A Safari Nursery

by Me
(Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

I first came up with the idea for a jungle safari nursery when I found a collection of crib linens described as natural. The fabric felt wonderfully soft and cuddly, and the animal design immediately seemed right for our baby’s room.

The bedding used tan, brown, antique white, and muted green rather than bright primary colors. I liked how closely the palette reflected colors found in nature. It also gave me a practical starting point because we did not yet know whether we were having a boy or a girl.

The finished room became one of my favorite examples of how a detailed theme can still feel comfortable and uncluttered. For more decorating directions, color combinations, and room themes, visit my baby nursery themes hub.

Choosing a Gender-Neutral Safari Nursery Palette

I used the bedding collection as my guide when selecting everything else for the nursery. The tan and brown animal details worked beautifully with the existing beige walls, bone-colored carpet, and neutral curtains. Antique white kept the room from becoming too dark, while touches of green brought in just enough color.

Limiting the palette helped all the individual details look as though they belonged together. I did not need every item to come from the same collection. I simply repeated the main colors in the wall decorations, linens, and small accessories.

This approach would also make it easy to update the room later. Warmer rust, navy, golden yellow, or forest green accents could be added after the baby arrived without replacing the original nursery pieces.

Turning the Bedding Design Into Wall Decorations

After buying the pieces I needed from the bedding range, I began searching for wallpaper in the same design. I originally planned to buy two sets so that I could create a fuller, more dimensional display around the room. Unfortunately, I could only find one.

That meant I had to come up with my own ideas for decorating the nursery walls.

I am generally drawn to fairly simple interiors, but I love adding detail to my scrapbooking projects. The safari fabric gave me the perfect opportunity to use some of those paper-crafting techniques on a much larger scale.

I decided to recreate the animals and scenery from the bedding on the walls so that the entire nursery would tie together. I used several plain papers, along with one neutral striped paper, to make the different shapes.

I could not find a paper that matched the stripes in the bedding exactly. Instead, I cut very fine strips from several colors and arranged them until the combination looked right. This took longer than using a ready-made striped sheet, but it allowed me to repeat the colors from the crib linens more accurately.

For additional ways to continue the theme through artwork, textiles, and accessories, see these safari nursery decor ideas.

Making the Safari Animals Match

I copied the wild animals from the bedding because I wanted the wall decorations to look like a true extension of the original design. Each animal was built from layered paper shapes, with stitched details added using my sewing machine.

When I began, I did not realize how much sewing would be involved. The project kept growing as I added more animals and scenery. I even created a new animal that was not included in the bedding collection but still matched the style and colors.

I used clear acetate for some of the tree stems and animal tails. Once the pieces were attached, the acetate almost disappeared and left the stitching visible. That gave the decorations a light, outlined appearance instead of making every element look like a heavy paper cutout.

After arranging the animals on the wall, I drew a stitched-looking line beneath them to represent the ground. That final detail connected the separate animals and made the design feel like one continuous safari scene.

Anyone who enjoys handmade nursery accents could also add a coordinating crochet safari animal mobile above a changing area or another safe display location away from the crib.

A Time-Consuming but Enjoyable Nursery Project

I would not describe the wall decorations as especially difficult, but they were time-consuming. There were many small pieces to cut, arrange, stitch, and position. Matching the bedding closely required patience, particularly when I was creating the narrow striped sections.

Still, the work was a welcome distraction during the final weeks of my pregnancy. I finished the nursery project during my last couple of weeks before the baby arrived, and it gave me something creative to concentrate on while I waited.

One advantage of making the decorations myself was that I could adjust every animal to suit the available wall space. I was not restricted by the size or shape of purchased decals. I could create a larger scene above a dresser and smaller groups of animals in narrower areas.

For more examples of how other animal rooms have been arranged, browse these colorful safari nursery pictures and the broader baby nursery picture gallery.

Keeping the Jungle Theme Coordinated

I kept the room centered on the safari animals rather than adding every jungle-themed item I could find. Repeating a few recognizable details created a clearer design than filling the nursery with unrelated animal prints.

The crib linens established the main palette. The handmade animals repeated the characters from the bedding. The stitched outlines connected the wall design to the fabric, while the neutral carpet, curtains, and walls provided a simple background.

A nursery quilt could provide another useful place to repeat the animal theme. The hot-air-balloon safari animal crib quilt pattern offers a more colorful handmade option that could be displayed safely on a wall or used outside the sleep space.

I also found that natural-looking colors made the room easier to live with. The nursery clearly had a jungle safari theme, but the tan, green, brown, and antique white palette prevented it from feeling too busy.

For a different version of the same general decorating style, these jungle nursery theme ideas show more ways to use animals, tropical scenery, and nature-inspired details.

Adding the Baby’s Name After the Birth

Once our little one arrived, I planned to personalize one wall with large decorated letters spelling the baby’s name. Waiting until after the birth allowed me to keep the original nursery gender neutral while still leaving room for a personal finishing touch.

The letters could be covered with papers that repeated the bedding colors or decorated with small stitched details similar to the handmade animals. That would help the name display feel connected to the rest of the room rather than looking like a separate decoration added later.

Looking back, the most successful part of this safari nursery was not any single purchased item. It was the decision to use the bedding as inspiration and then repeat its colors, animals, and stitched details throughout the room. That simple plan allowed me to create a coordinated nursery even when I could not find every matching product I originally wanted.