Decorating a nursery gives you the opportunity to break out from what might be more conservative décor.  We like to think of it more as an obligation – an obligation to ourselves to continue fueling the creative nature in each of us.

And, what better way to do that than with contemporary European style and painting the nursery orange?

According to color theorists, orange is a warm color that encourages play – the perfect color for kids – by combining the happiness of yellow and the energy of red.

This nursery from UK outfit VivaBaby packs a punch with orange painted walls and bright and cheery white and yellow furniture.  VivaBaby is a retailer of exclusive modern nursery and children’s furniture from top designers in Italy, Denmark, France, and Germany. The collection featured here is from Italy and is called Nature Yellow and depicts bees on a summer day.

To recreate this look, there are a few shades of wall paint to consider.  From Benjamin Moore, try Citrus Orange or Calypso Orange. You can get these shades in their eco-friendly, no VOC brand, Natura.  Sherwin Williams has a shade called Kid’s Play that is also nice.

As with any painting project, always, ALWAYS test a few shades on the wall before committing to a color.  It is amazing how different a paint chip can look from the actual paint on the wall.

For the rest of the baby room, decorate white furniture and light-colored accessories (i.e. gliders, rugs, bedding).  With a bold paint color on the walls, you’ll need a lot of white to provide the contrast that will give the room its punch and reflect the light.

And, if you are concerned with overwhelming the room in orange, consider painting just one of the three walls orange to get that delightful splash of color.  Or, paint the bottom half orange and the top half a decorator’s white and use a fun wall border to separate the two colors.  Consider wall decals or wall stencils to create a wall border similar to this one.