Decor and Accessories

Continuing with our discussions with Claudia Kalur, from A Room for Frances, this week we are talking about Décor and Accessories. Claudia's ideas are great! Feel free to ask questions using the comments field her or our Facebook page. 


Décor and Accessories - Part VII

This is one of the most fun parts of doing a nursery - and certainly the easiest for you to be green! Design-wise I am not big on matchy-matchy themes but I do like a consistency throughout the décor of a room, be it a color, or set of colors, a pattern, a character, etc - I try to do that in every project because visually (even if you are not aware of it), it brings a room together. Once you have decided on what that element will be, just let yourself be creative. This is a great way to be eco-friendly and truly one of the things I love the most about creating children's spaces - this is the part where I get to go shopping for vintage items, re-use old furniture, or just simple make something myself. How? Let's see...

Mobiles can be a major element in a nursery and if you hang them from the ceiling you will have more surface and height to play with. I used in one of my projects decorative elements from a shop's window display that was being thrown out because it was from the last season's collection. Alternatively I had considered going to Michaels (or any other craft store) and buying materials to make one myself. You can buy little wood cutouts in the shape of animals, stars, etc, that you can paint, or buy felt and make little figures, stuff them with pillow insert filling and then hang them from the ceiling.

Following still my consistency element, for that project of mine, I cut the beautiful paper bags from that same shop and framed them in nice brown wooden frames. This is an easy, cheap and eco-friendly tip good for a lot of rooms - go through magazines and you will be surprised with how many images are worth framing. For another project, I bought 2 copies of a book of watercolors, kept one to read and cut my favorite watercolors out of the other one and framed them. If you look in second hand bookshops, you will find old children's books with beautiful prints, or even old posters.

Another great way to decorate walls is to display things that have meaning for you or your baby. You can buy a cork board and paint it and then pin items, photos and other mementos as time goes by. Soon enough, your baby will be making his or her own drawings so make sure you have room to display them. You can find old frames at vintage or consignment shops that you can re-use and add extra character to the room.

If your consistency element is a color or a pattern, a fabric garland can be a beautiful way to decorate the ceiling or the walls. Or just simply frame a swatch of two or three different fabrics that you like and will use, for instance in the bedding. I also like to incorporate a peg rack in most of my projects - it is very useful, it can be easily done and it can become a central element in the décor of your room.

If you do not have a lot of time and your budget allows, Etsy is a fantastic place to find beautiful decorative accessories, hand-made and safe for children. Just remember that the reason why these items are more expensive is that someone has taken the time and care to make something beautiful, not a machine or en masse, and that their time is worth money - just like yours is.

Click here to access last week's posting from Claudia, covering "Furniture" concepts.

Stay tuned for coming weeks when Claudia will be discussing more topics about eco-friendly 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.