Setting up a nursery can be a fun, challenging, and exciting task. However, the process can also be quite costly. When our first daughter was born, I had envisioned the way that I wanted her nursery to look, from her baby crib to the color of burp cloths neatly stacked on her changing table. I wanted everything to be color coordinated, and the styling of the furniture had to be just perfect.
Then a little something called “budget” crept up to say hello.
We were fortunate to have friends in the interior decorating business and we had the opportunity choose from a number of convertible cribs, many of which we loved. After our furniture was picked out and on order, we moved on to the bedding sets, as this is a big decision, and often takes the lead as the inspiration for the room. I really liked the $1200 bedding set I found at a local boutique (gasp!), but my budget reminded me that I needed to cut the cost by, oh about… 90%! It was tough to do, and what we ended up with was not what I would consider to be love at first sight.
After all of that agony, hard work, and budget minding, our baby girl arrived and wouldn’t you know it – that nursery could have been splattered with paint, and had magenta and lime green colored bedding and it wouldn’t have mattered. All that really mattered was that we had this beautiful, amazing, healthy baby girl and we had the equipment to take care of her.
I have to admit though, if I set up a nursery again, I think I would do a much better job. When we began our journey into parenthood, we had zero skills in the deal-finding department and after nearly 7 years of practice, we now consider ourselves experts! I don’t know that I would buy the $1200 bedding set, in fact I know I wouldn’t. However, I think I could put together a pretty rockin’, modern nursery that would be a head turner and do it on a slim budget!
How do you shop for nursery and baby items? Do you spend the extra cash and go for what you love – OR – do you stay within your budget and compromise on baby cribs, bedding and decor?
Umm….we bought everything second hand the year prior to getting pregnant. The items we wanted new we budgeted for , did our research and got the best deals, Got a convertible crib for $160 and had everyone pool at the shower for a convertible car seat. I didn’t even have an extra room, so we painted ours and made due. I’ll have much more fun the second time around, I’m sure!
Love this set! We have the same Dwell design backpack for Charlie.