Inexpensive Ideas for Decorating a Nursery

Paint

• The best way to start decorating a nursery inexpensively is by painting it. Paint is very inexpensive, but it can work wonders to transform a room. Paint is especially useful in a nursery, because you can really go crazy with whimsical designs such as polka dots or flowers, or if you are an artist, a train that goes around the walls of the room, or even a mural. You also can use paint to refurbish inexpensive furniture. Just make sure that any paint used in a baby's room is nontoxic.

Artwork

• Artwork is one of the most expensive items many people purchase for a nursery, but it doesn't have to be that way. First, visit a thrift store. Yes, you may find a really ugly velvet painting of a monkey, but what about the frame on that painting? Frames are expensive, but frames around ugly paintings are not. Chances are, the frame and glass are worth much more than the painting itself. Purchase several ugly paintings with beautiful frames. Throw away the ugly paintings (or give them as gag gifts), but keep the frames. Then, head over to a used bookstore. Choose one or more children's books that have beautiful illustrations. If the cover is beat up, don't worry about it! When you get home, rip out the pages and put them in the frames. Voila! Instant, classic, inexpensive art. You can even go with a theme, such as pictures from a Winnie-the-Pooh or other Disney book.

Textiles

• Textiles are another inexpensive way to decorate a nursery. Many crib sets come with matching quilts, but most are too heavy to put around a newborn. Instead, why not hang it on the wall? Or, throw it over a rocking chair that has seen better days, hiding the marks on the back of the chair. A single curtain panel at a discount store won't set you back more than $10.00, but if you hang it over a window, pull it over to one side and tie it with a pretty ribbon, it will look like you spent much more on it. Sheer curtain panels are very light, so you could even hang them with a small shower curtain rod, which only costs a few dollars. If you like the look of a valance better, make one by folding receiving blankets into a triangle shape and hanging them over a curtain rod so they overlap a bit.