Mothers or Mothers to be, would I be right in assuming you have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to your baby's nursery décor? Hundreds of pins of gorgeous luxurious nurseries? What's your favourite colour scheme? Pastels? Neutrals? Bold pinks or blues?
Whilst I'm loving the neutrals and the wall stickers and hexagonal frames, can I make one new suggestion please? One that could keep your baby from crying?
No, I'm not suggesting a live in Nanny hidden in a cupboard, although how great would that be!??!
The decor idea I'd like you to add to your nursery Pinterest board is geometric patterns.
Think triangles, hexagons, circles, squares. Any geometric pattern you like because I have proof that it has worked wonders for a couple with a newborn.
In the words of the grateful Mum;
"What you have painted, Jackie, has mesmerised him. Honestly it actually calms him when we lie him in his cot and he stares and stares at it. It's been an accidental godsend!"
We've all seen babies become transfixed with a toy passing in front of them. Staring intently at your face as you exaggeratedly pull faces. It may take them a full year to have vision as clear as an adult's but in those early weeks and months they can find the simplest things hypnotising.
I can remember when my son was young, in the middle of the night, the only way I could calm him was to take him to our spare room, lift up the blind and let him look at the moon and the stars. Worked every single time. I think I wore out the carpet right in front of that window....
So in early 2016, I met with a couple who were expecting their first baby together. We discussed design ideas for their son's bedroom wall and little did we know we'd be creating something that would become a such calming influence on him.
Mum suggested that we matched the wall to the Mammas and Papas' accessories they'd bought. A gorgeous pattern of shapes in a gorgeous palette of colours, across a blanket, bouncer seat and changing mat.
I was quite surprised but excited to hear they wanted a geometric pattern of triangles on their son's wall. I am normally used to painting trees and woodland animals for nurseries, so this was a new challenge for me. And as someone who genuinely is obsessed with geometric patterns myself I was nearly hopping on the spot to get started (seriously you should see my Pinterest boards for geometric home design and I doodle in squares and triangles - nerd alert!).
We discussed scattering the triangles down the wall, so they were clustered in the corner and spread out along the two walls, as though the triangles has been blown away. The colour palette would closely match the accessories, tying it all in together.
The room was complete and I packed up all my paints and dust sheets, and went on my merry way wishing the pregnant couple the best of luck with their new arrival.
So when I bumped into them several weeks later I was so shocked and surprised at their exclamation!
They excitedly expressed how surprised they were that the pattern had not only been a gorgeously unique design feature for a nursery, but also a functional one!
Little baby Milo was absolutely transfixed with the pattern and every night they put him to bed, it acted like a huge baby mobile on his wall!
So mums to be, consider a geometric pattern for your kid's nursery as it might save you from wearing out the carpet in front of your spare room window.
A video of the mural in progress pictures can be found here too.
You're welcome new Mamma! ;-)