The nursery series / 06
The toddler room refresh: a big-kid update without a redecorate
To turn a nursery into a big-kid room without a full redecorate, keep the furniture and textiles that still work and change one wall. Choose a design your child can grow into, like Toy car, Pastel seamless dinosaur, Ocean life, Alphabet or Stars, and let them pick from a shortlist of $15 samples. A 10-foot wall on an 8-foot ceiling takes four 108-inch panels, $480 for our kids' designs; a lower wall uses 48-inch panels at $90 each.
1. When the nursery stops fitting.
There is rarely one day when a nursery becomes a toddler room. The crib turns into a bed, a play corner takes over the changing area, and the wall that was soft background is suddenly something your child wants to talk about.
That is a good moment for a refresh, not a redecorate. Most of a nursery is still useful at three: the dresser, the shelves, the rug, the curtains. What changes is how the room feels, and one wall does most of that work.
2. Keep what still works.
Before you look at any wallpaper, walk the room and sort what is staying. It narrows the design choice and keeps the budget for the wall.
- Furniture. Note the wood tone or paint color of the bed, dresser and shelves. The new wall has to sit next to them.
- The rug and curtains. Pick one color from them to carry into the wall. It ties the old pieces to the new pattern.
- The art. Framed prints can move to another wall, or step aside for a busier pattern.
If the nursery already has a papered wall you still like, keep it. Designs like Clouds appear in both our nursery and big-kid collections for that reason.
3. Change one wall.
The wall behind the bed is usually the one to change. It frames the new bed and it is what your child sees from the door. WallJoy panels are 30 inches wide: divide the wall width by 30 and round up, then add 4 inches to the height for trim and take the shortest panel that covers it.
| Wall | Panels | Panel height | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full wall, 10 ft wide, 8 ft high | 120 ÷ 30 = 4 | 108 in | 4 × $120 = $480 |
| Lower wall, 11 ft wide, 36 in high | 132 ÷ 30 = 4.4, so 5 | 48 in | 5 × $90 = $450 |
A lower wall, papered below a painted line, puts the pattern at a toddler’s eye level and leaves room above for shelves and art. Our 48-inch panels cover a lower wall up to 44 inches high. Work out your own walls in the nursery wallpaper calculator; the accent wall guide has counts for more widths.
If you are replacing peel-and-stick panels that are already up, read the removal guide first. How cleanly panels come off depends on the wall, the paint and the material, and we have not yet completed our own removal tests.
4. Designs to grow into.
The best refresh designs have something to name at three and still feel right at seven. These come from our Little Explorers and Big-Kid Universe collections:
| Design | What is on it | Why it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Toy car | Little cars with sunny yellow accents on white | Cheerful without feeling babyish. |
| Pastel seamless dinosaur | Watercolor dinosaurs and hatchlings among clouds | Soft enough for a toddler, dinosaurs for years after. |
| Ocean life | Watercolor fish and sea plants in blues and greens | Lots to find and name, in an easy palette. |
| Alphabet | Hand-drawn beige letters and numbers on white | Letters to learn, then letters to spell with. |
| Stars | Small gray stars scattered across white | Quiet now, a night sky later. |
| Watercolor solar system | Smiling planets and stars on warm gray | A step toward the big-kid room. |
For a wall your child can add to, the Fairytale map paintable design is a black-and-white map made to be colored in. Try your markers or crayons on a sample first; we have not tested specific coloring tools on the panels. Our ideas by age guide covers each stage in more depth.
5. Let them help choose.
A toddler is old enough to have a favorite and too young to choose from everything. Give a real choice inside a shortlist you are happy with.
- Pick two or three designs that suit what is staying in the room.
- Order a sample of each and tape them up at your child’s eye level.
- Leave them up for a few days and see which one gets pointed at.
6. The order of work.
- Samples first. Settle the design before anything else moves.
- Measure. Measure the wall at its widest and tallest, and record every reading.
- Order panels. Every panel is printed to order; see our shipping policy for current timing.
- Clear the wall. Move the bed and shelves away so a ladder can stand flat against the wall. Our wall surface guide explains what to check.
- Install, then move back in. Put the furniture back once the panels are up and the edges are pressed down.
Plan the install for a day your child is out of the room. Long panels are easier with two people.
7. Start with a $15 sample.
Samples are the cheapest part of a refresh, and the most useful. Order them from our samples page, or straight from a design: Toy car sample, Pastel seamless dinosaur sample, Ocean life sample or Stars sample. Each is $15 with free US shipping.
Check each one next to the furniture that is staying, in daylight and by the lamp your child falls asleep to.
Ordering your wall after the sample? Use code SAMPLE15 for $15 off orders of $300 or more (one use per customer).
See every design by stage. Browse the kids’ collections.
Questions
How do I update a nursery into a toddler room without redecorating?
Keep the furniture, rug and curtains that still work, and change one wall. A new wallpaper design behind the bed changes the room more than any single piece of furniture, and it is a weekend project rather than a full redecorate.
How much does a toddler room feature wall cost?
A 10-foot wall on an 8-foot ceiling takes four 108-inch panels at $120 each for our kids' designs, $480 before tax with free US shipping. Papering only the lower wall with 48-inch panels costs $90 a panel.
Which wallpaper designs work from toddler to big kid?
Designs with something to name that are not babyish: Toy car, Pastel seamless dinosaur, Ocean life and Alphabet. Stars, Watercolor solar system and the Fairytale map paintable design lean toward the big-kid years.