Opinions on nursery

JBSugar

Since we are having twins we are trying to get the best quality we can for the lowest price.  This is the cribs we are planning to get: https://www.walmart.com/catalog/detail.gsp?image=https://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/65/45/82/30/0065458230015_500X500.jpg,https://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/65/45/82/30/0065458230015_500X500.jpg,https://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/65/45/82/30/0065458230015_AV_60X60.gif&product_id=6497876&iIndex=1&isVariant=false&corpCard=false&type=0

They aren't my favorite and I have settled but that's ok I'm over it.
Anyway....in regard to the rest of the furniture, FIL has a tall dresser and long dresser that we would use as a changing table.  I went and looked at them last night and they are "ok" but I don't LOVE them.  I don't think the woods will match exactly and since the stuff is older (it's sturdy though) the drawers don't slide out easily.  (I'm pretty sure they don't have rollers).

So the opinion I want is, do I take the stuff from FIL that is free but won't function at peak performance and might not match the cribs we are getting or do I try to find new stuff at a decent cost that will match the cribs.

I don't want the nursery to look like crap because it's a mishmatch of furntiure.  WWYD?

SeaSoul

I'd take the free stuff!  I don't think mismatched furniture = looking like crap.  We don't have a single room in our house that has matching furniture.  If we had plenty of $$ at our disposal, we probably would but that's not the case, and I don't think it looks crappy.  Even in the nursery although it's all new stuff we've got a white crib and the rest of the furniture is natural wood.  DH prefers natural wood to white so we compromised.  We haven't put it all together yet but I'm confident it will look nice and I'm sure yours will too!  Could you refinish/paint the used furniture so it goes w/ the cribs a little better?

JBSugar

Not sure about refinishing.  I'd have to check.  I guess I'm more of a visual person and would need to see it all together.  I'm also worried about the functionability though.  If I'm in and out of those drawers several times a day and they aren't opening and closing properly am I going to spend the next however many years we have the stuff frustrated?  IDK

rlhbride

We are in the same boat!  We are also expecting twins and I am just about a week ahead of you.  We are going to Ikea to look this weekend.  I wasn't interested in Ikea at all, but then I read Baby Bargains and their cribs got a rating of A and they are all incredibly reasonably priced.  I do not like the way they look online, but I am hoping I will be more impressed in person. We, too, are trying to be reasonable in what we spend because of needing so much stuff for two.  I would say take the free furniture.  You could always add some drawer knobs or something to spruce it up a bit.  Really only you, your husband and your babies are going to be in the nursery!  When people come to visit they will be in other areas of your house more than likely.  I saw be economical now and spend more money later when you move them into beds and/or their own rooms.  We are putting our twins in the same nursery and I think I am only doing 2 cribs, 1 dresser (with a changing pad on top) and a glider.  Simple!  And, somewhat friendly to our bank account....nothing is cheap these days!

TheSkimmy

That crib is beautiful! You can't go wrong in a baby's room... They will love anything!!!!

I needed to go cheap also---- I'm a bargain shopper and a hunter. I found that the cheapest way to go was with white furniture- that way you could buy from different companies and it would still match. In laws bought the crib but the changing table is from WalMart and the dresser is from Ikea!!!

I thnk your father in laws things would be fine but it's all what you want!!! You worked hard for these babies!!!!

jsusann

Everything I got with my dd, Lilly was a hand-me-down. I decorated the room tastefully and girly and honestly? It didn't matter one bit. I had a light wood changing table and a dark wood crib. I didn't have anything else in the room but my glider and a night table for the lamp. I bought one of those hanging shelves for her closet and stored all her clothes in there. I became a wiz at pulling old clothes out that didn't fit her and brought in all the new ones. They outgrow clothes so fast that I didn't need a dresser. I still don't have one for her. I bought a cute little green rug from PB on Ebay and the room came out adorable. I also didn't have a huge room to work with so it was good I was able to make it work with hardly any furniture. Now, having twins is something different. But still take the hand-me-downs....I live by that motto! I don't know what I'm going to do here when the twins are born. We just sold our house and are renting an apt. until we find our dream house....the twins will sleep in one crib for a while and they won't have a room until we find our new house. Life...one day at a time..ha..ha. So anyway, my motto is "Take the FREE stuff!"

trinny

Cute crib.  If you are looking for other options, consumer reports has the Graco Lauren Convertible crib as the best buy right now (9/2008).  It is ~$150.  "Easy to operate and reasonably sturdy"

 I'd definitely take the free stuff from FIL.  Could you put new drawer pulls on or do something to make the dressers cuter?  Not sure about how you feel about nursery safe paint?   I actually don't like things so matchy-matchy, so I think it could be cute, depending on how you finish it.

tpo1118

I vote take the free stuff. You could paint the hand me down stuff fun bright colors to make it "new" add drawer pull like someone else mentioned! It could be really really cute and totally your own.

alex04

i would take the free stuff.  it doesn't matter that it doesn't match exactly and you'll be happy that you saved that money to buy other things.

as for the drawers, i would do a google search  -- i'm sure there's tons of info out there on ways to make the drawers slide easier.  you may need to pull one out and see how it works first (i think i heard that a little baby powder and make some slide easier but i have no idea where i heard that or if it's true)

muppet.fan

I'm echoing the other pp's here and it's too early for us to even start on our nursery! But we plan on reusing old dressers too. My dh had them after he graduated college. They're maple wood, which I don't like, so we're repainting them a bright white and plan to get some cheap knobs/pulls at Lowes to change the look.

I'm all about saving money and reusing what we can!

LucyPevensie

I vote for the free stuff too!  Dressers and chests are SO expensive - this way you can spend that money elsewhere, and you'll find plenty of other places to spend it with twinsies!!  Repaint and/or put great new hardware on the "old" furniture - paint the nursery a great color - do fun window treatments - it's going to look great!