Imagine . . . A little princes passes through a grand entrance into a room where beautiful, enchanting shades of pinks, greens, and yellows welcome her, ensuring she dreams of magical journeys and fairy tales.

The room’s amenities create a personal and cozy space for this little princess: a fantasy carriage crib placed under a large oak tree with woodland animals watching over her, a cozy glider in which to snuggle and rock on late nights, and a beautifully upholstered floor to play on.

In designing a nursery for your little princess or prince, there are five key components to consider: theme, focus, storage, growth, and safety.

Nursery Theme

Knowing the sex of the baby can influence the theme of the room. However, the theme of a nursery can also be neutral to accommodate either not knowing the baby’s gender until birth or as a special nursery for all of the babies in a family over the years before the transition to their “big kid” room.

The theme for this room is primarily “girl” and secondarily “princess.” The main foundation of the room’s design is classic and traditionally feminine. The fantasy carriage crib is the singular element that introduces the princess theme and can be removed as she grows up and wants to add different elements. The entrance to the room, typically an overlooked element in any room, is a beautiful Dutch door with a mini-entrance just for her. This added detail adds to the theme and the overall design.

Nursery Theme Focus

Every room should have a main focus that brings the room together, whether it’s a mural, a piece of furniture, or another design element.

The focus of this room is the Carriage Crib. It is centered against the wall under a large mural of a tree with kind woodland animals around it. Upon entering the room your eyes are immediately drawn to the scale and detail of this element, with the added touch of the soft fabric creating an illusion of a canopy. Every other element in the room adds to this focal point either directly–the woodland creatures holding the fabric of the canopy–or indirectly–by adding interesting color or texture around the crib.

Nursery Storage

Every infant will accumulate so many things that it is absolutely imperative to consider additional storage for every day items as well as keepsakes or retired things.

This room has closet organizers for every day items. The storage unit along the window wall is a playful set of letter blocks that open individually or as a group for large cubicle storage spaces. The unit was originally designed as a window seat and later developed into a highly useful and playful storage solution. This piece can be updated by simply removing the letters and replacing them with mirrors, colors, or other images.

Nursery Room for Growth

Some rooms are intended to stay nurseries for many years. Others will have to transition into toddler rooms, ‘tweenie’ rooms and beyond. Taking this transition into account when designing the room can save both time and money in the future without lessening the nursery feel. Later, consider changes to minor elements in a room for quick updates, including toys, pictures, bedding and fabrics.

As this little princess grows up, the crib portion of the carriage can be removed and a toddler mattress inserted, quickly converting the nursery into a toddler room.

Nursery Room Design Safety

A child’s room can never be too safe. There are standard precautions to take including securing all power outlets, keeping exposed shelving out of reach of little hands, and keeping any medicinal items in a secured location.

An additional design and safety element in this nursery is the floor. The wall-to-wall carpet has been removed and replaced with thickly padded upholstered squares. The squares provide additional color and pattern in fabrics that coordinate with the window seat and valance. The effect is visually inviting and provides a comfortably padded floor for hours of playtime. It will also help keep the princess safe as she learns to walk.

Whether you have an image of the nursery you want to create or you have yet to decide, starting with these five components will help you to create the room of your dreams for your little dreamer.

After two years, it was time to make the bed a little larger. So we took out the circular crib and dropped in a rectangular toddler mattress. This should give the child another year in the bed.

Thompson loved the idea of doing whimsical lighting in a fun and classic way. She took it upon herself to start her business when her husband was no longer able to work due to after effects of a car accident. Her knowledge of electrical wiring and ceramics was a degree learned through willpower and determination. “I don’t understand that I can’t do something,” Thompson says. “I am not limited by what I want to do. I had to learn to do ceramics and painting to do this. I had to learn electrical wiring. I found out how to wire a lamp and a chandelier.” Unhappy with the opaque painting style typically taught in ‘hobby’ ceramics classes, Thompson created her own water color look. She found a company that had the pure colors she was looking for and moved forward. “It took me about a year to figure out how to wire a lamp to the ceramics. But I did it.”

Her success was instant. Petrified of walking into a store to try to sell a tuffet she had created, Thompson was overwhelmed when the clerk called over the manager immediately after nearly jumping over to counter to see the work of art. “The owner of the store told me she’d never sold a lamp for more than $150 before. My lamps were retailing for $550.” That owner purchased $5000 of lamps from Thompson. That same store has now sold more than $125,000. “I got in at the perfect time. When I came into the business there was no such thing as fine lighting for a child. It just didn’t exist. There was a lot of junk out there. It’s gotten a lot better now.”

Named Just Too Cute, after the reaction clients have when they view one of Thompson’s masterpieces, each product takes four to six weeks to create and is completely handmade. The company attempts to have backups of each, as “customers tend to order what they see online.” However collections can be customized, including, for example, skin, hair and eye color of the cherub collection. “We try to match colors with fabrics and we blend as best as we can.”

Collections for baby girls are best sellers. Butterflies, princesses, and glass slippers are hot sellers at the moment. And even though she’s fought doing it, the sports collection Thompson has created is a great for boys. “You can’t ask me which one is my favorite. It’s like asking ‘which child do you love more.’ My favorite is whatever I’m creating at the moment.”

She finds a great deal of inspiration in the customer’s request. “I’m always asking shop owners about what their customers are looking for but can’t find. Then I’ll interpret what they want in order to fill that niche. A lot of times designers come to me looking to solve a problem.” It also means that designing for boys is on the rise, no matter how Thompson fights it. “Five years ago, I had no options for boys, now I have a variety,” she says with a laugh. “I can even make designs for hockey players. It’s whatever the customer wants.”

While Thompson would love to have her creations in the nurseries of celebrities, and you can find her work in the Soliz’s room on this season of Desperate Housewives, the few of her products which have been televised have had a more profound meaning to her. Her lighting has been included in rooms for two episodes of ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover. “It’s the most touching thing in the world. It’s every bit as real as the show looks.” For one room, Just Too Cute contributed to a ballerina theme, for another they aided in designing a princess theme. “It’s so wonderful to give to someone like that because you’re changing their lives. There is so much more in giving than in receiving. I catch myself thinking ‘how can I make more so I can give away more.’ It’s been wonderful to be a part of that and to support other charities.”

Just Too Cute currently offers 16 different lines of creations. “If I have time to slow down and count, something would be wrong,” Thompson replies. It’s not surprising she isn’t sure given how the company is expanding. Just Too Cute has struck licensing agreements with Mary Engelbreit and Precious Moments to name a few. Future products include lamps, bowls, picture frames, teapot music boxes, and holiday ornaments. “There’s a nest egg bank where the egg is standing up and there’s no hole to get the money out so you would have to break it. Get it, ‘nest egg.’” In the next year, Thompson is also putting out a coffee table book showcasing all the different designers and nurseries that Just Too Cute products have been a part of.