Product Spotlight 3/5: Misc. Nursery Furniture, Decor, and Blankets

SmashJam · March 2018

Blankets was today's real product spotlight, but I when I realized that I thought we could have lumped it in elsewhere and didn't think we could have a legit convo solely about blankets. So I realized lots had been talking about nursery design and thought we'd move up furniture and decor and lump blankets in there too, lol. I'm going to go through and see if any others can be combined as well.

This is a place for FTMs to ask questions and S+TMs to share the wealth of knowledge they've accumulated on baby products. Each week we'll spotlight a new category of product to help streamline and make it easier to refer back. This week it's.... Nursery furniture, decor, and blankets! Changing tables, dressers, bookcases, toy bins, humidifiers, wall decals, DIY decorating hacks, and...what kind of blanket do you like?

Please use the prompts below to try to share as much relevant info as you can in a format that is easy for those reading to absorb/respond to. If you'd like to recommend/ask questions about more than one product, please copy/paste the prompts as needed.

For S+TMs:

Any specifics that may differentiate your preferences:
Favorite [misc. nursery stuff/decor/blankets]:
Link/picture:
Cost (either actual dollar amount, or just $, $$, $$$, etc.):
Age appropriate for:
What you like about it:
What you don't like about it, if anything:
Is there a [nursery item/piece of decor/blanket] you don't have but are considering? Why?:
Is there a [nursery item/piece of decor/blanket] you've tried that you absolutely hate? Why?:
Additional thoughts on [nursery item/piece of decor/blanket]?:

For FTMs

[nursery item/piece of decor/blanket] you're interested in:
Link/picture:
Cost (either actual dollar amount, or just $, $$, $$$, etc.):
Any questions about it/them for S+TMs?:

Old links here in spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nhSR3UAwJx8UitC9b2hRx57c4hHkK6BU679FjqXMeHQ/edit?usp=sharing

SmashJam · March 2018

Any specifics that may differentiate your preferences:
Favorite [misc. nursery stuff/decor/blankets]: I did no decorating. There was a general woodland creature theme but I couldn't bring myself to buy more than stuffed animals that hung around the room and furniture/curtains and such that matched a color scheme. My changing table was also a dresser, but this time around we are using an old dresser with a changing pad on top. We got a normal dresser for adults for free at the salvage area of our dump (I know! I cleaned it.) last time but this time we'll probably get a new dresser for ourselves and use that for the changing table.
Blankets: Muslin all the way for swaddles, sun protection, makeshift changing areas when I forgot my travel changing pad. They can be pricey if you get the aden+anais ones but they have plenty of other option that are not bad (see below). My kid still snuggles with them.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M4LEIJ3/ref=sxr_sxwds-rbp_1_a_it?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3346373142&pd_rd_wg=nDYWV&pf_rd_r=4488QCQA2RVGMJNVZD0H&pf_rd_s=desktop-rhs-carousels&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B01M4LEIJ3&pd_rd_w=5S13w&pf_rd_i=aden+and+anais+blankets&pd_rd_r=27725a6c-2d48-46b2-ac77-b38d8551d033&ie=UTF8&qid=1520247711&sr=1
Link/picture:
Cost (either actual dollar amount, or just $, $$, $$$, etc.): Between 20 and 45 for a set of 3 or 4, depending on the brand.
Age appropriate for:
What you like about it: you can use it to shade the baby, give them something to roll on, change a diaper,
What you don't like about it, if anything: Buy a swaddle. These will makeshift work but if you can swing it, buy the actual swaddle sacks or swaddle pods or whatever. Unless you are an expert baby burrito maker they will come undone when they get more mobile!
Is there a [nursery item/piece of decor/blanket] you don't have but are considering? Why?:better shades this time.
Is there a [nursery item/piece of decor/blanket] you've tried that you absolutely hate? Why?: Cool lamps. I bought a walmart floor lamp I could turn off and on from the rocker, which was the only thing I looked at for lamps. The woodland creature one that went with my theme was just so much! And bedding sets. So expensive and you can't use some of it.
Additional thoughts on [nursery item/piece of decor/blanket]?:

stillcozy · March 2018

Any specifics that may differentiate your preferences: not really wanted something not overly pink for DD and ended up with a set from babies r us I really liked
Favorite [misc. nursery stuff/decor/blankets]: I love the name wall decor I made for my daughter. I used nails and outlined her name and used colored string to spell out her name
Link/picture:
Cost (either actual dollar amount, or just $, $$, $$$, etc.): it was really inexpensive to make the name wall decor. we did splurge on the nursery set but waited until they had a good sale around the trade in time.
Age appropriate for: babies and toddlers
What you like about it: I like that it isn't just for baby and can grow with them as they get older
What you don't like about it, if anything: I hated how expensive all the separate pieces were for the set and only just finished getting them this go round since they were on sale now.
Is there a [nursery item/piece of decor/blanket] you don't have but are considering? Why?: We didn't have the matching lamp but got that two weeks ago.
Is there a [nursery item/piece of decor/blanket] you've tried that you absolutely hate? Why?: the quilt in the set while pretty isn't functional for a baby but looks pretty hangining on the wall.
Additional thoughts on [nursery item/piece of decor/blanket]?: this was from our apartment so I need to paint and decorate the room for the new baby and do Lily's new room she is going to move into.

hillbillywife · March 2018

+1 for muslin swaddles!! I have like 45 different prints in my amazon cart right now lol.

babygagnon2018 · March 2018

[nursery item/piece of decor/blanket] you're interested in: Little Seeds Monarch Hill Ivy Standard Crib
Link/picture:
Cost (either actual dollar amount, or just $, $$, $$$, etc.): $169.99 (with wayfair disc $154.99)
Any questions about it/them for S+TMs?: I don't know of anyone who has used a metal type crib, all of my friends/family always used wooden ones...anyone have experience? Like? Dislike?

Nursery theme will look like this- ordering the wallpaper once its back in stock on April 3rd.

*Sorry if theres a seperate "crib" post this is really the only "decor" besides the wallpaper I'm focusing on

cseley321 · March 2018

Here was my Aug15's nursery.

I loved how everything looked all put together, but this time if I do decide to give this LO her own room, I am taking a more practical approach.... bumpers, blankets, they were all useless to me. We were told by the hospital not to swaddle, I found out bumpers and blankets in the crib were a suffocation hazard, so it all went to waste for the most part. We could have gotten by with 2 soft thicker blankets, a few receiving blankets (5 or so), and 2 thin blankets

hillbillywife · March 2018

@cseley321 what?! Told not to swaddle?!

edited to fix tag

cseley321 · March 2018

@hillbillywife yeah, when they discharged us they told us to just get her warm footed sleepers and drop the swaddle due to suffocation risks. Which sucks because I had some great swaddle blankets, swaddle sacks, and practiced it a bunch before she arrived. I know most hospitals don't make that recommendation, but being the paranoid FTM I was, I just followed their advice. Everything worked out great though, so I will do the same for this one probably

hillbillywife · March 2018

Gotcha @cseley321. That makes sense. I’m s big fan of “do what works for you”

cseley321 · March 2018

Yeah, same. I am still keeping my swaddles handy, just in case, my favorite motto with kids is "never say never."

stlmegs · March 2018

I second what @cseley321 said about taking a more practical approach this time. No nursery bedding set this time around. We are getting a few sheets, a crib skirt, some swaddle blankets for sleeping. We never used the bumper or comforter that came with DS' set. By the time he was ready for a toddler bed, we got him a Mickey Mouse bedding set to make it "more fun" and I'm sure we will do the same with this little lady.

+1 for the obsessed with the muslin blankets. We are doing our daughter's nursery in a mermaid theme (with shades of purple and green/aqua) and I've already found some mermaid print muslin blankets on Amazon. Woo hoo!

zombiehoohaa · March 2018

@cseley321 Interesting regarding swaddling...I went to a baby basics class a few weeks ago through Kaiser and they raved about swaddling baby for the first month only. They did say not to use a blanket when sleeping. Instead buy one of those sleep sacks to avoid suffocation. It was interesting to hear them tell us to leave baby's hands near mouth when swaddling though. I remember 8 years ago them telling my sister to swaddle her baby with the hands inside...

js8812 · March 2018

@babygagnon2018 Love that nursery!

SmashJam · March 2018

@zombiehoohaa they suggested the hands near face thing for us as well, as a comfort thing as far as I know, not safety. I thought it had something to do with them having their hands near their face in the womb or something, I think, and it makes them flip out less in a swaddle. I could be remembering wrong though!

zombiehoohaa · March 2018

@hillbillywife They told us they recommend the baby's hands near the mouth so that they give us better notice of what they want (i.e. hungry). I could see it as being because its what they're used to in the womb as well.

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Product Spotlight 3/5: Misc. Nursery Furniture, Decor, and Blankets

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