Design a Gender-Neutral Nursery

Choosing a theme gives a nursery a cohesive look and simplifies choosing furnishings and accessories. A theme can be based on colors, patterns, or topics. For example, in this nursery, the bedding and accessories echo the stars on the wall. Animals, sea life and the alphabet are all popular choices that work equally well for a boy or a girl. Reinforce the nursery's theme with decorative painting, collections, accessories and art.

Small details – like the wicker baskets, animal toys and pillow on an easy chair in the nursery – polish the overall look. Once your baby is born, make the room unique by adding personal touches, such as decorative stenciling on the wall to spell out exactly whose room it is. Babies love to look at baby faces, making the nursery an ideal place to display photos of your child. Paint a growth chart that's complementary to the theme to mark just how rapidly your little one grows.

A practical approach is to let the bedding, window treatments or a rug (especially if it's patterned) influence the room's color palette. Pick paint colors last because it's much easier to match paint to patterns than the other way around. With color, anything goes in today's nursery. You'll find palettes that range from soft neutrals to bold saturated colors.

In this nursery, we mixed white, cream, and light brown to give the room a soft, warm feeling. Shades of green and yellow are also popular choices for a boy or girl. Pick any combination of hues that makes you happy, keeping in mind how the colors of large surfaces – the walls, the floor and the furniture – will interact with each other.

Your baby will be up and moving around before you know it. To prepare, choose furniture and motifs that will transition effortlessly from infant to toddler and eventually to child. For example, this comfortable glider offers a cozy spot for you and your baby to spend time together feeding or cuddling.

Later, the chair will look at home in any room, and you have the option of changing the slipcovers. Look for cribs that convert to toddler beds and furniture that adapts to your needs. Many changing tables offer a removable top that leaves you with a functional dresser once your baby is out of diapers. Modular shelving works for holding all essentials now, and the pieces can be used separately in other rooms later.