Decorating with Toile in the Baby's Nursery

Many decorators shy away from decorating with toile saying that the results are too predictable or even old fashioned. I don't know how anyone could have this opinion if they have seen the variety of patterns and colors that are available today in toile baby bedding sets and nursery decorations.
In fact there are so many with such confusing names, that you practically need a program to keep up. In the past I have kept a list of the names of various crib sets and the names of toile fabrics with color combinations and prints that I enjoyed.

DECORATING WITH TOILE
When decorating with toile in nurseries or kids' bedrooms I love the versatility of nursery rhyme toile fabric and sewing the bedding and window treatments. Because of the multi-colored pattern, the number of nursery ideas and possible color schemes are virtually endless.

Classic Winnie the Pooh toile fabric is a reliable and popular choice when working on bedroom designs for toddlers' rooms or a storybook nursery for baby boys and girls. But Pooh Bear and friends is not the only toile fabric made especially for children; there is also:

• Bunny toile
• Circus Toile
• Tea Party Toile

Any of these would be excellent for use when designing custom toile crib bedding sets and decorative items for particular baby nursery themes or kids' bedrooms.

COLOR
Themes are not everyone's cup of tea. To some, decorating with toile is more about color and elegant French toile fabrics really shine in the area of offering bold color opportunities that are easy for the do it yourself decorator to accessorize without running the risk making disastrous decorating mistakes.

TOILE FOR GIRLS
I see a fair amount of pink toile crib bedding for girls and comforter sets for older girls with the expected cream or ivory background and I don't expect this trend to ever completely die. But the new kid on the block is pink and brown toile that will give moms who are wondering how much pink toile baby bedding they can stand some choices they may not have had a few years back.

TOILE BABY BEDDING FOR BOYS
Act fast or you will miss your chance to use toile fabrics to decorate your boy's bedroom. Decorating with toile in a baby boy's nursery is considered to be very stylish but while you might get away with it in a newborn's nursery toile is too feminine for older boys.

Mommy may be the only one with fond memories of that special black and white toile baby bedding . I have to say that black toile fabrics are one of my favorites because it's so easy to give the entire room a whole new look without changing out the bedding. With the application of an inexpensive coat of paint to dramatically change the wall color and some new accessories you won't recognize the space.

There are other colors and patterns that are appropriate for boys in addition to black. There's:

• Chocolate brown and cream
• Navy or Wedgewood blue toile
• Red
• Patriotic print toile
• Blue and yellow toile baby bedding

GENDER NEUTRAL TOILE FOR BABY BOYS or GIRLS
There are those who want more mileage out of their toile nursery decor and the way to make that happen may be to skip the blue and pink toile in favor of colors that are unisex.

Yellow, red, sage green and my personal favorite, black toile are all workable options in a room where the gender of future occupants may be undetermined.

TOILE DECOR
When decorating with toile, I put a lot of emphasis on the bedding and upholstery for a reason. These items have the largest visual impact. It's not impossible to decorate a room by choosing the accessories first and then the bed linens but it is more difficult.

I prefer to repeat the fabric pattern taken from the upholstery or bedding in small touches scattered about the room. You might:

• Cover a lampshade
• Make some accent pillows
• Add a matching bed canopy or toile covered bed crown or upholstered cornice

Decorating with toile has been a favorite with DIY decorators for centuries with good reason. It's attractive, elegant and with the right set of cheap toile baby bedding the sky is the limit.