How To Decorate Your Nursery Like HGTV's Erin Napier

Erin Napier is more than just an interior designer and HGTV star — she's also a parent to two adorable daughters, Helen and Mae. When designing the nursery for Helen, Napier used many of the elements seen throughout the Craftsman-style home she owns with her husband Ben. Mostly built during the late 19th century, these homes have a few key characteristics: lots of open space and natural light, a classic look, nature-inspired elements, and a comfortable feel.  

To carry these elements into the nursery, the designer painted the walls a deep teal green and added cozy elements such as textiles and an upholstered chair. According to Country Living, she's not into typical gender-specific decorating. Instead, she wanted the nursery to feel like an extension of their home. "[I'm] really excited to make a nursery that doesn't feel like a nursery, but instead another chapter in the book of our house. They're only babies for a minute and it's okay to think outside pink and precious. You don't have to have a theme," Napier told the outlet. She also included three extra details that really made the design stand out. For anyone who'd like to follow in her footsteps, we've laid out the features to include in your Erin Napier-inspired nursery.

The first element is a gallery wall. According to Erin Napier's Instagram page, she's no stranger to gallery walls. In fact, she even included one against an earthy green wall in the entryway of her home which features pictures of family members. She says, "I hope anyone walking in the door immediately feels cozy and welcomed," and part of the way she does this is through the personalized gallery wall.

Napier does the same thing in the nursery, but instead of pictures of family members, she frames vintage botanical prints. These she arranges against the teal green wall above the crib. In an HGTV video posted to YouTube, she emphasizes the importance of making sure the frames are completely safe. "'[These are] vintage botanicals that I've been collecting for a few years, and we had them framed with plexiglass so they're not breakable. And then on the back [we added] a special sliding lock, so when it's mounted on the wall, [the baby] can't knock it off from her crib," she says. Because these pieces were collected over time, they provide a more personalized and intentional feel to the space.

To follow in Erin Napier's footsteps, make sure books are a key element of your home. On her Instagram feed she says, "Our house originally had no bookcases, so we added a wall of built-ins surrounding the French doors to the dining room and filled them with southern noir, art history, books about old Florida, and lots and lots of fiction." Clearly, she believes that literature is an important design feature, as she added shelves just to display the books.

This element also carries into the nursery, where instead of history and fiction, Napier displays children's books as decorations. Per HGTV, she arranged three children's books in a stack on a wooden side table; this adds even more personality and character to the space. Another reason books make great décor pieces is that your child will actually get use out of them once they're old enough to read. If you want to include this element in your nursery, arrange appropriate books on flat surfaces or display them on shelving.

To get Erin Napier's style, it's important to include wooden furniture — especially vintage pieces — in your nursery design. HGTV points out that the dresser Napier included in her space is an antique that doubles as a changing table. Further, the side table next to the armchair is also a gorgeous wooden piece.

The star of the room is the crib, handcrafted by the designer's husband Ben Napier, which he surprised her with on an episode of their show "Home Town." When referring to the crib, he says on the HGTV YouTube video, "Our home is a Craftsman-style home, and so I wanted it to be something that would match that style. That's why I wanted the quarter sawn white oak. That's why I went with the railing style around the bottom and the back. It's going to be a classic piece." According to Country Living, he also added a sentimental feature to the crib, as the only knot in the wood was filled with heart pine from their home's renovation. While you don't have to actually build furniture for your child's nursery, adding wooden antiques or personalized pieces will really make your design stand out.