Oh baby! That's what I call color!

Babies are waking up to color these days. And not just the traditional blue and pink. Parents are choosing a variety of bold colors for nurseries and children's rooms, combining non-traditional hues with neutral shades and accenting rooms with bright splashes of raspberry, lime green, and cherry red.

According to Sandy Briggs, author of Little Steps for New Parents: A Weekly Guide for Developing Your Baby's Intelligence, "Bold and bright colors are easiest [for a newborn] to see. He can't see pastels and light colors very well yet." Baby toys, room decor and other children's products reflect this knowledge.

Younger consumers are more apt to choose eclectic mixes of colors and are unafraid to express their individuality for the children's rooms. Parents also want to create more "transitional" rooms that will grow with their children. That means focusing less on a "baby" look and more on a comfortable, eye-pleasing room with hues that are easy to change as the child grows.

Parents often begin with neutral colors for walls and floors and punch up the look with colorful bedding, window treatments and bound rugs. Even the furniture is less traditional. Hand-painted dressers and beds are much more common, with accents of florals, checks and dots in a variety of colors. You might see a nursery in white, bright green and fuchsia, or a room that features chocolate brown accented with a soft pink. Green is big, with shades ranging from lettuce to pistachio to mint. Blues range from sapphire to robin egg blue. Retro looks and accents are also big with "mod" colors popping up more and more and designs that feature bold stripes, large florals, checks and plaids.

"Color is also much more prominent in birth announcements today," says Kerri Brimmer, co-owner of Naptime Productions, which creates custom cards and birth announcements. "Customers choose shades likechocolate brown, aquamarine, grape, and azalea."

The same embellishments parents are using to complement their children's rooms are showing up on birth announcements and invitations, combining stripes, dots, and checks with the bolder colors.

In announcing the arrival of their babies, parents seem to be saying "It's a bright, beautiful world. Welcome."