Nursery Styling Guide by Sarah Agustin from @sarahstylesandinteriors

After stumbling over this professionally styled nursery on Instagram, featuring a Sleigh Cot just like ours, we immediately began head hunting the incredibly talented up and coming interior designer and stylist from Melbourne - Sarah Agustin - for all of her nursery decorating insights to share with you here...

We were thrilled to see that Sarah’s nursery features a Sleigh Cot just like ours, so the first thing we had to ask her was - What do you like about your Sleigh Cot? And we were most excited to hear Sarah’s response “I love how it looks! It looks strong and sturdy as it’s made out of heavy timber. I like how it curves at the ends of the cot which gives it an elegant look. It has a storage drawer at the bottom which is always a bonus. It also has the teething rail which protects the baby’s gums and teeth especially when they start standing up and biting everything that is in front of them! Another great feature of this cot is that it can be converted into a toddler bed which is a great way to ease the transition into a single bed when they are ready”.

Sarah Agustin is currently studying to become an interior stylist and decorator. She possesses a wealth of knowledge on how to create a special space for you and your baby - as is clearly demonstrated by the beautiful room she has designed for her own children. In setting up a beautiful nursery like Sarah's, the main tip from Sarah in helping you to get started is to check out the Instagram and Pinterest community to find inspiration!

We can’t agree more and recommend you start by following Sarah’s Instagram account @sarahstylesandinteriors to see more of her beautiful nursery photos! Sarah draws lots of inspiration from these social media resources and tells us that “There are so many accounts that showcase a variety of styles from all over the world when it comes to decorating your children’s room. Instagram and Pinterest are my go to places for sure. I love Scandinavian and Danish styles as I’m drawn to muted tones and simple designs. I find them particularly calming and small-space friendly.

Instagram is not only good for inspiration... Sarah has found and purchased most of her decorative items on Instagram and explains “There are so many talented mum's out there who make gorgeous nursery items that are unique and different. It has definitely been my favourite place to find these great pieces”. When we asked Sarah what her fave parts of her nursery are, Sarah happened to share one of her Instagram finds... “There are a few! I love the wall book rack from @thetimbatrend, it’s such a space saver and you can display all your books which adds to the decor of your room too.  Most Instagram stores have really gorgeous pieces and you can definitely get good deals during sale seasons. If you’re on a tight budget, don't forget to look at Target and Kmart - they also have gorgeous nursery pieces that you can grab for a bargain!”

We really love the colours Sarah has used and how she makes them work together, so we love the styling tip she indirectly shared here in continuing to talk about her fave parts of her nursery... “Another favourite of mine has to be the bedding- I love the muted tones of pink I’ve chosen for my girls’ room. Muted tones are great if you want to bring some colour to the room without overpowering the space”. On the topic of colour, we asked Sarah “Do you think it’s best to stick to a colour scheme in the baby room? And what things should we consider when choosing a colour scheme?

Sarah explains “You can go both ways (yes/no to colour schemes). Choosing a colour scheme helps you narrow down the colours and makes it easier to choose colours for the pieces of your nursery that you’re going to purchase. Not having a colour scheme gives you the advantage of putting any colour you want in it. Either way, the key thing to remember is not to overpower the room because you want the room to be a calming space for you and your baby. Choose colours that are complimentary to each other and this will help pull the whole look together”.

Getting to the nitty-gritty we ask Sarah...What are your tips for mum's-to-be in decorating their nursery? Sarah explains "First, is to definitely figure out what style you would like the nursery to be before buying anything. It can be overwhelming to decide what to buy when you’re in the shops so I would say find out what your style is and go from there. The best way to start this is by creating a mood board of your favourite items for the nursery. As you build up your mood board, you will find that you might like a particular look more and that will help you realise the style you would want in your room". Sarah goes on to share some explicit guidelines when we ask - What are the 3 most important rules that everyday mum's can follow to create a professionally designed look and feel in their nursery?

Sarah's advice is to:

- 1 - Work with colours that complement each other - it helps to create a cohesive look and feel to the room and also provides a calming space for you and your baby;

- 2 - Use furniture that has multiple functions e.g. use the chest of drawers with a change table top option - that way you can save space and money as well;

- 3 - Don’t be afraid to utilise the wall as a storage space. By doing this you reduce the clutter off the floor and you can also keep certain baby products away from curious hands especially when they get older.

We also asked Sarah to share with you... any tips that she, as an upcoming interior designer, thinks that all mum's should know when they’re designing their nursery? Sarah's advice is "When designing your baby’s nursery, just remember that it is a room you’ll spend a lot of time in. So make sure that you have things in there that makes it inviting and calming for you and baby. Don’t overcrowd the room with lots of ‘stuff’ that is not necessary. Be stylish but be practical and most importantly - enjoy the journey of creating this room, as it is a special time before bubs arrives".

At this point we may have been guilty of asking poor Sarah the same question in 10 different ways, to draw out as much of her nursery styling brilliance as we possibly could for you! So finally, we asked Sarah what part of decorating she enjoys the most and we were not surprised to hear... “Everything! I enjoy figuring out the style, hunting down decor items and most of all bringing it all together at the end”...and she really has done such an incredible job of decorating her children’s rooms, right down to the very last detail!!

But what if mumma's need help styling their nursery or their home - where can they turn without breaking the bank? “Definitely look up children interiors accounts on Instagram and ideas on Pinterest. But if you need something more tailored to your space, there are many Interior Designers that provide mood boards that are specifically curated for your style and your nursery. They also provide you with a list of where you can purchase all of them. This is a great way to get a designers input for your space without breaking the bank”.

We would like to extend a special thank you to Sarah Agustin (pictured here with her little man) for sharing her expert knowledge with us in our Cloud 9 Blog and equipping both us and our readers with this styling guide to refer to when we're setting up a Cloud 9 Baby Bedroom. We know this post will serve as a practical and valuable guide to Mum's when they're on their styling journey! We look forward to following Sarah's nursery photos @sarahstylesandinteriors and we look forward to watching Sarah progress in what we know will be a successful interior design, styling and decorating career! We can’t wait to hear from you again in the future Sarah!!

Til Then... Cloud 9 Baby Bedrooms x