August 2019 Moms

Product Spotlight: General Nursery Furniture

cato99cato99 member
edited April 2019 in August 2019 Moms
Hi! Last week we discussed rocking chairs and gliders, and earlier in our pregnancies we discussed cribs, so let's keep going with our Nursery Product Spotlight Series and brainstorm other big furniture items for the nursery (next week we will wrap up our nursery discussion with a thread on nursery decor). Hopefully this series will be a helpful companion to the general nursery thread we already have going!

What else goes in a nursery? Will you have a designated changing table? If so, which one and what kind of features does it have that you'd recommend to other parents? Or will you set up your changing station on a dresser top? Where did your dresser come from and what does it look like? Do you have a cute little baby one or did you buy serious grown up furniture they can grow into? How about other clothes storage--do you have a wardrobe for your baby? Other than rocking chair/glider do you plan to have any other sitting surfaces like a couch or futon, or even a bed? Ottomans or foot rests to accompany them? And how about side tables and night tables for extra surfaces? And looking ahead to when they're older, do you already have some little-kid furniture in place for when they can use it--like play tables and chairs, day beds, a little kid desk? Any big furniture items for toy storage, like chests?

Am I forgetting any major furniture item? Please share!

Prior and Upcoming Product Spotlights

Re: Product Spotlight: General Nursery Furniture

  • I love all of the nursery discussion!

    We are doing a standard "grown up" dresser in lieu of a changing table. I'm not even sure if we'll have a changing pad on top. Changing babies from the side position like that always seems "off" to me, but that may just be because I learned to change them where they were in line/facing me. Both my mom and I have always just changed babies on a blanket/towel on the floor/couch/bed/wherever. Any experienced moms have thoughts here? 

    Our glider/recliner arrived this weekend and it's perfect! I think it's built for people a little taller than me (I'm 5' 2" on a good day), so when I sit all the way back, my feet are about eight inches off the floor. I'll probably grab a pouf-style ottoman for when we want to rock instead of recline, but that can be easily pushed to the side. We have an IKEA Raskog cart that will probably function as a side table for the glider. I currently have it stocked with diaper changing stuff and breastfeeding supplies, but I'm sure this will change once baby is here and I know what we need while rocking.

    For toy storage, we went with an 8-cube IKEA Kalax storage unit and did square wicker baskets in half of the cubbies for smaller toys. The others will be open/used for books, bigger toys, etc. I chose this unit because it fits perfectly in the bottom of the nursery closet while leaving space for the stroller and high chair to tuck into the corner and doesn't interfere with any hanging space. 
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  • @oklahomak we have always done a dresser with a changing pad on top. 2/3 had the little wood attachment to transform the dresser into a changing table (then is removed when no longer needed) but one we just put the pad on top. You get used to changing them however they are. I find side changing easier when they are smaller. Once my kids were approaching 2 years old, front facing was easier (because half the battle is toddler-wrangling and its easier to get them dressed when you can grab both feet). When we are at my parents house, we change them on the floor front facing regardless of the age.
    I think my change position preference is 100% dependent on where they are being changed. If its at dresser level, side changing is easier. On the floor, front facing is easier. Our pack and play has the changing tray thing that is front facing and I have a hard time doing that with the tiny babies. I'm probably just weird!
    DD1 5/23/14, DD2 12/5/16   Baby #3 on the way!


  • I agree with @sourlemon about changing position preferences. 
    11/2010 Diagnosed with PCOS 
    10/31/11 M/C at 9 weeks
    1/12/13 DD was born
    4/9/16 DS was born 
    9/17 CP 
    6/23/18 BFP EDD 3/4/19 

  • Kid 1 also has costco furniture and we liked it. Kid 2 we got DaVinci furniture and didnt like it as much. So back to costco for this kid.
    For toy and book storage, we get the cube units from Target. This kid has 2 units that are 9 cubes (so does kid 2). We also use these to store some other things like blankets or bibs.
    DD1 we had a little side table next to the glider and DD2 we had a 1x3 cube unit that doubled as a table for my stuff (water/snacks/phone charger) and storage.
    Both DDs have a kid sized Poang chair from Ikea and we will order one for this kid as well. They arent really used until around 18 months so not a hurry. DD1 got a little homework desk in her room when she turned 3. I think thatll be the "tradition" for us, so I wont be buying one anytime soon for this kid.

    DD1 5/23/14, DD2 12/5/16   Baby #3 on the way!


  • We put a change pad on a slip proof mat on top of an ikea hemnes 8-drawer dresser. It has been great for cloth diaper, clothing,  pj, sheets and blankets,  and random storage. It's also great because we put him on the end so we can stand beside him OR at his feet to change him just by pivoting ourselves around the end of the dresser - no change to baby or diaper stuff. 

    TTGP history (*TW*):

    Started TTC Oct 2015
    BFP #1 June 2016: EDD 16 March 2017, MC July 2016
    Re-started TTC Aug 2016
    Started IF testing Nov 2016
    Spontaneous BFP #2 January 2017: Rainbow Baby Boy September 2017
    BFP #3 November 2018: Baby #2 expected August 2019


  • We plan to do a regular dresser with a changing pad on top, though undecided on whether we'll have one of those removable changing tops instead of the pad by itself. I've been scouring the net for a dresser I like AND can afford, and just can't settle on anything. I'm sure I'm being too picky, and eventually we'll find something we both like (and hopefully will last for a while), but for now I'm a little overwhelmed.
    Not sure what we'll do for toy/miscellaneous storage. The room we're turning into the nursery has a good sized closet with sliding doors, so we may just get something that we can fit in there. Maybe one of the IKEA or Target cube units? It also depends on whether we move out the bookshelves we currently have in the room, so that we have more wall space to work with. If we do that, I have no idea where we'll put them, and DH and I have way too many books that we don't want to get rid of. But I also recognize that eventually it won't be practical for us to keep our books in the little one's room and the shelves (or at least the books) will have to go anyway.
    We still need to get some sort of side/console table for next to the glider, but that's low-ish on the priority list right now. We figure it would be really nice to have, but we can make things work without one if necessary.
  • mkrelmkrel member
    Just here to remind everyone to secure dressers to the wall when setting up the nursery so it doesn’t slip your mind later on!


  • @lovelikestardust Dressers - most of the contemporarily made dressers are pretty crappy unless you spend a fair amount. Would you consider a used dresser? I have seen a Bassett and a Drexel brand dresser within the past week (both white which is what I’m looking for) for $200 on FB marketplace. 
  • @zamora_spin Yep, would definitely consider a used dresser in good condition. My problem would be getting it to my house, though, since a dresser is definitely not fitting in the trunk of our sedan.
  • So we have a total hodgepodge of furniture in our baby/kids room because it's all a combination of hand-me-downs and exiles from other rooms and remodels. Every single piece is a different shade of wood BUT because the room's theme is "woodland forest" with lots of green and brown decor, it wound up working. 

    -changing table (light birch wood) with open shelving underneath, where we have big fabric cubes from Target for various storage
    -dresser (golden blonde knotty wood--it's my husband's from when he was little) with 4 big drawers
    -wood crib (white and dark mahogany brown). It converts to a toddler bed 
    -Shelf/cabinet/hutch-looking thing from IKEA (coffee brown) with books on the top shelves, and big fabric cubes from Target in the cabinet section below
    -Futon in cherry wood, with this garden-y futon cover and these pink-themed pillows for accents (spoiler for next week's decor thread!)
    -This ottoman in bright green to match the futon 
    -small bedside-table in dark espresso brown-black wood

    We need to work on toy storage solution: right now we have a big overflowing open-top fabric cube thing in a corner. But I need to figure out first what we're going to do for adding another child to this room when this baby comes and DD keeps growing, whether to convert the current crib to her toddler bed, and get a new crib to add there, or get her a different bed to transition to and put the baby in the current crib. This may call for rearranging furniture, which will be a pain since everything is bolted to the wall!
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