The fun stuff...setting up the nursery....There are a surprising number of emotions that come up when we set up the room that will welcome a new baby. Excitement, anticipation, warmth, nervousness, a need for perfection, and that maternal stirring so tactfully associating women with waterfowl....nesting.
So before you start I would suggest obtaining someone who can put together a wide variety of piecemeal furniture. Even if you scored some second hand stuff, cribs in my experience do not fit through doors. I have endless video of my husband enduring me taping him while he set up the crib, change table, and dresser for our first baby. Then, prepare to assemble, this may take longer than you think! After you have all your furniture put together arrange it how you like and of course you have to add a few blankies! I got very excited and had to put all the little clothes in the drawers, etc. It can be very exciting!
Some may wish me to talk about decor and design ideas, but that is more Northern Mom's territory. I would suggest a few random tips for setting up baby's room.
1. Make it a special place. Arrange and decorate so you can be comfortable there for those endless feedings and changings. A comfy chair is a good idea and even a mini stereo for music.
2. If you are short on space, a low dresser can double as a change table with one of those curved change pads. They are not expensive and have a safety buckle as well.
3. Put some pictures of your family and baby up, it wonderful to look at these change as your baby grows.
4. Enjoy yourself, This can be one of the most fun preparations for baby while you are expecting.
If you wish, you can post some fun design ideas or money saving tips for nurseries, our readers would likely find them helpful!
Thanks for reading!
Mom-of-all-trades
An add-on by Northern Mom,
Setting up a nursery is one of the most exciting, and sometimes overwhelming, parts of being pregnant. I've included some pictures of our nursery to show some of our favourite ideas for setting up a nursery.
First, we chose to use a neutral color for the walls that will work for the long-term. We've put hits of baby boy blue throughout the room in ways that can easily be changed out if we have a daughter someday or if we decide to repurpose the room. The placement of the crib is purposeful. It's on an inside wall, well away from the window. This way we don't have to worry about nasty drafts causing trouble for our precious little guy. It's also relatively close to the door so it's easy for us to peak in on sleeping baby. You'll notice there's no bumper pad on the crib for safety reasons. The blanket set we bought came with one so I repurposed it. You can see it on the lamp (top left). I simply took an old lamp that we had kicking around the house, cut part of the bumper pad out, slapped on a little hot glue, and, voila, matching lamp. I also made the sign above the bed, which we placed high enough that baby can't reach it.
We installed this ceiling fan just before our third son was born. We had been having issues with the room getting really hot in the summer and needed a way to cool it down. Our best brain wave though was to put it on a dimmer switch. The dimmer switch makes putting baby down at bedtime and visiting him during the night a lot more relaxing and less stimulating.
I highly recommend a hook or set of hooks somewhere in the nursery. Here you can see we've got a baby housecoat hanging on ours (what's cuter than a baby housecoat?). We also use it everyday to hang his sleep sack for the day. Something to consider when you're shopping for your upcoming arrival. Sleep sacs are a great alternative to blankets. Experienced parents will tell you that it's common for babies to pull blankets up onto their faces and get "trapped" under them, kick blankets off causing them to get cold and disrupt their sleep, or simply get tangled up in them. Sleep sacks are a great way to keep baby warm without worrying about any of these problems. They're basically sleeping bags that the baby wears like a pair of overalls. We love them!
I really wanted to show you the rug underneath our change table. This serves a couple of purposes. The first, and most important, is for safety. It's a great idea to put soft floor coverings in front of the change table. Obviously you don't intend for baby to fall off the change table but, accidents can happen and a soft rug can cushion a fall. The second purpose is for your tootsies. Guess what? You're going to be standing at that change table a lot. A lot. A lot. So why not have warm, comfy tootsies.
This is the amazing change table that my husband made for me when we were expecting our first. I'll just point out a few things. First, the change pad is exactly what Mom-Of-All-Trades was talking about. We just put a store-bought cover over top. Most of the time we have another rectangular change pad on top so if it gets soiled we can just toss it into the laundry and and pop a new one under baby. We purposefully chose to have removable boxes rather than drawers. I'm able to grab any box and pop it onto the table beside me with one hand so everything is at my fingertips. We also made a spot for the laundry hamper so it would be easy to to clean up. With the laundry right there I never have to go back into the nursery later to pick up dirty clothes from the floor. I'll also point out the basket on top of the change table. It's full of diapers. Every couple of days I refill it so the diapers are always at my fingertips. It also allows me to keep the boxes of diapers tucked in the closet so the nursery always looks neat and tidy. Tucked behind the box of diapers is a tupperware container for homemade baby wipes. I have a great recipe for this that I can share at a later date.
So, that's how we laid out our nursery. We did our nursery remodel when we were expecting our third son so we knew what worked and didn't work for us. I'm finally really satisfied with what we have. I want to point out too that, with the exception of the change table, everything in the nursery is second hand and given to us by others. So, a coat of paint and matching door pulls gave us a "new" nursery. With a little elbow grease and some creativity you can have the beautiful nursery of your dreams for very little cost. We've also built up the "stuff" in our nursery over the birth of three children so I can tell you that you can get by with very little. If you don't have a lot of money make sure you have some diapers (cloth saves you money), wipes (you can make your own for pennies), a few sleepers, some receiving blankets, and you'll find you can get by if you're nursing. If you aren't planning to nurse 3-6 bottles will get you by as well. Then you can wait to see what you get for gifts and fill in the rest over time. Baby clothes and products are often great to buy second hand because infants put very little wear and tear into things. Often second hand baby products are in great shape. The only true "must-have" product that I would recommend you buy new is a car seat. You will not be allowed to drive away from the hospital without one.
Happy nesting!
Northern Mom
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