I have a confession to make. I have an addiction to nursery bedding. My child closing in on 18 months and I am still looking. It began about two years ago, soon after my 8 week sonogram, instantly I began to wonder, “Where will this little angel rest its head, play and grow?”
And so began my search for baby bedding, both boy and girl (at the time). It started as simply as seeing some else’s beautiful nursery, and the mother telling me it was inspired by Serena & Lilly. “Hmmm, what's Serena and Lilly,” I thought as my fingers ran across the key board searching Google. After discovering this Mecca of inspiration, I came back to reality with sticker shock, and decided it was best to wait until after we knew the sex (and where we would be living) to look any more seriously.
When we discovered we were having a girl, I gave myself the green light to start asking other mom’s about what sites and what products they liked for their own child’s nursery. There seemed to be too many options to make this decision alone!
Other new mom's pointed me to some of their favorites; the list included: House by Annette Tatum, Whistle & Wink. Baby Box. PB Kids. Land of
Originally, when I drafted this post, I traversed my ups and downs for you of my very confusing, and ultimately disappointing experience to justify why I still look at baby bedding. Ultimately, I made rushed decisions and didn’t follow my gut. So let me see if I can help a few moms-to-be out there with things that I learned along the way, and hopefully, some moms will chime in with other suggestions and even post images of their own nurseries.
1. Bumpers, if you put them on, come off once your baby can pull up. Don’t plan everything around the bumpers. They can be a great inspiration, but make sure you love the sheets and the skirt.
2. Start with a rug, a curtain, a picture or a color as an inspiration. You may find it much less restricting than if you pick a very specific theme (I spent tireless hours looking for the “right” bunnies, and ended up not liking that at all once it was in the room.)
3. Be realistic about your budget. Pick something that you will spend more on, and things you will spend less on. Don’t feel like this is the only room you will ever decorate and go for broke. Chances are when your baby moves to a bed…and it happens faster than you will believe…you may be making room décor changes anyway.
4. Wall Decals are a great alternative to wall paper or stencils. Lots of companies are selling them now and they are very wall friendly—easy to apply and take down.
5. If you are unsure of the fabric, and you are shopping online, do not purchase unless you know you can return the item. Last thing you want is your baby to have stiff fabric on/near his/her skin.
6. Benjamin Moore makes a great no VOC paint. Not sure what VOC do or don’t do to you, but the extra cost is worth it if you are pregnant and around paint or have a new baby and will be near the paint. Warning, there is no “newly painted” smell to it, which is strange, and great.
7. Sample the paint colors on the walls. My daughter’s bedroom is Pink Cadillac, when on a paint chip looks to be faint pink…there is nothing faint about this pink, and I have been struggling to tone it down for months. Again, I rushed and just put the color up and man did I regret it. Same thing happened to a few other mom’s I know…one with a room too blue, another the wrong shade of orange.
8. Custom doesn’t always mean more expensive. There are a ton of companies that make baby bedding and they are comparable to some of the mid-range off-the-shelf products.
What did your nursery look like? Share pictures to inspire other moms, and share your own nursery decision struggles now!
I became obsessed in the same way when I found out I was having a girl. I wanted something that wasn't too girly, because I hoped to have a boy in the near future too. I bought yards of this fabulous damask fabric online and was planning to have a friend's mom make the bedding, but then I wasn't as in love with it weeks later. I ended up choosing a PB Kids bedding with birds and trees on it, and I am so happy I did.
ReplyDeleteThe next thing I did was make this fabulous floral wall sculpture thing out of tissue paper and Amy Butler card stock.
Then purchased wall decals from Target - I looked a ton on esty, but they were all so expensive. The Target ones were $15 for an entire wall full of owls and trees and other critters.
I too used the No VOC paint and painted while I was pregnant. I still felt like it smelled a little though.
I was one of those people that wanted it completely done before the baby was born, so I had the room finished about a month before Baby M came. And loved it so much. When we moved I recreated the same room at our new house and still love it!