level, which provide a moment for your eye to pause while perusing the pattern.
TIP: Using the base colour of the feature wall (in this case, white) as the colour for the remaining walls and some furniture will help to ground the bold pattern.
8. Choose bold colour for both the walls and the art…
The juxtaposition of the clustered artworks and the adjacent painted stripes in similar colours works beautifully in this striking nursery.
TIP: Matching feature walls to your artwork makes for an exciting thematic strategy – don’t be afraid to embrace bold pattern and colour!
How important is colour for your child?
The juxtaposition of the clustered artworks and the adjacent painted stripes in similar colours works beautifully in this striking nursery.
TIP: Matching feature walls to your artwork makes for an exciting thematic strategy – don’t be afraid to embrace bold pattern and colour!
How important is colour for your child?
9. …or celebrate soft tones
If you prefer paler, more traditional ‘baby’ shades, you could use the same idea in a softer scheme. Here, gold adds a luminous contrast to this pastel-toned space. The mix is another example of where picking out colours from an artwork and tying them into the design of a patterned feature wall looks fantastic.
TIP: Try juxtaposing shapes: in this nursery, notice in particular the contrast of the gold circles with the square prints (mounted in square frames, hung in a square grid), which makes for a nice visual dialogue.
If you prefer paler, more traditional ‘baby’ shades, you could use the same idea in a softer scheme. Here, gold adds a luminous contrast to this pastel-toned space. The mix is another example of where picking out colours from an artwork and tying them into the design of a patterned feature wall looks fantastic.
TIP: Try juxtaposing shapes: in this nursery, notice in particular the contrast of the gold circles with the square prints (mounted in square frames, hung in a square grid), which makes for a nice visual dialogue.
10. Employ picture books as a wall display
Story books are full of colour and are an integral part of the time you spend in the nursery – so make them a design feature. Narrow shelving, on which you can prop favourite books (whether they be design or narrative favourites), makes for easy access and adds visual interest to the wall.
TIP: Shelves that blend with the walls allow the vibrant colours and designs, which are so particular to children’s books, to shine.
Story books are full of colour and are an integral part of the time you spend in the nursery – so make them a design feature. Narrow shelving, on which you can prop favourite books (whether they be design or narrative favourites), makes for easy access and adds visual interest to the wall.
TIP: Shelves that blend with the walls allow the vibrant colours and designs, which are so particular to children’s books, to shine.
11. Vary the tones in a minimal palette
Pink and grey – with a flash of neon – are always an excellent pairing. This neon artwork adds a unique pop to the grey tones and graphic nature of this elegantly playful nursery.
TIP: Sticking to a two-tone palette, yet flexing within the tonal range of each colour, helps to add depth and visual interest to the space.
The path to a sophisticated nursery
Pink and grey – with a flash of neon – are always an excellent pairing. This neon artwork adds a unique pop to the grey tones and graphic nature of this elegantly playful nursery.
TIP: Sticking to a two-tone palette, yet flexing within the tonal range of each colour, helps to add depth and visual interest to the space.
The path to a sophisticated nursery
12. Make more of small spaces
Artwork helps to bring charm and identity to small spaces. With urban living, one often needs to be creative with design elements, as well as making intelligent use of every available inch.
TIP: Consider lines of sight when hanging your artwork. A picture can help to define an area within a loft-like space, while also adding visual interest to the home as a whole. In this case, the placement of the artwork identifies the space as the nursery for those approaching the staircase, as well as those reclining in the adjacent living room.
TELL US
Have you made art a feature in your baby’s room? Share your tips in the Comments below.
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Artwork helps to bring charm and identity to small spaces. With urban living, one often needs to be creative with design elements, as well as making intelligent use of every available inch.
TIP: Consider lines of sight when hanging your artwork. A picture can help to define an area within a loft-like space, while also adding visual interest to the home as a whole. In this case, the placement of the artwork identifies the space as the nursery for those approaching the staircase, as well as those reclining in the adjacent living room.
TELL US
Have you made art a feature in your baby’s room? Share your tips in the Comments below.
MORE
Bringing Home Baby: 16 Nursery Essentials to Tick Off Your List
Create a Baby’s Room in a Teeny Apartment
10 Penny Pinching Ways to Bring Art Into Your Home
The grid style of hanging several pieces by the same artist helps to create a feature wall from a collection of modestly sized artworks. Here, the boldly patterned blanket and painted storage unit add a wonderful aesthetic to the room as well.
TIP: Gallery walls can bring visual interest to any space, no matter the size. In this nursery, one line of artworks delineates the cot area, bringing definition to that section of the room. Following this theme, a grid of framed works could help to give weight to an empty wall beneath a tall ceiling – or indeed, create depth within a diminutive space. Artworks are magic that way!