What kind of wall art is best for a nursery?

Look for warm, hand-illustrated prints with soft colour palettes and gentle storytelling — animals, nature and dreamy scenes work beautifully and grow with your child from baby to toddler.

How high should I hang nursery wall art?

Hang the centre of the print at roughly 145–155 cm from the floor when the room is mostly for adults, or lower — around 110–120 cm — when you want art at a toddler's eye level above a low shelf or cot.

Should nursery prints match each other?

They don't need to match exactly. Choose two or three prints that share a palette or illustration style — a quartet of giraffes, a trio of bedtime scenes — and use the same frame finish to tie everything together.

Journal · Guide

Nursery Wall Art: A Guide to Choosing & Styling Prints for Baby's Room

A baby's room is the first little world they'll know. The right nursery wall art can turn a quiet corner into a daydream — a gentle pocket of colour, character and calm that grows with your child. This guide walks through how to choose, pair and style nursery wall decor so the finished room feels considered, not cluttered.

A warm yellow Scandinavian nursery with four hand-illustrated Arthur & Peanut prints — Rainy Day, Big Ben, Star Gazing and Snack Time — above an oak shelf — Four Arthur & Peanut prints styled as a gallery quartet above an oak shelf.

Start with a theme, not a colour

The easiest way to choose nursery wall art is to pick a theme first. Themes give a room its personality and make every other decision — bedding, rugs, books on the shelf — flow naturally. A few that work beautifully in a nursery setting:

Friendly animals — giraffes, whales, bears and small woodland creatures. Soft, characterful, and easy to layer.
Nature and botanicals — wildflowers, poppies, leafy ferns and tiny insects. Calming and timeless.
Dreamy storybook moments — a child reading at bedtime, a starry sky, a rainy walk under a yellow umbrella.
Learning prints — alphabets, numbers and gentle affirmations the room can grow into.

Once the theme is set, the palette tends to choose itself. A wildflower theme leans pink, ochre and sage; a whale or starry-night theme settles on dusty blue and lavender.

Pick a palette that grows with your child

Trends come and go, so it pays to choose nursery wall decor in colours that will still feel right at five years old. Warm neutrals — buttery yellow, oat, soft terracotta, dusty sage — are forgiving anchors. Add one or two punchier accents through the art itself rather than the walls: a vivid poppy print on a mustard wall, a cobalt whale on dusty lavender. The art becomes the colour story.

A framed whale poster on a dusty lavender wall above a walnut bedside table styled with blush peonies — One bold print can carry a whole wall — here, a cobalt whale on dusty lavender.

How many prints — and where to hang them

A nursery rarely needs more than five pieces of art. A few layouts that almost always work:

One statement print above the cot or changing table. Best for small rooms — gives the eye a single, calm focal point.
A trio in a row above a shelf or low dresser. Choose three prints from the same series so the line reads as one composition.
A 2×2 quartet above a reading nook or daybed. Quartets feel intentional and modern — pair illustrations that share a palette so the grid sings.

As a rule of thumb, hang the centre of the artwork at roughly 145–155 cm from the floor for adult eye level, or lower — around 110–120 cm — when the art sits above a low shelf you want at a toddler's eye level. Leave 5–8 cm of breathing space between frames in a gallery group; any tighter and the wall starts to feel busy.

Four colourful ABCD alphabet posters above a wooden shelf in a Scandinavian children's bedroom — A learning quartet — alphabet prints the room can grow into.

Choosing a frame for nursery art

Frames are the quiet half of the styling. A few simple guides:

Natural oak warms up cooler palettes — perfect for blue, sage or lavender rooms.
Soft white disappears into the wall and lets bold illustrations do the talking.
Black adds quiet contrast and works beautifully with line-drawn or monochrome prints.

The single most important rule: keep the frame finish consistent within a group. Mixing oak and black across a quartet rarely lands; matching frames make even very different illustrations feel like a set.

Safety and longevity

Avoid hanging glass-fronted frames directly above a cot — pick acrylic glazing or place the art on a wall the cot doesn't touch. Use proper wall anchors rather than adhesive strips for anything heavier than a postcard, and choose archival, acid-free prints so the colours stay true through years of morning sun.

A few prints to start with

If you'd like a place to begin, our children's collection gathers our most-loved nursery prints — friendly animals, dreamy bedtime scenes and gentle alphabets, all hand-illustrated and printed on archival paper. The curated sets take the guesswork out of pairing — each one is styled as a trio or quartet that already works as a group.

However you style it, the best nursery wall art is the kind that quietly tells a story — small details, big wonder, and a room your little one will love growing up in.