"Moonlight" by Benjamin Moore for Pottery Barn Kids

"Hay is for Horses" Warm Yellow Paint by Mythic for Land of Nod

"Pale Daffodil" by Behr from Rate My Space-er "KasieMoffett"

The warmth of the summer sun has inspired us to pay homage to the color yellow. In our opinion, yellow’s beauty when painting a nursery comes from its versatility as a gender neutral shade that can stand alone or accent both cool or warm colors.

If you go warm, you can accent with pinks, oranges, and greens. If you choose a cool pale yellow, white, blues, and lavender accents are delightful options.

For your quintessential pale yellow paint, try Benjamin Moore’s pale yellow called “Moonlight”. See how beautiful this cool shade of yellow looks paired with other cool colors like this pale blue for Pottery Barn Kids? This yellow is the perfect shade for an accent and would also work as an accent for a lavender, pale green, or pale pink nursery.

For a warmer shade of yellow paint for your baby’s room, try Land of Nod’s Mythic line of paint. They have a lovely, warm shade of yellow called “Hay is for Horses”. It does a nice job evoking warmth with its buttery yellow accented with red, oranges, and hot pinks.

We also like Behr’s “Pale Daffodil” yellow paint shown here in this Rate My Space-er’s hot pink and yellow painted nursery. The bright pink adds warmth and the pale yellow paint tones down the pink. The ceiling and floor moldings painted in a decorator’s white add the classic detail we love.

For ideas on other shades of yellow, consider these:

Benjamin Moore
Ambiance
Filtered Sunlight
Philadelphia Cream
Little Angel
Hawthorne Yellow
Pale Straw
Yellow Freeze

Behr
Banana Split
Moon Dance

Sherwin Williams
Lively Yellow
Friendly Yellow

For more ideas on how to paint your nursery, see our other articles on:

Which Paints are Safe for Your Nursery

The Best Shades of Blue Wall Paint for a Nursery

Top Nursery Wall Paint Ideas for 2010

Gorgeous Wall Paint Ideas from Top Designers

Nursery Wall Decals for a Painted Look Without the Mess

Breakfast at Tiffany's Blue Themed Baby Girl Nursery

Blue & Orange Boy's Modern Nursery with Large Tree Wall Decal

Blue Painted Striped Boy's Nursery with Monogram Wall Decal

We are always impressed when we find a clever spin on a traditional theme or color in kid’s room decorating. So, we wanted to share these three inspiring blue nurseries from Rate My Space moms that are sure to knock your socks off, too. These super creative moms turned what could be traditional blue nurseries upside down, making them anything but traditional.

This glamorous, vintage “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” blue nursery was designed by “mnm” for her baby girl named Audrey, of course . She painted the walls in “Sea Breeze” by Valspar (matched by Sherwin Williams). And, she got her oh-so-glam look with a lot of smart shopping at Target and Amazon including her black and white baby bedding and sumptuous, white shag rug. Mnm painted the wall letters herself to give Audrey an elegant personality of her own. In her other photos, you’ll see very cool black and white damask printed curtains and a damask lamp, a vintage chandelier wall decal over her glider, and a to-die-for mirrored nightstand to hold knick-knacks.

For a more modern blue nursery, we love what “Chemegal” did in her baby boy’s room using a soft blue, bright orange, and brown color palette. Her blue paint is that gorgeous “Robin’s Egg” from Benjamin Moore. She had her custom white and orange giraffe crib bedding custom made by an Etsy seamstress as well as the large brown tree wall decal behind the crib. We love how well the orange is used to accent the room as it brings warmth and visual punch. The blue and brown do their job nicely bringing a calming and cooling feel. We also like the not-as-common vertical positioning of her wall letters.

Finally, if you’re up for creative wall painting, this classy looking, blue striped painted nursery is a show-stopper. Mom-to-Be “Altortolero” painted 2 inch wide white stripes with alternating 10.5 inch wide light blue (Behr Twilight Grey) and dark blue stripes (Behr Skyline Steel) to get this look. We love how the painted stripes and two-toned wall paint make the baby’s room feel like a beautifully wrapped present with a monogram wall decal “bow” on top. We also appreciate the rich, espresso colored furniture that adds an even classier feel and the modern touches like the brown and white Dwell throw.

For more ideas and inspiration, see our other articles on the best blue wall paints for a nursery, black and white nursery decor, and decorating with vintage Barbie wall prints.

No VOC Light Green Nursery Wall Paint - "Inchworm" from Land of Nod

No VOC Lavender Nursery Wall Paint - "Naptime" from Land of Nod

No VOC Orange Nursery Wall Paint - "Have you Seen Tangerine" from Land of Nod

Land of Nod has just introduced a delightful selection of wall paints for nurseries and kids’ rooms to coordinate with their stylish line of baby and children furniture and accessories.  With names as pleasant-sounding to the ear as the wall paint colors are pleasant-looking to the eye, it’s worth taking a peek even if you’re not planning a near-term, nursery decorating project.

Our favorite names are a light olive green paint called “Ribbit”, a taupe paint called “Dad’s Pants”, and a soft yellow-beige paint called “Buttered Noodles”.  Clever

The light green paint featured above is called “Inchworm”and is a gorgeous spring-like shade of green, great for a gender neutral themed nursery or a spring baby.  Add more brown, mocha, or taupe décor to make it a bit more “boy”.  Add soft pinks, bright pinks, or lavenders to make it a bit more “girl”.

The lavender paint shade is called “Naptime” and is modern and fun. If you seek brightness, use white to complement your decorating as done by Land of Nod here.  Or, bring in some light colored-wood furniture to soften up your look.

Finally, for something way modern and striking, “Have you seen Tangerine” can bring in a rich, warm orange wall paint that will envelope your baby boy’s nursery in coziness.  Best for bigger nurseries with a bit more space, as darker shades of paint can make a room feel small, try rich brown furniture as styled by Land of Nod with cool blue accents for a modern feel.  Or, heavy up on the white and olive accents for something a bit more retro.

With regard to eco-friendliness and kid safety, Land of Nod has it all buttoned up.  All of their wall paints are eco-friendly, non-toxic, free of VOCs and solvents, and have nearly zero odor.  Their paint is also safe from commonly sticky hands as it is scrub resistant.

The paints are made by Mythic.

See our other nursery wall paint ideas, particularly nursery wall paint trends for 2010.

Orange and Yellow Nursey Decor

Calypso Orange Benjamin Moore Wall Paint for a Nursery or Kids' Room

Citrus Orange Benjamin Moore Wall Paint for a Nursery or Kid's Room

Kids Stuff Sherwin-Williams Wall Paint for a Nursery or Kid's Room

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.

Light Blue Paint for a Nursery - Benjamin Moore "Lake Placid"

There are thousands of shades of blue paint to choose from which makes it more than challenging to narrow down choices.  We spent some time finding the best shades of blue wall paint for your baby’s nursery or kid’s room so you don’t have to.  Our criteria was based on richness of color, uniqueness of color, and the likelihood of the paint matching other decorative elements like bedding and window treatments.  We then tried to find examples where these paints were used so you had a better sense for them.

And, don’t think blue paint is just for boy nurseries.  Bring in a bit more girl with white, pink, or lavender and you’ll be all set.

We’ve broken our finds into three categories – light blue, medium blue, and dark or navy blue and linked to them where we could find them.  Pretty much all of these are low or no VOC (i.e. no fumes, no odor, and more environmentally safe) but it’s best to confirm before purchase.

Good luck with your painting and let us know how you like our recommendations.

Light Blue
Lake Placid, Benjamin Moore – Featured in the photo above from mfluhr on HGTV’s Rate My Space.
Crystal Blue, Benjamin Moore – Featured on Becoming Mom.
Robin’s Nest – A “Tiffany” blue great for girls’ rooms featured on Life on Grace.
Harbor Fog, Benjamin Moore – Featured on Pottery Barn Kids.
Caribbean Mist, Benjamin Moore - Featured on A Few of my Favorite Things.
Pool, Serena & Lily – Featured on Torie Jayne’s blog.
Air, Serena & Lily – Featured on Serena & Lily’s site.
Drizzle, Sherwin Williams – Featured on Design Dazzle.
Blue Ice, Benjamin Moore – Featured on Decor Pad.

Medium Blue
Blue Marguerite, Benjamin Moore – Featured on Pottery Barn Kids.
Chambray, Serena & Lily – Featured on Serena & Lily.
Resolute Blue, Sherwin Williams – Swatch featured on My Perfect Color.

Dark Blue
Old Glory, Benjamin Moore – Featured on Pottery Barn Kids.
Old Blue Jeans, Benjamin Moore – Featured on Design Noob.
Navy, Serena & Lily – Featured on Serena & Lily.

Benjamin Moore's Robin's Nest Wall Paint for a Baby Nursery

Since we are getting ready to kick off the new year, we have come up with our picks for our favorite nursery wall paint colors for 2010 for a baby nursery.  These wall paint ideas were gathered based on recent home decor trends, our love for certain shades, and an eye on fashion and interior design trends for 2010.  Furthermore, we’ll show you which of our wall decals match with these great shades.

1) Turquoise was recently named Pantone’s color of the year for 2010 and it is a fun color to use in kid’s and baby room decorating.  Take this nursery decorated by Etsy seller and blogger Caroline Armelle above as an example.  She used Benjamin Moore’s Robin’s Nest wall paint to create a modern nursery with a touch of vintage.  This shade is like that beautiful Tiffany blue.  Because the blue is so striking on its own, neutral shades like brown and white add great depth of color. Try our animal wall decals in chocolate brown to add that bit of fun.

2) Caroline’s nursery uses another one of our recommended colors – a sunny yellow.  We like Sherwin William’s Lemon Twist to get that bright and cheery yellow as shown in this Project Nursery post.  Yellow is a wonderful color for 2010 because it can be accompanied with bright and vibrant colors like blues and greens.  Or, it can be softened with soft browns and creams.  This shade of yellow is also great for a gender neutral nursery. We like pairing this yellow with green to bring in that natural feel. Our apple green wall decals are a bright and cheery green that will go with most any shade of yellow. For theme ideas, try our turtle wall decals or our green and yellow butterfly wall decals.

3) Eco-friendly decor will continue to grow in 2010 and our list would be incomplete without that perfect shade of green.  This beautiful Cedar Green is from Benjamin Moore and is part of Pottery Barn Kid’s decor line.  This green is not too yellow and not too olive.  It is that perfect nature-colored green and the paint itself is nature friendly as it is zero VOC. Because it is such a neutral shade, you can use many accent colors to liven it up such as blue, yellow, and orange.

4) Pastel baby blues are a thing of the past and 2010 is no different.  There are so many gorgeous shades of blue to help you create the perfect boy’s room.  Benjamin Moore’s Lake Placid is a timeless classic blue with a bit of grey to bring that contemporary look we seek. Our charcoal grey wall decal letters would add that personalized, matching touch.

5) For girls’ room decorating, there will always be pink.  But, pink in 2010 borders on lilac like this Juice from Serena & Lily. This vivacious color is also low VOC and would work well against white moldings and borders. Again, our wall decal letters in white would match perfectly and we’d recommend a fun type face like curly or wavy.

6) Finally, we think lavender will continue to shine in 2010 as it did in 2009.  This Lily Lavender wall paint is also part of Pottery Barn Kid’s Benjamin Moore selection.  Lavender is a beautiful light purple that provides a nice alternative to a pink wall paint.

See our other articles on which paints are safe for nurseries and other wall paint ideas for your baby’s room such as modern palette picks from top designers. Then, see our selection of nursery wall decals to make your nursery fabulous.

Kids Room Wall Paint Color Palette in Blue, Orange, and Yellow from Benjamin Moore

Kids Room Wall Paint Color Palette in Blue, Pink, and Yellow from Benjamin Moore

Real Simple, one of our favorite magazines for fun, fresh ideas for life and the home worked with Amy Wax, author of Can’t Fail Color Themes ; Kristan Cunningham, host of HGTV’s Design on a Dime; and Leatrice Eiseman of the Pantone Color Institute with photography by Grant Cornett, to come up with these gorgeous wall paint color combos.   

These designed-for-kids fun colors are delightful and contemporary alternatives to your more traditional shades of blue and pink.  We’ve included a few of the palettes above but there are more in the full article at RealSimple.com.  Their decorating tip of using one of the three colors for the walls and the others for accents and trim is a great way to add the color depth and contrast we seek in a vibrant colored kids room and baby nurseries.

The first wall paint palette they call Citrus Blast is our favorite.  We love the orange and blue combo with the yellow touch.  The colors are called Tangelo, Tropical Cabana, and American Cheese and are Benjamin Moore’s Natura line.  Benjamin Moore’s Natura line has zero VOC’s (which means the paint does not emit odor nor chemicals) and is a great choice for the eco-conscious mom.

The second wall paint palette we liked as it cleverly used both blue and pink with a neutralizing yellow.  They aptly named this palette Berry Blast and the colors are Mimosa, Strawberry Ice, and Little Boy Blue by Pantone EuroLux Interior sold at pantone.com.

See our other articles for more inspirational ideas for wall paint in kids rooms and learn which wall paints are safe for nurseries.

Boy Nursery in Brown, Sage, & Blue

Boy Nursery in Blue, Sage, & Brown with Glider

Rate My Space is a fantastic place to get ideas for nursery and kid’s room decor.  The site is part of HGTV and has hundreds, if not thousands, of nurseries and kids rooms decorated by people from around the world.

We were particularly inspired by Griffan’s baby boy room which is decorated in mocha (or brown), beiges, blues, and greens.  With a little wall paint, this mom created a warm, modern feeling nursery that looks like the work of a professional interior designer.

The walls in this nursery are the highlight.  The squares you see are painted on the wall. You can recreate this look by using a contemporary wall stencil approach.  Use tape of your chosen width to create the grid.  The brown-toned wall paint is Sherwin Williams Mocha.  Above the crib hang the peach, blue, and green wall letters from WalMart giving the nursery the personalization we love.  In the second photo, notice the creative, modern wall shelves in the shape of a wave adding some rounded corners like the white Japanese lanterns hanging from the ceiling – one of our favorite nursery decorating items!

As you can see, a little bit of wall paint can go along way.

See our other articles for inspiring nursery wall paint ideas as well as how to find wall paint safe for nurseries.

No VOC Lily Lavender Wall Paint from PBKids

Wall paint is such an easy and low cost way to bring life to your nursery or kid’s room. But, it can be challenging to find that ‘just right’ color and eco-friendly solution (read: no VOC, low odor) you feel comfortable putting on your baby’s walls.

Pottery Barn Kids has been working with Benjamin Moore for a few years now helping you with wall paint ideas to match your kid’s decor.  They have just introduced their latest fall/winter colors in a beautiful selection we adore in Benjamin Moore’s eco-friendly Natura® formula. This zero-VOC and nearly odorless wall paint is great for kid-friendly spaces not only because it is enviornmentally friendly, but also because it covers well and withstands repeated scrubbings from little sticky fingers.

The colors are lavishly named using delicious words such as Raspberry Truffle, Pink Cadillac, Cedar Green, and Blue Marguerite.  Above we show the Lily Lavender shade in a girl’s room.  Their wall paint is available in an Eggshell or a Semi-gloss finish.  The Eggshell finish provides a softly polished look and an easy to clean surface ideal for children’s walls. The Semi-gloss finish stands up well to repeated cleanings, and is recommended for moldings and trim.

These paints are only available online and we highly encourage you to sample the colors before committing.  Because the shades are custom mixed, they are not returnable.  Pottery Barn Kids sells their wall paint in one gallon cans but offers an eight-ounce color sample kit for testing your walls.  They also sell their fan deck for $2 so you can see all the colors.

See our other articles for low or no VOC wall paint recommendations for your kid’s rooms.

Butterfly nursery decor from Bananafish

Why not decorate your little girl’s nursery with this modern butterfly baby room decor from Bananafish?  She loves butterflies – or she will soon!  The butterflies are bright and punchy and you can’t help but smile upon seeing them.  The pink, brown, and grass green colors are contemporary, yet classic.  The delicate and adorning valences and butterfly hanging wall art pieces pull the room together nicely. 

Speaking of pulling together the room, we love the wall paint they’ve chosen to display the decor.  The lavender paint tones down the pink in a way that creates a soothing ambiance.  And, the dark wood furniture (cherry wood, we think) brings the perfect amount of depth to the room.

We found this modern butterfly set at Rosenberry Rooms for $180 for the basic bedding package.  But, it is sold at many offline and online retailers so should not be too difficult to find.