2nd Trimester
Nursery plans?
Did anybody start planning their nursery? I've only started looking at the big furniture pieces and already have so many questions... Any good resources for a first time mom?
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Re: Nursery plans?
What kinds of questions do you have? Baby Bargains is a good resource to figure out brands and such.
We picked out our furniture today (Baby's Dream) and are trying to narrow down the style of the room now as far as bedding and decor.
Here are some of my questions. My main challenge is planning a nursery in a very small room and trying to figure out where can I save space.
1) Will a mini crib last until the baby turns 2 or would I need a full size crib? I plan on using the same crib for all kids, so I don't care about the crib converting into a bed. How about a cradle. How long are they good for? I know that bassinets are only good for about 3 months.2) There are different sizes of changing tables. Do you still use a changing table for a 15-24 month old toddler? If so, how big does the changing table need to be?3) How much storage space will I need for the first year? Considering that there is no closet in the nursery, will a 4-drawer dresser be enough? There are changing tables with drawers under it. Will that space be used up by all the diaper/toiletry supplies or is it realistic to store clothing there?
Thanks in advance
1) I would probably spring for a full size crib. My almost 2.5 yo is still in a crib (yay for not climbing out!) and there is no way he could fit in a mini.
2) I used the changing table with my first sparingly, and didn't even bother having one with my son. Since we have a 2 story, most of the diaper changes happened downstairs on the pack n play, and if one happened upstairs, it was on a towel on a bed.
3) Depends on you. You can make it work easily, but do you like purchasing tons and tons of cute baby clothes?
Even though a lot of mini cribs say through 12 months, there are people that use then until 2. I'd say 18-24 months to be safe. If you would switch from that to a twin bed, remember that they are much bigger and it'd save more space to use a full size crib longer. I'm not sure about a cradle but would skip it.
I'd skip the changing table. W/o having a closet, I'd get a full size dresser instead of the two pieces and just put a changing pad on top of it.
Depends on how many outfits you want to buy and how far in advance you buy. If you have nearly a full wardrobe for the first year from buying on sale after seasons, you will need more space than that. If you have the necessities a size at a time plus a little extra, you should be fine. You will def be fine if you just get a full 6 drawer dresser.
1. We used a mini crib from Davinci for the first year. Two would have been pushing it for us bc DS is tall.
2. You don't need a changing table if space is an issue. You can use the top of the dresser and just add a changing pad.
3. We used a three drawer in addition to a few bins on a book shelf for everything.
DS was in our home office for over 6 months and we went very minimal and it worked out just fine.
I've gotten a lot of the same advice that the pp have said in regards to your questions.
One possibility as a make-shift closet for things that should be hung up is to use a suspension cafe rod in a bookcase. We have a tall bookcase in our room and we are going to hang clothing in the top half and use the bottom half for books and storage baskets. This is the concept, although we are doing it very differently. https://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/shelving-storage/look-bookshelf-as-closet-048678
I have, but it's not super structured. I know I want a white crib because I have a couple of pieces of furniture lying around that I want to paint white to match. That makes them practically free.
I found decorating ideas from pinterest and have just gone from there.
We also have a small, closet-less nursery. We will be shopping for a new crib, because DS is still in his, and it has a drop-side, and with having a daycare it will have to be removed from my house by Dec '12. My mom has offered to buy this LO a crib. Depending on what we're having we will be purchasing an armoire of some sort. I don;t think a boy will need the hanging space that a girl will.
As far as your questions: A mini crib doesn't seem like the best use of money, given the short amount of use. A changing table is not necessary. I have just the top changing pad off our changing dresser and can change DS anywhere. The idea of lifting him up to change him as a toddler doesn't sound fun. And for storage, we are searching CL for a nice armoire to put clothes in, but who knows if it will be enough. DS has a closet and it's overflowing!
LO will be in our room at first but when we transition baby to a nursery, I want to do Dr. Seuss too!
LOL @ the nn Monkey Butt
When we first moved into our house, I painted the back room a soft green in anticipation of making that the nursery. I planned to do a jungle theme with dark furniture (even got some really cute hand-carved monkies when we went to Mexico a few weeks ago!). Just this weekend, I discovered that one of my DH's friends that's a single dad is about ready to get rid of the entire nursery set he had for his DD because she's a toddler now and ready to make the transition to a big-girl bed. It includes a low dresser, tall dresser with a place to hang things and a crib (I know, I know!). It's all white and they had a Frog theme. I'm thinking I'll take these things, buy a new white crib and an extra set of jungle-themed stuff to go in the room. And maybe I'll take the $ I was going to spend on baby's room and buy furniture for our room
Then came a miscarriage March '11
Then came a baby in the baby carriage May 16, 12
Waiting on our second little peanut!