Creating a Healthy Nursery for your Baby (and the Planet!)

We are very excited to introduce Claudia Kalur, a European interior decorator and founder of A Room for Frances. Claudia will be our guest writer for the next 8 Mondays, providing amazing suggestions and tips on designing eco-friendly nurseries and children's rooms.

Thinking Long Term - Part 1
As you await the arrival of your baby, you will (like I did, I am sure!), start day-dreaming about the nursery and how to decorate it! This will be the room where your baby and your family will be spending many, many hours for the next few years, so consider eco-friendly options that will make the nursery not just a safe but also a healthy environment. It is a lot easier than you may think!
Before I go into more detail on the aspects of sustainably decorating a room, however, let me suggest to you one of the "greenest" things you can do when thinking of creating a space for you child (or any space, really): think Long Term.
Even if you plan on moving to a new house or simply switching your child to a new room later, think of ways to arrange your prospective child's room in a way that will evolve with them as they grow.
A wall color can be changed easily - wallpaper not so much. A changing table will have later use if it is adaptable to a dresser. Some cribs can become toddler beds and even a twin size bed. An armchair with a classic fabric or a slipcover, where you rest while your baby sleeps, or where you feed him or cradle him to sleep, can be used later on somewhere else in the house, including in your future teenager’s room!
Good quality furniture can be expensive, so make sure you can give it use for a long time. It is important that we adjust our thinking away from rampant consumerism and the purchasing of goods that are destined for the landfill after short use.
Therefore, don't just look forward in time, look backwards too - vintage, hands-me-down, antique and sometimes just brand new furniture and decor that someone else did not need or use are truly one of the best ways to be eco-friendly.
In all the rooms that I design my primary concern is this: how can I make this space grow with this child while providing him or her with a healthy, safe and balanced environment? It is my intent with this series of articles to share with you how I try to answer that question.

Stay tuned for coming weeks when Claudia will be discussing sustainable flooring, lighting and walls for children's rooms and nurseries.

Claudia Kalur is the founder of A Room for Frances, Nursery and Children's Room Design. She lives in rural Connecticut with her husband, Steven (an architect who specializes in green building systems), their 18-month-old daughter, Margot, and their doggy, Bayou.