Here's the deal- our house is a 1914 Craftsman and is all of 1271 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath. Our taste is eclectic- modern meets turn of the century antiques and crazy artwork and brightly colored walls. Our nursery *hopefully* will keep with that theme, hence the original affinity for the bright blue smallish Ikea crib. All of the furniture in the nursery is going to have to be on the smallish side, otherwise the room is going to look like a storage closet that happens to house a baby. All those 4 in 1 cribs- way to big, particularly when Janet and I have fallen in love with this rocker/glider thing at Crate & Barrel.
We're still thinking that an antique dresser will be used for the changing table, but now we're thinking that the one currently in the room is too bulky. We may be able to switch dressers out between our guest rooms...
Back to the crib. The other crib we all liked at Buy Buy Baby was $200 more than the Ikea Crib. Like the Ikea crib, it converts to a toddler bed and mini daybed. I think we all liked it best because it has some Arts & Crafts period details.
After looking at cribs we looked at strollers. Those are another thing that sends my head spinning. The idea of being one of *those* moms at the mall- you all know the one I'm talking about- the one with the stroller that takes up 1/2 of the walking space and looks like they had to take the house with them just to go out for an hour- makes me gag a little.
So, for a later post, my thoughts on strollers and the racket that generally is Baby Crap.
6 comments:
We also have a craftsman home built in 1910...and the baby crap quickly overtakes the whole house. And our theme, while a noble start, quickly became obsolete in the "stuff".
D- given that you know exactly where I'm coming from, what kind of furniture did you all end up with? Any tips or tricks for space management?
Honestly, all I can say is to declutter now, and to not hold on to stuff that you don't need, regardless of how cute it is. Nothing can kill the joy of hanging out with your new family like having to step over stuff to get to each other. We ended up with a simple white crib, some shabby chic furniture from tar.get, as our daughter was 15 months when adopted. No themes, as they would have to be changed in a few months. And the stackable fabric baskets in wooden shelves? Priceless. But don't hold on to stuff that you don't actively use.
oh, and we passed on the changing table. Reason? Our bedroom is downstairs, the two girls were upstairs, we spent most of our time downstairs, and there was no way in hell we were walking upstairs everytime a diaper change was needed, thus, it took up space that we didn't really have. For us, anyway, we found that although it looked cute, we really could use the money and space in other ways. Our first girl was 8 months when we adopted her, and we didn't use one for her either.
Thanks for the feedback!
We are indeed going through a major purge- however, I think that you have a point, our version of a major purge is probably not enough.
RE: changing table. I'm of generally the same opinion. While we don't have an upstairs issue, I do know that babies just get changed in the most convenient place. The only reason why we will probably have some version of one is that we have two antique dressers in the house that are about the right high and could easily have a changing page bolted into the back.
I'm in awe- you adopted two girls- pretty amazing. I *think* Janet and I have an agreement that if we survive a year of number 1, we will sign up for Texas' foster to adopt system.
and i forgot...ALWAYS have a wiper warmer. They are not very expensive new, but you can get them in consignment stores for about $7, just make sure that you get the ones with the liners so the wipes don't scorch. Nothing worse than meeting a warm urine covered bottom with a cold wipe first thing in the morning!!
ps my partner is getting worried now that i want another baby!
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