Is it just us or is every pregnant friend waiting until the bun is out of the oven before finding out if it’s a John or a Jane? In that case, the new parents have what is, we’re guessing, not the last challenge of having a baby. How do you decorate a baby’s room when all you know about it is that it’s smaller than a bread basket?
A brand new life means the opportunity for endless possibilities, a new source of inspiration, a fresh imagination, a little person to marvel and wonder at the sites and creatures of the world. Our whole lives are shared with critters, both real and fictitious. We’ve loved our grandmother’s cat who let us put his tail in our infant mouths, the White Rabbit in middle school English class and Bill Murray’s Baloo the bear in this year’s The Jungle Book.
But animal-themed kids’ rooms don’t have to be just cutesy cartoons either. Thanks to the whimsical inspirations from movies like Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, there’s décor with characters that go from newborn to dorm room in art work or throw pillows. New colors, patterns, decorations and bedding can be added as baby grows up, personalities develop and interests evolve. With a black and white animal face wallpaper, add bold strips or plaid for a boy’s room. For a girl, use her favorite color as an accent and mix in some chevron or polka dots.
Thankfully there are plenty of ways to bring indoors the animals with whom we share this big, big world.