baskets for newborn photography

23 Too Cute for Words Floor Prop Setups Sure to Give You Baby Fever

Buckets, bowls, beds, crates, and more! Sarah shares 23 precious photos that will make you swoon!

There is something absolutely adorable about a brand new baby sweetly nestled into a floor prop! Perhaps it is their curly nature or how much, as parents, we marvel at the beauty in new life, but one thing is for sure: these precious setups will totally make you smile! Cozy up and check out my favorite images from the last few weeks!

Miniature Newborn Bed Props

vintage newborn bed prop

Of all the vintage-inspired floor props in my Houston Newborn Baby Studio (believe me: there’s over 100, ha!), mini beds are basically my favorite props ever! I have several on hand that are wire, wooden, cream, brown, natural, etc. There are many amazing options, too! Part of being one of the best Houston baby photographers is providing unique, timeless, and breathtaking options for new parents. Floor props, for instance, are a great way to share your creativity. Textiles, texture, hats, bonnets, layers, wrapping, I could go on and on! Floor prop sessions are also the most popular with parents because they are the timeless and sweet images that you’ll treasure forever.

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Wooden Bowls & Rustic Flooring

newborn girl photography ideas

When it comes to a newborn studio, every baby photographer needs an amazing rustic bowl. The perfect bowl can be used for both girl or boy babies; it can be styled to be masculine or feminine. The bowl should gently cradle the earthside cherub and be the perfect vessel for showcasing an adorable little one! This bowl is one of my favorites and I often pull it for many different session types.

wooden bowl posed newborn portraits
neutral inspired baby boy photography session

Woven Basket for texture

newborn photography basket ideas

Baskets are also a cornerstone to newborn photography prop stashes because they provide much needed texture. When you have a new baby, the baby is brand new and so sweet; the baskets are needed to add contrast. They can be styled in many different ways and also are versatile!

There are many vendors that provide awesome baskets, but sometimes I luck out and find one in the states that’s available for immediate shipping.

Baskets look best with a wrapped baby and they’re nestled so sweetly!

baskets for newborn baby photography

Babies in buckets | oh my

newborn bucket props

Of all the setups during a posed newborn session, the bucket set up is always a favorite of mine! I have a huge variety of them from wooden to wire; pastel to bold; neutral to muted; textured to smooth. This gives endless creativity and also many options depending on the size of the baby. After all, a 5 pound baby will need a different bucket or pail than a 10 pound little one.

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Flokati rugs

flokati rug newborn photography posing

Ahhhh, flokati rugs - the ultimate texture in newborn images! I love love love love these and adore using them in many parts of the session. However, this cream one is such a treat because it’s so fluffy, ha! In fact, my husband teases me because I buy dog brushes to brush the flokati rugs so they stay nice and full. I can’t help it; I love all of my props and like to take care of them!

lamb bonnet and newborn flokati rug

If you enjoyed reading about how I create interesting and unique newborn setups, you may also enjoy reading these topics, too!

Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn Photographer specializing in gorgeous posed newborn sessions. Her studio is located in Northwest Harris County. In addition to breathtaking baby portraiture, Sarah also offers stylish natural light family photography as well as dynamic outdoor maternity sessions for expecting mothers and couples. Sarah joyfully serves the entire Harris and Montgomery county areas including Houston, Cypress, Tomball, Spring, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Memorial & West Houston, Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, Richmond, West University and Rice Village.

7 Tips to Rock the Baby in a Bucket Pose: Last Week in Studio

Houston Newborn Photographer, Sarah Borchgrevink Photography, offers stunning portraiture for brand new babies & their family. See tips for posing babies in the ever so popular parent requeted set up: the bucket.

Favorite pose of parents

When booking a newborn session, parents are sent a styling questionnaire in which they're able to share their favorite props, colors, and also must have poses. It never fails: every parent requests a bucket shot because what is more precious than a newly earth side little one perfectly tucked into an adorable bucket? 

As a professional baby portrait studio, I truly love working with my most petite & darling clients, particularly when it comes to a floor prop set up, such as an antique bucket. I have a huge array of props on hand, all of which are available to you. They're all vintage-inspired, often purchased from local antique shops. 

When posing a baby in these rustic pails, parents often ask, "How do you achieve this look?" Have no fear! I am happy to share some tips on this so you, as a potential client, can be informed on how I safely pose little ones.

Moreover, this blog posts also showcases babies who visited in the last week so you can see variety in how I style my dreamy, timeless and stunning newborn sessions. 

posing babies in a bucket

7 Tips for the bucket set up:

  1. Baby must be in a deep sleep for these images. I keep my heat on 77 degrees so baby is nice and warm, but also mold-able and peacefully slumbers so we have serene, gorgeous galleries! Part of being one of the Best Houston Newborn Photographers is providing parents with amazing galleries. The foundation of an amazing floor prop set up must always be a warm room so we have a sleepy, sweet baby.

  2. Place weights in the bottom of the bucket. This keeps it from toppling over and helps baby stay in place.

  3. Don't pose baby naked in the bucket. You see, we want to create the "illusion" that baby is naked, however, if their legs are out, this could be a danger to baby's well being because newborn babies are much stronger than they appear! They could push forward with their legs, thus launching baby out. This would be a disaster so in order to avoid this, keep baby's legs wrapped and their arms out.

  4. Select a bucket, pail or another floor prop that coincides with baby's size. I know, I know: all buckets are the same, right? Actually: this is not true! I have different buckets for different sized babies. 5-pound babies, to elaborate further, will need a different bucket than a 10-pound baby. The baby should fill most of the prop and you should not be stuffing tons of items in the bucket. To ensure we have the perfect prop for your precious, sweet little baby, I send a questionnaire once little one has arrived so you may share details such as their weight.

  5. Make sure baby is fully supported. You do so by using posing beans.

  6. Pose baby's arms before placing them in the bucket. You do not want to be picking the baby up and moving them around whilst in the bucket. The placing of the baby should be seamless: pose their arms, while the baby is in your lap, and then move them into the bucket. This keeps their head supported and you're not jolting their ever so fragile limbs.

  7. Get those elbows hooked. Essentially, this means that you have to hook their elbows over the rim of the bucket so baby does not slip downward. This is why it's ever so important to place weights (such as 20 pounds) inside of the bucket so it will not be top heavy.

Joshua's aquamarine set up

newborn bucket prop

Isabella's neutral bucket pose with galvanized pail

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Gorgeous Aria's Mint and Seafoam Green Rustic Pail

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Mia's ivory, lavender, and warm wood classic baby in a bucket pose

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Chase's feminine and girly lavender & purple floral styling

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Desmond's Pale Green & Spring Greenery Newborn Portraits on barn wood flooring

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Are you currently pregnant and expecting your own bundle of joy? Let's connect so I may more information about the newborn collections I offer. 

Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn Photographer specializing in gorgeous posed newborn sessions. Her studio is located in Northwest Harris County. In addition to breathtaking baby portraiture, Sarah also offers stylish natural light family photography as well as dynamic outdoor maternity sessions for expecting mothers and couples. Sarah joyfully serves the entire Harris and Montgomery county areas including Houston, Cypress, Tomball, Spring, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Memorial & West Houston, Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, Richmond, West University and Rice Village.

Gorgeous Posed Newborn Styling through Vintage Inspired Floor Props

Vintage Meets Classic for Timeless Newborn Portraiture | Gorgeous Posed Sessions through buckets, bowls, baskets and other floor props.

Floor Prop Styling during a studio newborn session with Sarah Borchgrevink

Friends, hi! I'm excited you're visiting today! This blog post is a great overview on floor props, how to style them, and from which I pull inspiration. Many parents ask, "What's a floor prop?" If you're curious about this, I've got all the information you need! 

If you've visited before, you probably know my name is Sarah and I adore all things newborn portraiture. I spend my days in studio wrapping precious babies, snuggling them, getting to know their parents, and truly delighting in capturing the custom art of posed baby photography. I'm located in Houston and it's my favorite place to be! 

All of my newborn collections include at least three floor props during our time together. Sessions are around 2 hours long so we have plenty of time to feed baby, do lots of cozy, unique wrapping, implement naked bean bag posing, and ensure we utilize many classic floor props, which will be previewed below.

Before we get started, floor props are literally what they sound like: props that are placed on the floor, ha! Examples include:

  • Buckets
  • Pails
  • Bowls
  • Baskets
  • Trenches
  • Many more! Anything is possible in the world of baby photos, ha! 

Floor props are also a wonderful way to add variety to your session because baby may be wrapped or added into many different types of props so that your session is full of stunning images! We want each image to stand alone and be gorgeous. 

Classic Wooden Bowl & Trench

Props for Newborn Photography

My favorite floor props to use are typically of the wooden variety since they're both rustic and organic. After all, why be trendy when you can be timeless? As women, we all have that special little black dress in our closets. My floor prop stash is like that black dress: dependable, classic, timeless, classy, totally gorgeous no matter the occasion, ha! For instance, the baby girl featured above is named Sophia. She visited my studio space when she was 7 days fresh and new. Her mama relayed she liked girly set ups, so I pulled an antique quilt I picked up at a local shop an paired it with an organic wrap, that's soft and peach. This exudes all things girly and precious! After all, little girls are angels and should look feminine and dainty during the session. This type of wooden bowl is also versatile because you put baby on their belly, side, back, and shoot from many different angles. 

How to set up for a posed newborn session

However, wooden bowls and trenches can also be styled to look more masculine. This bowl, shown above, features Dylan who visited at 11 days new. He is wrapped in a taupe textile and has an adorable bear hat and matching teddy in his hands. The styling is vintage and timeless so that nothing is distracting from his handsome face. Look at his sweet little lips! His precious pout just made me sigh with happiness during our time - capturing details like this makes my day!

Rustic, Organic Wooden Boxes & Crates

Crates and boxes are excellent choices for vintage inspired newborn photography! They can be styled to reflect either gender; they look fantastic with any color option and also can fit pretty much any size baby. 

When parents notify me of their little darling being earth side, I do take their weight and size into consideration. After all, baby should fit into the prop but not be swallowed up so that you cannot focus on them. 

Newborn Baby Photography Props

Wooden, classic props are also an excellent opportunity to document baby's macro images, too. Macro images, you see, are those up close, darling details of a new baby. These are the characteristics parents spend hours memorizing; you will not want to forget these! Examples of macro images are lips, toes, nails, eyelashes, etc - everything newborn! Since baby is styled perfectly, you can take your time and capture these detailed images. This adds much soul and breathtaking portraiture to your final baby gallery, too! Parents love these! 

Sloane, for instance, shown above, has the most lovely little lips and hands. She has cheeks for days, so when she is wrapped so snuggly into this box, I made sure to take advantage of her sleeping so soundly. 

Houston Newborn Photography Studio
Newborn Photography Houston
Houston Baby Photographer

As you may have noticed, wooden boxes and crates can be styled in numerous ways. They look amazing with deep, vibrant tones or even soft, muted neutrals and pastels. I like to have fun and be creative here when working with newborn loves; I have many vintage quilts, textured pieces, and adorable knitted hats/bonnets/caps to adorn your sweet baby. 

Wooden Bench

This wooden bench is an absolute dream! It cradles baby perfectly and can be either styled with neutrals or color, though I do prefer muted color schemes with this floor prop. 

The Woodlands Newborn Photographer

Antique Scale

The antique scale is the perfect vintage prop because it fits any baby or gender! This sweet boy, for example, is over 10 pounds but when he visited I was able to add him into this floor prop piece. I don't use the scale often, but when I do I am reminded how cute it is, ha!

Vintage Inspired Newborn Portraiture

Wire Baskets 

Wire baskets are a huge must have for any newborn photographer! Wire baskets are versatile because they come in any shape, size, or color. I happen to have several of these and enjoy using them in my posed newborn portraituer because the styling is always timeless. They make for the perfect bed or snuggly set up. 

Newborn Photography The Woodlands TX

This gold one, for example, was purchased from Home Goods and is dainty and fresh. Anytime a mom tells me she likes the color gold I remember this basket and pull it from her. It can be used with peaches, pinks, mauves, white, purple or even cream and ivory.

Spring TX Newborn Photography

A circular wire basket is a great vintage prop because it's a nice alternative to a wooden bucket. You can use any color here, too, based on your preferences. 

Furthermore, a square or rectangle wire basket is also a lovely option because it's super versatile. The next image you see, shown below, is all things rustic earth tones and neutral. 

Newborn Photography Spring TX

But then of course, a round circular basket is fantastic because it can hold baby perfectly. 

Spring Newborn Photography
Newborn Photography Cypress TX
Cypress Newborn Photography
Katy TX Newborn Photographer

Woven Basket

Finally, a woven basket can be styled for vintage newborn portraiture because it can look lovely with any color, baby, or gender. This little girl, for instance, visited for a full newborn collection at 8 days. Addie is about 7 pounds here, but fits perfectly. I think it's extra sweet when their little fingers hand over the prop, too! 

Katy Newborn Photographer

As always, I graciously thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and read about what inspired me as a newborn portraiture artist. If you liked reading about how to style posed newborn sessions through vintage inspired pieces, such as floor props, you may like reading the following:

Specializing in posed baby portraits, Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn Photographer serving the surrounding areas including Houston metro area, Cypress, Katy, Spring, The Heights, Sugar Land, West University, Bellaire, and The Woodlands, TX. In addition to breathtaking newborn images, Sarah also offers stylish natural light family photography as well as dynamic outdoor maternity sessions for expecting couples.