Once you have selected the colors for the nursery, the next step will be shopping for paint. You will want to have the nursery painting completed early so you have time to add any additions to the room that you have in mind, such as borders or stenciling.
Without spending a large amount of money, you can paint your baby's nursery and create a big impact on the room's decor and atmosphere. The color you use to paint the walls might be a neutral color such as white or cream on which you paint stencils, a border, or a mural. Alternatively, you can paint the walls with what will be the dominant color in the color scheme you have selected for the nursery.
Choosing a paint that will make the walls easy to clean is one way to go. Satin or eggshell paint clean more easily than flat-finish, and are much easier to apply than semi-gloss or gloss paints.
If there are flaws in the walls that you want to hide, consider applying a faux or textured finish. Faux finishes originated several hundred years ago before the invention of brushes and rollers. Paint made from vegetables dyes were dabbed onto walls creating patterns. To create interest in any room, dabbing, sponging, rolling, ragging and other faux finishing techniques can produce amazing effects.
Always put your baby's health first, and use low-odor, or no-voc paint that is water-based. Avoid paints that contain mercury compounds, including fungicides. These are often sold as bathroom or kitchen paints.
As with all decorating projects, a common mistake is to dive in without doing your research. The time you spend planning your baby's nursery painting project will be time well spent. If you are not sure about the effect that you want to create, use the Internet, books, magazines, television, and stores to gather ideas. Consider your theme and picture how you want the room to look once you have added art to the walls and placed the furniture.
Deciding what color of paint to purchase can be stressful. Try to remember that you can always repaint the walls, and that it is all right to experiment. Many companies now offer smaller sample sizes of paint. If the color you want to try is not in stock in sample size, some companies allow you to order a sample online. By using samples, you can paint a large swath to see how it looks at various times of day and from different angles.
With the do-it-yourself trend in home design, there are a multitude of how-to books and free pamphlets providing easy to follow steps. Both can be found in the paint section of home improvement stores. A great deal of free information on painting techniques as well as how-to advice on selecting paints and the right colors can also be found online.
With some careful planning and a sense of adventure, you will find this big job can be another fun step in getting ready for your baby.