The short answer. Start with the wall, not the cot. Pick one job for it: a feature wall, a feature corner, or the whole room. Measure it before you buy anything. Then choose between paint, wallpaper and wall decals on cost and time, not on looks alone. A painter for one bedroom in Australia runs about A$500 to A$900. A feature wall of decals starts around A$89.
Most nursery advice starts with the cot. We would argue it should start with the wall, because the wall is what you will look at through a thousand 3am feeds, and it is the thing most people leave until last and then run out of time for.
If you have been scrolling beautiful nurseries and feeling stuck, you are in good company. One mum in an Australian bump group put it exactly: "I'm very jealous of the beautiful nurseries I see posted, but stumped on how to get started on ours." Another, after moving house: "once everything was 'done' it feels very boring??"
Decide what the wall is doing before you buy anything
A nursery wall does one of three jobs. Pick one.
- A feature wall. One wall carries the whole look, usually the one behind the cot or opposite the door.
- A feature corner. A smaller, cheaper commitment, and the right answer if you are unsure. One customer wanted "a feature corner of the gumnut babies in the corner of the lounge room... as I am not overly creative."
- The whole room. Decals or panels wrapping two or more walls, so the room reads as one design rather than a wall with something on it.
Most people over-buy for a feature wall and under-buy for a whole room. Measure the wall first. Write the number down.
What are the alternatives actually going to cost?
This is the step people skip, and it is why nursery decorating stalls.
| Option | Realistic AU cost | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Painter, one bedroom, walls only | A$500 to A$900 (Airtasker median A$920) | One to two days, you are out of the room |
| Wallpaper install, labour only | A$80 to A$500 | Half to full day |
| Hand-painted nursery mural, Melbourne | A$3,250 to A$5,850 | Several days |
| DIY paint | A$60 to A$400 in supplies | A weekend of your own |
Sources: Airtasker painting and wallpapering cost guides; Book An Artist mural pricing, Melbourne listings.
Two things are worth knowing before you book a painter or a muralist. First, the time cost is real. As one parent asked in a mural thread, "Most murals will take a couple of days of work... Will you be completely moved out for those couple of days?" Second, murals are permanent in a way people do not think about until later: "When they got older it came out that they had each been terrified of the characters."
And if you are pregnant and planning to do it yourself, the most upvoted reply in one of those threads was blunt: "since you're pregnant you shouldn't be painting at all." Another mum: "I spent 3 days painting my own 'wallpaper'... never finished because I underestimated pregnancy fatigue."
Nursery wall decor ideas that do not need a painter
Hand-painted fabric wall decals
Our whole business is one idea: artwork drawn by our in-house artist, printed on fabric rather than vinyl, so it sits flat on the wall with no sheen. The payoff is the thing customers say without being asked. "We have had so many compliments from family asking if they were hand painted!" and "Like they've been painted on."
An Australian Gum Tree decal runs from A$89 for a 1.2m tree up to A$349 for a 2.1m one. A gum tree bundle of trees, branches and birds sized to work together starts at A$228 and covers a feature wall properly, rather than leaving you to guess.
Compare that to one painter quote. A whole-room bundle sits under the low end of a single-room painting job, and you keep the room.
Half wall panels and trims
If a tree feels like too much, the lower half of the wall is the easiest win in a nursery. Half wall panels in stripes, scallops or gingham give you a wainscoting look for A$69. Wave wall trims from A$14 draw a line around the room that makes everything above it look deliberate.
Birds, animals and small pieces
The cheapest way to make a plain room feel finished. A koala pair is A$30, a magpie A$39, a cockatiel, kookaburra and galah trio A$25. Parents keep telling us the same thing.
My son loves these birds, has named them and says good morning and goodnight to them.
Judge.me review
Peel-and-stick wallpaper
A full-wall pattern, cut to panels. More impact, more prep. We have written a separate guide on what to know before you peel and stick a nursery wall.
Nothing above the cot
A question that comes up constantly in Australian bump groups: "I wouldn't hang anything above the crib, there's a chance something could fall."
It is a fair instinct, and it is why flat wall decoration exists as a category. A fabric decal is a printed piece of fabric that sits flat against the wall. There is no frame, no glass, no hook, no shelf. That is a description of what it is, not a safety rating. Follow your own judgement and your maternal health nurse's advice on anything near the cot.
On smell: our decals are printed on fabric in Melbourne, not PVC vinyl. If you are sensitive to fumes during pregnancy, that is the material fact to weigh. We are not going to tell you what is safe to breathe.
What if you are renting?
This is the biggest group of people asking the question, and the one we are most careful with.
The honest position, and we would rather lose the sale than get this wrong. No wall decal or wallpaper brand can promise your paint will be fine. It is a category-wide truth. As one renter put it, "there is no guarantee that any vinyl (even if it's listed as removable) won't remove the paint." Another thread involved an A$800 bond claim over four nursery stickers.
What actually reduces your risk:
- Test a piece first. Stick one small decal somewhere nobody sees, behind the door or inside a wardrobe, and leave it 48 hours. Then remove it and look at the wall. Renters already do this instinctively. Do it here too.
- Fresh, clean, non-chalky paint holds best. Flat and matte paint on an old rental wall is the worst case. If you can scrape a chalky residue off the wall with your fingernail, do not.
- Apply within about three months of buying. Decals that sit in storage for months, or get moved from one spot to another, do not behave the same way. We would rather say that plainly than let you find out.
- Check your lease. Some Australian leases explicitly cover decals. Many do not mention them at all. One renter in a bump group was told by another, "You don't need to ask permission for wall decals!" That was her lease, not yours.
If your lease forbids anything on the walls at all, the honest answer is that a decal is still a risk. A freestanding option is not: art leaned on a shelf, fabric over a rail, a good rug.
Give it a deadline
The most common thing in our support inbox in the third trimester is a version of: "Our baby is due in approximately three to four weeks."
Wall decals go up in an afternoon. The bigger pieces genuinely want two people. As one review says, "We have the extra large size. You definitely need two people for a job." Plan for a Saturday rather than an evening, and do it before you are too tired to enjoy it.
Everything is designed and printed in Melbourne. Free shipping on orders over A$150.
Frequently asked questions
What should I put on a nursery wall?
One feature wall or one feature corner, not scattered pieces. A large tree or arch as the anchor, then two or three small animals or birds around it. Measure the wall before buying anything.
How much does it cost to decorate a nursery in Australia?
The wall is the variable. A painter for one bedroom is roughly A$500 to A$900, with an Airtasker median of A$920. A hand-painted Melbourne mural is A$3,250 to A$5,850. Wall decals for a feature wall start around A$89 for a single tree, or A$228 for a bundle sized to a wall.
Can I put wall decals up in a rental?
Many renters do, and some Australian leases do not mention decals at all. No brand can promise your paint will be fine, though. Check your lease, test one small piece for 48 hours in a hidden spot, and be aware that old, flat or chalky paint is the highest-risk surface.
Is it too late to decorate at 34 weeks?
No. Fabric wall decals go up in an afternoon. Order with enough lead time for delivery and give yourself a weekend with a second pair of hands for the large pieces.
What order should I decorate a nursery in?
Paint or wall treatment first, then the large furniture, then the wall art, then the small things. Doing the wall last means working around a cot, which is how people end up with a plain wall behind the one piece of furniture nobody can move.
Should I decorate before or after the baby arrives?
Before, if you can. Aim to have the room finished by about 36 weeks. The most common message we get in the third trimester is from someone with three or four weeks to go and an empty room.
Will the nursery decor still work when they are older?
That is the argument for decals over a mural. As one customer put it, "once kiddos grow up I won't have to repaint or anything, I can just switch up the decals." Choose artwork that is not too cartoonish and it will carry into the toddler years.
How do I decorate a nursery if I am not creative?
Buy a bundle rather than individual pieces. A bundle is the layout decision already made, with everything sized to work together. "I'm not very artistic" is one of the most common things people tell us before they order.
