Are you stuck on ideas for your baby boy’s nursery decor? From the moment you found out you’re expecting a little boy, you’ve probably been dreaming about his nursery. While planning and decorating a nursery is fun and exciting, it can also be challenging.

How do you pick the perfect theme, baby bedding, furniture and accessories that will complete your nursery? How will you make sure all the elements and colors work well together? What theme is the best for your baby boy?

With some inspiration, you’ll soon be on the way to creating a gorgeous nursery your baby boy will grow to love! This post will cover popular nursery decor themes, some considerations for planning your nursery and tips for making the planning stages easier.

First, we’ll take a look at the top 8 most popular nursery themes for baby boys and some ideas for bringing them to life:

Top 8 Nursery Decor Themes

1. Elephant

These giant creatures are fun and can come in a range of styles. From whimsical elephants to more realistically styled elephants, there’s a style that’s perfect for your nursery decor theme. Baby blue and gray are the perfect colors for elephants and for your nursery, making for easy color choices.

2. Nautical/Ocean

Either a nautical or ocean theme offers a lot for you to work with. Select a few ocean animals to include and enjoy the blues of the sea when choosing colors. Some special touches may include a boat bookshelf, a decorative oar with your child’s name on it, or a strategically hung fishing net where you can store stuffed animals. For crib bedding, you can simply opt for plain sheets that match your chosen colors or choose themed bedding.

3. Dinosaurs

Roaring, spikey, toothy dinosaurs are an obsession for many small children. Initiate an interest in prehistoric life at a young age with dinosaur nursery decor. In addition to dinosaur baby bedding, toys and books, add some volcanoes and prehistoric plant life to the theme.

4. Woodland

Bears, trees and other forest flora and fauna can be crafted into this rustic theme. Lots of natural wood in the furniture and decor can really draw it all together. For this theme, consider adding a dark green accent wall.

5. Sheep/Lamb

Fluffy, warm and adorable, sheep are the perfect starting point for a nursery decor theme. Sheep are a great choice especially when it comes to baby bedding. Is there anything as sweet as watching your boy sleep surrounded by these adorable, innocent animals?

6. Outdoors

The great outdoors! It means something different to everyone, so you have a lot of flexibility when it comes to this theme. Go for mountains, forests, meadows or the great plains as your source of inspiration for this nursery decor theme. Then, include a few feature animals, plenty of natural wood and trees.

7. Sports

Whether you love a particular sport or team or want to make a generalized sports theme, for a baby nursery, it’s perfect! You can even combine this theme with others for a unique touch. For example, combine sports and animals or even your favorite cartoons like Snoopy. You can easily find baby bedding to match this theme.

8. Jungle/Safari

Wild animals enchant young babies with their bright colors, sounds, and size. Feature everything from giraffes to elephants, tigers, lions, snakes and butterflies in your jungle or safari themed nursery. One way you can make your nursery decor theme clear is with a map mural featuring animals around the world!

To Consider When Designing Your Nursery:

Designing your nursery will include many elements once you’ve settled on a theme. As you plan, make sure you take these considerations into account:

- Important elements in your nursery can include: wall decals, mobiles, books, stuffed animals, wall murals, crib bedding, artwork, rugs, playmats, and more!

- Your precious boy may develop an obsession with your theme of choice. For example, if you choose a dino theme you can use the room and decor to teach all the names of the different dinosaurs. What a great added bonus!

- Colors! Choose a pallet that includes one or two main colors and a few accent colors. You can make use of color by adding an accent wall or even opting to paint the ceiling one of your theme colors.

- Think about your toddler's room in the future. Will your baby stay in the same room as he grows into a little boy and then a young man? You may want to avoid decorating in such a way that you’ll be forced to re-paint and re-do everything within a few years.

As blogger Tasha from One Big Happy Life says,

“It’s important to decorate in a way that can grow with your kids. In theory, Reeve’s (her son) room could work all the way through high school.”

With this advice in hand, you can start planning based on your decor theme!

A Key Element of Nursery Decor: Baby Bedding

Crib bedding is fundamental in nursery decor. In fact, many parents choose the baby bedding and then build the rest of the theme around it. Why? It’s easier! Here are some reasons you may choose to go this route:

 - Once you’ve chosen the crib bedding, you can select the main colors you’ll use and have confidence they’ll match.

- It’s much easier to pick out individual items such as a stuffed animal tiger, elephant painting or tree decals that match your crib bedding than the other way around.

- Your crib bedding may offer inspiration in terms of patterns and elements you’ll use in the nursery. For example, you may incorporate the use of stripes, polka dots or a checkered pattern in decor items.

Are you ready to get started? Gather your ideas and products you love all in one place such as on a Pinterest board. Alternatively, make a physical mood board with printouts and cutouts of your favorite products, patterns and theme ideas. Then, slowly piece your nursery together as you make your final decisions on each element.

Before you know it, your little baby boy will be crawling around, exploring the nursery you’ve created!

Looking for crib bedding? Lambs & Ivy offers a wide array of baby bedding sets and themed items including crib sheets, blankets, mobiles and more! Check out what we have to offer.