01
Powder pink, walls and ceiling
A pink that is barely pink, drenched: warm by the night-light, soft in the morning. Warm white chest, pale wood cot.
Help with paint Advice by room
Painting a nursery
A nursery is painted at least a month before the arrival, with a low-VOC water-based paint compliant with the EN 71-3 toy standard — which every Mylands paint is — and aired for a week: the smell, faint to begin with, has gone, and the cure is well under way. Walls in washable Marble Matt Emulsion; the cot, chest of drawers and shelves in Multi-Surface Eggshell; the ceiling in a soft colour, because that is what a baby looks at. The colours that soothe are the soft and warm ones — powder pink, green-white, pale blue, linen — not pure white and not brights. Six palettes that will grow with the child.
Page updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France colour team
Understanding
When to paint, with what, and why the timing matters
The question every parent asks is about safety, and the answer is short: a water-based paint, low in VOCs (below the regulatory threshold of 30 g/L for a matt wall paint), compliant with the EN 71-3 toy standard for anything the baby will be able to chew — cot bars, chest, low shelf. Every Mylands paint meets all three; the detail is in Child-safe paint for nurseries and playrooms and Low-VOC paint with no strong smell.
The timing does the rest. A water-based paint is dry in a few hours, odourless after a night's airing, and hard in two to four weeks: painting a month before the arrival allows all of that, and lets the reassembled furniture harden for a week before anyone touches it. During pregnancy, low-VOC water-based paint poses no particular problem; air the room, take breaks, and leave the ceiling to someone else — for the stepladder, not for the paint.
The method
Painting a nursery in seven steps
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01
A month ahead: prepare
Room emptied, dust sheet on the floor, tape on the skirting and sockets. Mild detergent on the walls, rinse, fill the holes, sand at 180, dust off. New plaster takes a coat of Wall Primer.
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02
The ceiling, in a soft colour
Marble Matt Emulsion by roller, two coats, 3 to 4 h between them: the wall colour, or a pale blue, or a pink — it is what the baby looks at lying down, and pure white is the hardest thing to look at. See The cloud ceiling.
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03
The walls
Marble Matt Emulsion, cut in by brush then roller, two coats. Matt does not throw the night-light back and washes with a sponge after curing — the handprints will come.
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04
The woodwork
Skirting, door, window frame in Multi-Surface Eggshell, in the wall colour to make them disappear or in a warm white. Two thin coats.
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05
The cot and the chest
Furniture dismantled or doors off, on trestles: degrease, fine sanding, Multi-Surface Primer on bare wood or melamine, two thin coats of Eggshell with a small foam roller. The bars by brush, no runs. See Upcycling children's bedroom furniture.
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06
A week's airing
Window open every day, door open, gentle heating. The smell, faint to begin with, goes the first night; the week is for the furniture to harden before the mattress and clothes go in.
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07
Reassemble, and wait out the three weeks
Cot reassembled after a week, mattress in, chest filled. The full cure — the one that allows a sponge — takes two to four weeks: the month's head start covers it exactly.
The colours
Six nursery palettes that will grow up
A baby first sees only contrasts, then colours from about four months — and what it looks at most is the ceiling. Soft, warm colours soothe; brights excite; pure white tires. These six palettes hold from birth to ten, the accent on a piece of furniture you will repaint. The detail: Soft colours for a child's bedroom.
02
Green-white and sage
A white with a hint of green on the walls, a sage chest: the calm room that says neither girl nor boy.
03
Pale blue on the ceiling
Warm linen walls, sky-blue ceiling: the sky above the cot, warmth around it. The cloud ceiling for a baby.
04
Powder blue and honey yellow
A powder blue on the walls, a honey yellow on a shelf or an armchair: sky and sun, without the baby-clothes look.
05
Peach and off-white
A very pale peach on the walls, woodwork and ceiling in a warm off-white: the golden morning room that goes with wood.
06
Soft grey-green, drenched
Walls, ceiling and woodwork in a very soft grey-green: the cocoon room, calming, with a wooden mobile and ecru linen.
By surface
Every nursery surface, its finish and its waiting time
| Surface | Finish | Wait before use | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walls | Marble Matt Emulsion | A night's airing | Class 1 washable after 2 to 4 weeks; matt for the night-light |
| Ceiling | Marble Matt Emulsion | A night | In a soft colour: it is what the baby looks at |
| Skirting, door, window | Multi-Surface Eggshell | 24 h | In the wall colour or a warm white |
| Cot | Multi-Surface Eggshell | Two weeks (chewing) | EN 71-3; bars by brush, thin coats |
| Chest, changing table | Eggshell or Satin | A week | Satin on the changing top, which gets washed |
| Radiator | Multi-Surface Eggshell | 48 h before switching on | In the wall colour; see How to paint a radiator |
| Wooden toys, mobile | Multi-Surface Eggshell | Two weeks | EN 71-3; two thin coats over Multi-Surface Primer |
A 3 × 3 m nursery under 2.5 m needs about 2.5 L of Marble Matt Emulsion for walls and ceiling in two coats, and 1 L of Eggshell for the woodwork and furniture.
To avoid
What has no place in a nursery
- Painting the week of the arrival. A month before: the smell, the cure, the furniture.
- An oil-based paint "for strength". Solvents, a smell for days; there are none at Mylands.
- Pure white on the ceiling. It is what the baby looks at; the hardest of whites, under the night-light.
- Brights on the walls. Red, orange and bright yellow excite; soft colours on the walls, brights on a toy.
- Matt on the changing top. It marks and washes badly; Satin.
- Satin on the walls. It throws the night-light back in reflections; matt.
- Reassembling the cot the next day. A week, two for bars that get chewed.
Frequently asked questions
Your questions, our answers
Can I paint while pregnant?
With a low-VOC water-based paint like ours, the risk is low: air the room, take breaks, avoid sanding pre-1990 paint without a mask (possible lead), and leave the stepladder and the ceiling to someone else. If in doubt, ask your midwife or doctor.
How long before the baby can sleep in the room?
The smell of a water-based paint goes after a night's airing; as a precaution, a week of the window open each day before the first night. That is why you paint a month ahead: three weeks' margin remain.
Which colour really soothes a baby?
The soft, warm, low-saturation ones — powder pink, green-white, pale blue, linen, peach — above all on the ceiling. Brights draw the eye and excite; pure white tires. The contrast a newborn needs goes in the toys, not on the walls.
The cot: which paint?
Multi-Surface Eggshell over Multi-Surface Primer, two thin coats by brush, two weeks' curing before the first teeth. Compliant with the EN 71-3 toy standard, like every Mylands paint. See Upcycling children's bedroom furniture.
And an eco-friendly nursery?
It has its own page: Eco-friendly nursery designs — the paint, but also the furniture, the mattress, the textiles and the time, which weighs more than anything.
See also
Going further
The air first: low-VOC water-based paint, second-hand furniture repainted, natural textiles, a month's airing....
Water-based, low VOC, toy standard, washable: what a paint must be for a child's room, and the finish for each...
A junk-shop piece, a tin of colour, a Sunday: six ideas for a child's room, with paints that meet the toy stan...
Cloud capping: a soft, warm white ceiling chosen from the wall colour's own related whites rather than a stark...
“A nursery is painted a month ahead, softly, and above all on the ceiling.”
