March 2013 Moms

nursery question

So I have been bouncing ideas off of my husband for the nursery.  Not design, or specific furniture, but where we will move the furniture which currently resides in the guest room we're converting.  I figure that we should at least start talking, though we won't physically move things for a few months.

We live in a 3 bedroom home, and our 3rd bedroom has been converted into a full gym.  We also have an open layout on the first floor of the house, so unfortunately we lack a lot of wall space for extra furniture/bookcases, etc., that are currently in the guest room.

My original thought was to donate the guestroom bed/matress, and move the large bookcase that's in the guest room, up into our home office (3 story home, 2nd floor is an open family room we use as an office), and put the armoire in our bedroom - tight squeeze, but would work.

My husband thinks the only item that should be removed from the guest room is the queen sized bed.  He wants to leave our large bookcase and armoire until the kiddo is a toddler.  Removing it before they realize that we're taking over part of their space with our stuff.

It's stupid, but I'm slightly conflicted.  I want their space to feel like their own.  Obviously at a young age they will have no idea that we have some of our junk in there.  But... then my idea of a perfect nursery is out the window.  I don't even want to go crazy decorating, or making things matchy.  I just picture clean lines - dresser, crib, small bookcase, and chair/rocker.

Our armoire holds all of our linens/bedding, and the bookcase has all of our novels, etc.  So it's really not "junk".

Is anyone else putting their kiddo into a room where that they currently use for their own storage/belongings?  This isn't a battle worth fighting if come the time to setup the baby's room, he's still suggesting we leave some of the original furniture in there for a year or two?

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Re: nursery question

  • I get what you are saying about wanting to have the nursery be a nursery- I feel the same way and I don't like having to multi-purpose a room unless its out of necessity especially if its a bedroom. I also get what your husband is saying b/c its true, kids really don't notice a difference plus my toddler is *just now* starting to actually spend any time playing in his room (at almost 2.5 years old). That being said- I think your plan sounds a lot better. I personally would not leave a book shelf in a child's room b/c you will have to anchor it to the wall for safety purposes plus once your child becomes mobile book shelves are a pain in the butt b/c the child can crawl, pull books off onto themselves, etc. 

    Is there any way you could scrap the armoire all together and find somewhere else to store the linens? It seems like that would be the only annoyance out of moving furniture b/c I wouldn't want to have a bedroom that had furniture that was a "tight squeeze".

    We've just had to gradually get rid of stuff to make room for our kids for example: Our home is a 4 bedroom, unfinished basement. When we had #1 we had our nursery, office w/ a twin size bed, and a guest room w/ a queen sized bed and extra bedroom furniture. When #2 came along we moved our DS into the office, the new baby into the nursery and our guest bedroom is now crammed full of office stuff and the bedroom furniture and bed turned up on its side while we finish the office (basically the room now is not functional at all but once our basement is done being remodeled the office will move down there). With #3 on the way we will be moving DD into the guest room/office/chaos room haha the office will move to the basement and DS will stay put, nursery stays the nursery. We have just lost our guest bedroom and will probably have to get rid of the queen sized bed (we will keep the bedroom furniture and just use it for DD). Our house is like musical chairs with rooms changing every year or so. We will be in a real pickle when #4 comes haha 

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  • I was in a bit of a similar situation... we have a two bedroom rancher, also with an open floor plan.  We had the second bedroom set up as a guest bedroom, storage room, and music room.  Somehow I convinced my husband to move all the band stuff to our unfinished basement and tiny office (beyond this computer and it's desk, there really isn't room for much else).  When I mentioned I wanted to paint the soon-to-be nursery, my husband was not all for this, because we're renting right now.  I was a little crushed, because like you, I had an idea in my mind of what I wanted.  We reached a compromise, in that I would not paint the room, but would put up a large wall decal matcing the theme of my choice. 

    I'm the type of person who would not leave the other items in the room because I see it as the baby's room, and should be filled with his/her things.  I guess what I'm getting at is... if you really want the furniture out of the room, you two may have to come to a compromise on the best location for the furniture.  Also, as you start to show your pregnancy more, it becomes more real to men, which might be a motivating factor for him to move some items around a bit. 

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  • Thank you so much for the insight.  I think that I may slowly start to weed out the things in that room that are mine, so there's more of a red flag with his stuff, per se.  I have no need to keep a ton of old books.  I merely keep them because we have a huge bookcase for them. 

    The armoire - I could probably relocate the linens in there, though it would be annoying.  However, it's a pretty small armoire (white), and would work really well for storing toys and extra baby stuff.  I would be happy to leave it in there if the baby could actually use it. 

    Thus, my only battle may be the bookcase and/or the items on it.  It's a huge bookcase, and I would prefer something smaller for our child.  But, if having them use it vs. relocate to another were part of a compromise, I might be for it.  (And the husband removing all of our items from the bookcase.)

    Thanks for the input.  I really appreciate it.

    Maybe we could even use the top of their wall length closet (but not walk-in) for our sheets instead.  That wouldn't bother me for a few yrs.

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  • I totally understand wanting to have a dedicated baby space. We're in a tiny two bedroom apartment and there is simply nowhere but the second room to put my husband's computer. I hate the idea of him shooting zombies in our baby's bedroom but what can you do? Have you thought about using the bookcase as part of the baby furniture? You could always box up a few of the books that you don't read as often and use those shelves for baby things
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  • imageMindish:
    I totally understand wanting to have a dedicated baby space. We're in a tiny two bedroom apartment and there is simply nowhere but the second room to put my husband's computer. I hate the idea of him shooting zombies in our baby's bedroom but what can you do? Have you thought about using the bookcase as part of the baby furniture? You could always box up a few of the books that you don't read as often and use those shelves for baby things

    I think this could be a viable option which didn't dawn on me until I started hearing feedback.  The bookcase is very solid, and handmade by my dad.  It's over 6 feet tall, so it is huge, though!  It's not what I picture, but honestly, it would be absolutely fine.  I may have an easier time talking my husband into relocating the books or even boxing some up, vs. relocating the piece of furniture itself.

    Mindish - I think I can sense how you would feel.  But really, as an outsider looking in, your situation is absolutely fine.  I suppose I need to tell myself the same thing.  :)

    You ladies are awesome.

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  • We've been going through this as well. We have a three bedroom ranch style with the two extra bedrooms being DH's office/workout room and the other being my office/guest bedroom.  We've figured out DH is going to take my desk as it's newer and bigger and get rid of his.  We're turning my computer into a movie center as I have my laptop which I use the most anyways.  We are in a quandary over the bed though.  This is our only spare bed for guests.  I don't want my kid to have to share but it's not like they'd notice.  Honestly it's more of I don't want others sleeping in my baby's room with my baby.  We've talked about getting rid of the bed and buying a futon for DH's office.  He'd have to get rid of his weight bench, but he really doesn't use the bench.

    I think if you could find another place for your linens maybe you could use the dresser for the baby? As for the book shelf, I agree that when kids start crawling that might be a mess, but if you only use the top shelves for books and the bottom shelves for baby, then it's not such a problem. 

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