MaryEllen Fillo
Hartford Courant

Oh, baby, baby, baby.

Forget the cutesy teddy bears, and ditch the washed-out pinks and barely blues. Nurseries are going chic.


Pervasive matchy-match newborn nursery themes are being replaced with more modern and sophisticated motifs, and traditional pastels have morphed into bold brights and geometric patterns.
And parents-to-be, once obsessed with making the space perfect for a baby, now are opting to create a longer-term decor, one that not only blends with the rest of the house but also will be suitable as their newborn grows into toddlerhood and beyond.

“Parents are finally growing up when it comes to decorating for baby,” says Angelo Surmelis, host of HGTV’s 24 Hour Design. “They are looking down the road.

“The parents today were the generation that grew up with pastel colors, baby murals and cutesy stuff,” he says. “They are a generation that has spent time and money on the rest of the house, and when it comes to the nursery, they want it sophisticated and out of the box.”

Sophisticated? Apparently so.

Meander through virtually any dedicated baby store or the baby aisles at major retail outlets such as Target or Ikea. Peruse the newest crop of “how-to” books on nursery design.

The look - it’s come a long way, baby.

“It’s about finding a sense of style that is practical and affordable and not traditional,” says Tina Barkley, creator of a line of nursery products called Babylicious that is carried at a variety of baby boutiques, online and at Target.

“Parents want to reflect their own sense of style through their babies. And nurseries have become part of that style.”

Although some necessities are must-haves for the nursery, such as a crib and a changing table, even those are being stepped up when it comes to style. Dual-purpose changing tables with removable tops grow with babies, thanks to features such as bookcases, drawers or cabinets that become bedroom staples once the changing top no longer is needed. Cribs that can be reconfigured into toddler-size beds, and storage units and shelves that can hold baby powder and stuffed animals one year and building blocks and books the next turn baby’s room into one that changes along with the size, the interests and the needs of the child.

And then there is the color: Bold raspberry, orange and lime green are popular, as are modern earth tones with splashes of red, vermilion or turquoise.

Plaids, stripes, polka dots and geometrics make yesterday’s pastel teddy bear- covered patterns so yesterday.

“You can have a hip nursery, one that is a lot of fun,” says Barkley, who created her own retro-inspired patterns that include Posie, Happy and Island, because she didn’t find the pizzazz she wanted for her own baby in more traditional lines in stores.

“The choices are endless out there.”

“The first thing we thought of is that we wanted something that was not real babyish,” says Rebecca Stewart, a weekend TV anchor in Hartford, Conn.

Stewart and her husband, Jamie Muro, a reporter with another Hartford-area TV station, are expecting their first child.

“At first, we talked about a bunch of possibilities, maybe a circus theme,” Muro says about the upstairs bedroom that ultimately was turned into a lighthearted minijungle.

“The only thing I knew I wanted was beadboard,” Stewart says. “From there it was a blank canvas.”

Beadboard was installed on the walls and ceiling of their son’s bedroom in their Cape Cod-style house in West Hartford. The soft yellow color provides the subtle backdrop for all-about-the-jungle accessories, including a repurposed wardrobe that Stewart updated by painting 6-foot-tall “Gerry Giraffe” on the front.

A jungle-themed clothes tree - home to a hanging stuffed monkey - wood blinds on the window and a zebra-print area rug share space with a dressing table. A yet-to-be-purchased rocker or easy chair (which the couple say will be done in some kind of animal print), a felt jungle diorama on the back of some built-in bookcases and a black crib complete the decor. The goal, Stewart and Muro say, is a room that will be inspirational to a newborn and growing baby, and just a fun place to sleep for a toddler.

“Yeah, there were some people who were like, ‘A black crib? You’ve got to be kidding,’ ” says Stewart, who, with her husband, did most of the painting and decorating. “But it actually looks good, because there it’s not overpowering and just works well with the jungle idea.”

At the Hartford home of newscasters Dennis House and Kara Sundlun, daughter Helena may be bunked in what sounds like a traditional pink-and-white nursery, but it’s not the kind of pink-and-white room of days gone by.

Bubble-gum-pink custom bedding from Infant Interiors in Newport, R.I., featuring grosgrain ribbon, awning stripes, plaids and polka dots, provides the eye-catching, bold wash of color in this chic baby’s room.

“My mom is an interior designer, so we were looking to do something special in terms of aesthetics,” Sundlun says.

The couple chose a seaside motif, soft turquoise walls and, rather daringly, white wall-to-wall carpeting.

“The carpet is really Scotchgarded well,” Sundlun says.

Because they were married in Newport and love the ocean, it was natural that the couple’s tastes carried into their daughter’s room, Sundlun says.

A design that includes starfish, flamingos and ducks outlined with strands of dock line creates the wall border. A hot-pink princess phone, hot-pink model 1958 Buick (House loves Buicks) and pink, white and turquoise letters spelling out the baby’s name are just some of the accessories in the room.

“I’m not sure if we thought too much about longevity as far as the color scheme and the theme, but we did want to make it gender-neutral,” says Sundlun, who had her doctor tell the baby-store owner the sex of the baby so he - but not she and House - would know whether to order the custom-made pink or blue bedding.

“We wanted something not too babyish.”

Hints for parents-to-be preparing to create a baby space?

“Save your time and money by having a plan and a realistic budget, not your dream budget,” advises TV-show host Surmelis. “Figure out what you need and what is going to function. If you want whimsy, do it with accessories that can be changed out as the baby gets older, but look to furniture and color that can grow with the child. You can be sentimental, but in the long run, it saves you from having to go backward and being forced to do the room over again when the baby gets older.”
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