Creating a Nursery

I don’t know about you but for me creating a nursery was one of the things I thought of (or maybe more appropriately worded – tortured myself over) until we got our first bub. Now of course our story is different from most and our children came to us at the ripe old age of 6 months so the nursery designing for me was also a symbol of nesting and nurturing a baby I couldn’t actually hold yet.  

My baby nursery is (like most) an extension of my own style and filled with individual items I have chosen from my heart.   Yes .. I know its not about the furniture OR the room but the baby itself and YES I know many can not afford designer thing but I have filled my nursery and its design with affordable items , NOT brand names and only a  few signature pieces actually extended the budget .  My cot that you see is one of the cheapest available at the local baby store as is the change table (maybe $500 for both ) , but I get ahead of myself….

Generally the furniture you will need for a basic nursery is:

• Cot
• Cot Mattress
• Cot sheets x 2
• Mattress protector
• Blanket / swaddles / wraps / sleeping bags depending on your personal preference and age of baby .
• Side protector
• Mobile or music toy that hangs of the side (such as fisher price rocking horse or sea mobile )
• Change table
• Rocking chair / Glider
• Place to put baby clothes such as wardrobe with shelves , drawers or a chest of drawers
• A curtain or blinds ( check o ut the Gro anywhere blinds we have available online , perfect for blacking out a room )

Generally your nursery table will hold the following:

• Nappies (I use the Ava Paper Rope 3pc Change Table Set ) .
• Wipes
• Nappy rash cream
• Nail clippers
• Paw paw cream (mostly as this cream does EVERYTHING !)
• Moisturiser if you use this
• Baby massage oil if you use this
• Burpy bibs (for a chucky baby)
• Dirty clothes basket
• Nappy bin (or this could be beside the table like mine)
• A few toys to keep older bub occupied

When designing a nursery many people choose to go with a themed room such as jungle or fairies. I did this with my first baby and it lasted about 6 months before he “redecorated”the wall by peeling the wall paper banner of the part of his wall where his cot was and within a year grew out of the baby design I had spent so so much money on. So when we heard news that we were allocated  a beautiful baby girl (from Taiwan) I decided to go with a  more minimal approach and stick with white with some beautiful heart felt features.  That way as she grew and her personality started shining through we could adapt the room easily to suit her style or likes.

First I thought of a “theme” I could go with. I decided on butterflies as I love them, they are beautiful and also as they represent good luck in the Chinese culture.

I wanted some wall decals and my favourite wall decals are by far the Love Mae ones (I’m a wall decal nutter , which you can tell if you have seen my toy room blog) and Love Mae decals (www.lovemae.com.au) are the best by far !

Once I decided where i would place the bigger bits of furniture such as the change table, cot and glider chair, I could work around the placement of my features such as the wall decals and also the bookshelf I knew I wanted.
With the cot , I just kept things simple , we have the Fisher Price Musical light thing that we sent to Sienna whilst she was waiting in the nursery for us to come get her (it was a 6 month wait till we could travel to get her) . She is very much in love with this item and it’s great as we can take it when we go away and she has something familiar to send her to sleep. Both my children have one and its been a wonderful investment! I also have her next sized up in clothes ( any items I’ve already bought or been handed down by lovely friends) under the cot in a plastic container.
My friend gave us a beautiful wall plaque when we heard about Sienna as a congratulations and it set the colour for the room. She knows me well and I love pastel , natural colours so it was perfect!

On my change table I have used the Ava Paper Rope 3pc Change Table Set and they are just devine. I choose these as I thought I would also be able to use them when they are not needed on a change table anywhere in the house ! I use the biggest one for Nappys , one of the small ones for wipes and the other small one for my “must have within reach” items. I also have my dirty clothes basket on the bottom of the change table so its easy to chuck in the endless dirty clothes and bibs ! I use a Tommee Tippee nappy bin so it sits next to the change table.   I also have a Sophie the Giraffe Toy chest close by with a collection of toys / items to give to Sienna as she is a wriggle baby and always looking for something on the change table. This helps keep her attentions focused o the toy whilst I can quickly change her . Works most times anyways !

For a feature item I knew I wanted a bookshelf, a small Kidkraft bookshelf was the one I chose and its just lovely. Something she can use as she grows to store lovely items, books etc.  I bought Sienna a gorgeous Rabbit bone china lamp as a gift from me to her when we found out about her. I wanted something that I could keep for her that was from that special time when I was dreaming about her in my heart each night!  She is getting to the point now where its about time to remove it from the room so it doesn’t break and or fall on her so its about to be replaced by a white birdcage which will also store all her hair clips by allowing me to clip them onto the wire (and the girl has some hair clips !!!!) .  I also have a picture of her when she arrived at the office of the Christian Salvation Service (the people that run the nursery where the babies live whilst waiting to be adopted) . It’s the first picture taken of her and the youngest pic we have of her. Her birth mother is holding her and it’s just a beautiful picture.  On the bookshelf we have books she likes to rip off and pile up together (maybe one day read lol) and some dolls.

        

A nursery is a place for you to sit cuddle and unwind with baby , a place for baby to sleep should you choose for them to do so and a place for you as a parent to unleash your creative emotions. Its an environment that your child will spend much time in and can cost as little or as much as you want it too.