After the room is chosen, you will need to get down to the nitty gritty with
things such as themes and color schemes.
If you are starting this project before knowing if your baby will be a boy or
girl (or if you don't plan to find out ahead of time at all) it will be more
difficult planning colors or a theme.
One thing to keep in mind is you certainly do not have to stick with the old
"rules" of pink for girls, blue for boys, yellow or green if you
don't know the gender. Greens and yellows will certainly work, but so will
colors such as lavender, peach, and neutral colors used in combination with any
of the above.
You may be tempted to do the room in a color scheme of splashes of vibrant
colors. Decorating with those bright hues has become very popular these days,
but you may want to stick with the more subdued and pastel colors for the
nursery. That does not mean that you can't have those splashes of vividness
here and there in your accessories, just that it may not be the best idea for
the walls. With everything else that the baby will be learning and taking in
during those first few months, a room full of bright colors may turn out to be
a bit overwhelming for him or her.
Some words of caution while preparing the room
Will you be painting or using wallpaper? Plan all those things out before
beginning. What will the flooring be? When you know all these things, the room
will start coming together nicely.
Concerning the painting, the American Pregnancy Association warns that
chemicals and solvents in paints offer various degrees of toxicity for humans,
but there are no studies concluding the risks to a mother-to-be. It is still
recommended to avoid paint exposure, however, so it would be a much better
choice to have someone do the painting for you. Even after the room is
finished, be sure to have good ventilation in there to minimize your contact
with the fumes.
If you do find that you need to be involved with the painting for whatever
reason, do not ever be involved in the removal of old paint.
Paints manufactured prior to the 1970s have lead in them and are very dangerous
to young children and pregnant women. This means stay away from the area if any
sanding or old paint removal is being done.
If being in the locale or helping to paint the room yourself cannot be
avoided, be sure to use proper safety precautions such as not
having food or drink in the room and having proper ventilation. Be sure to get
plenty of fresh air. As with anything else you do while pregnant, do not
overwork yourself and take plenty of breaks.
If you simply don't want to take the risk, even though no studies are
conclusive, you may want to just wallpaper the room and that would be a fun
project as well.