Designing a modern nursery room doesn’t have to cost a bundle.  My big sister created this adorable jungle room for her baby boy to fit into her modern home.  It helps that she is an interior designer, but I’ll let you in on a few of her secrets…

1) Bold paint.  If you’re scared of that big color wheel, then Pottery barn is working with Benjamin Moore paints and has just released the 2008 colors that are terrific.  My sister chose a bright green that wasn’t typically a baby color but left the other walls white to “soften” the look.

2)  Use what you’ve got.  She uses a bookshelf that she already had.  Since it was black metal she chose a black crib to coordinate.  What you can’t see in this pic that that she also used a black dresser that wasn’t specifically for a nursery.  By using existing furniture for her changing table, she continued the modern theme but was still practical.  (And, FYI, she uses the changing table pillow top with a terry cloth cover – no tray.)  Here is my changing table – also a dresser (from Room and Board) with a changing tray on top.

3)  Coordinated frames and pillows (see first photo).  By having green frames, she use her photographs to dress up the walls and shelves.  What I did was add photographs to the wall…For an even more dramatic affect, use a large mat for the photographs to surround them in white and you can hang those on the colored wall if you don’t have any other art to hang.

4)  Who doesn’t like huge stuffed animals?  We both use stuffed animals as design elements as well as toys for the babies.

5) For lounging and those late nights, she put a single mattress and box spring on the floor for her to use…that and the rocking chair (again not pictured) completes the room!