First comes love, then comes the color palette to match that baby carriage. The stress of preparing for your little one's arrival can detract from these moments of love and joy, but setting the color palette can make planning the rest of your nursery décor fall more easily into place.

"When we think of style, it's not just the classic nursery," says Shalena Smith, founder of Los Angeles-based Ga Ga Designs. "It can be a contemporary or modern style, and setting a theme is not necessary. The nursery should feel like the rest of the way the house feels." Smith, who has worked with celebrities like P. Diddy, recommends starting with determining color schemes and looking at how the rest of your house is styled.

With nurseries, there's always the baby blue, pink, pale green and soft yellow that we are all familiar with, but you don't have to keep with tradition. Neutral color palettes are a great way to add a soothing and sophisticated look to a nursery and it provides a lot of wiggle room for your growing child.

"Thinking ahead is very important," says Sherri Blum of Sherri Blum Designs, the interior designer's line of canvas wall art and other wall décor for children.

"Many new parents imagine their baby only in the infant or toddler stage, and don't think about how their choices for the nursery might later work or not [work] with an older child who now has their own tastes, opinions and different needs." Blum recommends pairing a stronger color with a neutral for a soothing and sophisticated look, she but warns of bright or stimulating colors, which can be overwhelming for a developing baby.

"Most parents want a soft, serene environment for their baby. This is comforting to both the baby and parents, who will spend many nights in this nursery," Blum says. "However, today more parents are opting for unique color combinations and variations of these standard baby colors.

"Rather than baby blue or pale pink, many are choosing a soft aqua blue or salmon pink or soft orange, then parents are pairing these with unexpected secondary colors such as soft chocolate brown or black."

Roselle Hope of Roselle Andrea, an interior design and product company that specializes with infants located in New York City, recommends gray as an interchangeable and unique neutral that can easily blend with other colors since it comes in is own range of tones.

"For a nursery, the goal should always be to unify parents and the child, because the nursery is space that is utilized [by] parent and child at the same time. That's what it's for," Hope says.

"The most important thing to think about when considering a color or design for a nursery is lifestyle. Select colors that blend with the overall tone of your home. Try to incorporate all the family needs to create a room that you're comfortable with and fits into your life."