What Type of Curtains Are Best for a Nursery?

A nursery asks three things of its curtains: keep the room calm, manage light for naps, and stay safe around a small child. Here is how to choose with all three in mind.

Soft, gentle colors

Nurseries suit the softest end of the palette. Milk Tea, Dried Rose, Powder Blue, and Cream White all read as gentle without being saccharine. Soft colors soothe at 2am, which is when you will appreciate them most.

Plain fabric also outlasts themed decor. The duck-print curtains that feel essential for a newborn feel dated by the second birthday, while a beautiful soft color grows with the child into a toddler room and beyond. Buy once, buy plain, and let the toys and bedding carry the theme instead.

Think honestly about nap-time light

Daytime naps are the nursery's big curtain challenge. Our satin dims a room gently and gives full privacy, but it is not a blackout fabric, and we would rather tell you that now than after your first failed nap.

The reliable nursery setup is a blackout blind or shade fitted inside the window frame, with decorative curtains over the top. The blind delivers the darkness; the curtains deliver the softness and the look. If your baby naps fine in a dim rather than dark room, curtains alone may be enough. Many do, especially in the early months.

Choose length with the room layout in mind

Floor-length panels look beautiful in a nursery, as long as the crib and furniture sit away from the window. If the crib or a dresser must sit under the window, sill-length panels ending just below the sill keep fabric up and out of the way.

Whichever length you choose, keep the pull side of the curtains on the far side from the crib, and keep cords from blinds well out of reach. Mount the rod securely into the wall, because a nursery curtain will eventually be pulled by someone very small and surprisingly strong.

Safety first, always

A few basics worth stating plainly. Keep the crib away from the window and its coverings entirely. Anchor furniture so nothing can be climbed toward the window. And once your child is mobile, treat anything hanging within reach as something that will be grabbed, because it will be.

Order for the long term

Nursery windows are often small, which makes custom panels pleasantly affordable, and proper fullness matters even on a small window: 1.5x to 2x fullness is what makes panels look soft and intentional rather than flat.

Measure with a steel tape using our measuring guide, browse the soft end of the 22 colors on the Fabric Colors page, and request swatches through the Contact page. Nursery light is warm and low, and swatches will tell you more than any screen can. Price your exact window in the configurator.