I have two young kids, and I've decorated two nurseries in four years. The first time, I did what most of us do: I found a print I loved, framed it under glass, and hung it right above the crib, because that's where every photo online puts it. It came down that week.
Kids' rooms have different rules from the rest of the house. Little hands reach further than you expect, things get thrown, and furniture gets climbed. None of that means bare walls. It means choosing the piece, the place and the hardware with the child in mind first and the photo second. Here are the six rules I use now.
This guide is general advice about art. For cribs and children's furniture, Health Canada's current safety advice is the reference, so read it alongside this.
1. Is it safe to hang art above a crib?
Not if it's heavy or under glass. Nothing hangs directly above a crib, a toddler bed or a bunk that could hurt a child if it fell: no glass, no heavy frames, no mirrors, no shelves with things on them. Babies learn to pull themselves up on the crib rail sooner than most parents expect, and a standing toddler reaches well above it.
This is the one rule I'd never bend. If you want something above the crib, keep it light, soft and unglazed: a small canvas with no glass, a fabric piece, or a paper print in a lightweight frame with acrylic instead of glass. Better still, move the art to the wall beside the crib and leave the wall above it empty. The room still looks finished.
2. How far from the crib should art hang?
Out of reach. Keep a clear zone of 36″ (91 cm) on each side of the crib, and the whole wall above it, up to 72″ (183 cm) from the floor. Hang every piece beyond that. My test: if you can touch the piece while leaning over the rail, so can your child, eventually. Keep every wire, string and ribbon out of reach too.
Crib safety advice, Health Canada's included, says to keep a crib away from windows, blind cords and anything a child can reach and pull in. The same applies to art: no pieces a child can grab through the rails, and no picture ledge loaded with frames beside the crib.
3. How should you hang art in a kids' room?
On two fixings, every time: screws into studs, or drywall anchors rated well above the piece's weight. In the rest of the house one hook in drywall is often fine. Here, two fixings keep a frame level when it's bumped, and one failing doesn't bring the piece down.
- For anything over about 5 lb (2.3 kg), use screws into studs, or drywall anchors whose rating, printed on the package, is comfortably above the weight of the piece.
- Use D-rings on each side of the frame rather than a wire across the back. A wire lets the piece swing and tilt; two D-rings on two screws hold it flat.
- For the extra-cautious, security hangers, sold at hardware stores, lock the frame to the wall so it can't be lifted off the hooks.
- Adhesive strips are fine for light, unglazed pieces on the far side of the room, never above a sleeping place. Art for renters covers what strips really hold.
4. Do you need to anchor the furniture too?
Yes. Art rarely hurts children; furniture that tips over does. Health Canada advises securing dressers, bookcases and other tall furniture to the wall, and anti-tip kits are sold for exactly that. Once a child starts climbing, a dresser with a heavy piece leaning on top is a risk twice over.
So if a piece leans on a dresser in a kids' room, the dresser is anchored and the piece is small and light, or it's hung instead.
5. How high should art hang in a nursery or kids' room?
Lower than in the rest of the house. In a nursery you see the walls from the rocking chair or the floor, so sit in the chair and centre the art closer to where your eyes land: about 50″ (127 cm) from the floor, below the usual 57″ (145 cm). In a kids' room, centre the piece at about 42″ (107 cm), around a small child's eye level; measure with them standing against the wall, and adjust as they grow.
The 57″ rule and the arithmetic for the nail are in How high should you hang art?; only the centre height changes here. Lower pieces need sturdier hanging and no glass, since they'll be touched. That's the trade.
6. What nursery art won't they outgrow?
Calm colour, simple shapes, and animals drawn for grown-ups. A room themed hard for a baby (alphabet prints, cartoon animals, the name in big letters) usually gets redone within three years. Soft abstracts, landscapes and botanicals still work in a ten-year-old's room, or the guest room after that, so they're cheaper in the end.
The nursery stage is short. What lasts:
- Calm colour and simple shapes. Start with Quiet neutrals or Botanicals.
- Animals drawn for grown-ups. A good drawing of a rabbit or a bird outlasts a cartoon one.
- One piece they choose, one you choose. From about age 3, let them pick one piece for their wall. They notice, and they're more careful with it.
- Frames that move house. Natural oak or white frames suit almost any room the piece ends up in.
Next step
Measure the wall beside the crib, not above it, and try a piece there at approximate scale in Your Blank Wall. To start with pieces that have no glass to worry about, browse our gallery wrap canvases.
Questions we get asked
Yes, in a kids' room. Acrylic is lighter and doesn't shatter into sharp pieces. If a framed piece you like comes under glass, ask us before you order what the options are, or choose a canvas instead.
A canvas with no glass is my default for kids' rooms. It's light for its size, there's nothing to break, and a bump just bounces off. Check the weight in Product details all the same; large canvases in floating frames can be heavier than they look.
That's outside what we sell, so I'll only say: follow the maker's instructions and Health Canada's current advice, and take down anything hanging over the crib as soon as your child can reach it.