Calm colours and neutral designs are soaring in popularity for children’s bedrooms as parents keep an eye on their financial future together with welcoming a new arrival.
Nursery interiors guru Lucinda Croft said a much softer colour palette was proving popular in the design of sleeping areas for youngsters, creating a peaceful environment in the hope of encouraging quieter babies.
She said savvy parents were taking a more long-term approach to choosing a theme for nurseries amid reports that messy bedrooms were one of the key turn-offs for potential house buyers.
As owner of Knightsbridge nursery emporium Dragons of Walton Street Mrs Croft said the “safe colours” once considered boring were now seen as comforting.
“There really is no such thing anymore as boring beige. Now it is beautiful beige. And certainly that is becoming more apt at a time when the property market can be a difficult area to negotiate and often those most successful at selling are the ones with a more neutrally decorated home,” she explained.
“We have certainly seen an increase in demand for a colour palette for a nursery that is much more muted and toned down although that doesn’t mean parents don’t want to indulge having a new little person in the house. They have just been more creative in how they celebrate it while ensuring the status of their home as an asset remains at its full potential.
Mrs Croft said the team of designers at Dragons pulled together mood boards to help parents come up with the perfect look for a nursery or child’s bedroom and she has seen such combinations as calico and linen with its emphasis on beige prove increasingly tempting.
But she added that parents would look to add other features to ensure a nursery would stimulate a child together with looking beautiful and versatile.
“Parents will now seriously consider various shades of beige, cream and mellow yellows for the main decor of the room but they will then want to play with texture or other details to add interest.
“Different fabrics can change a room so much such as using lace and crystals for a little girl’s room. Very often curtains and soft furnishings are used to expand a certain theme and primary colours can be used in the extras such as bookcases or lamps – things which can be removed to show a house for sale.”
Mrs Croft said parents were also keen to maximise the investment they make in a new room for their baby even if they planned to stay in the house.
“Our greatest pleasure is working closely with parents to create a beautiful room which can grow with the child,” she continued.
“We have a cherished history which has seen us work with various generations of a family – it really is the beauty of this business to have such long-standing relationships with our customers.
“We have seen the interest in more neutral colours grow as people show more of an interest in decorating their room for the long term. The designers love coming up with ways to have a room which adapts easily with the child and the family while still having all the fun which comes with the different stages of growing up.”
The most popular themes for maximising a muted colour palette include the traditional favourites such as the Flower Fairies and Beatrix Potter characters.