Last week on our first edition of ‘planning your nursery’ we started with choosing a space and deciding on the general themes/feel of your nursery. This week we continue the project with planning the room.

Photo of Vivi Charles’ nursery from the Lay Baby Lay blog.

In planning out your space, there are a few things to look at initially:

1. Consider the size of your space.

A smaller space will require you to stick with the necessities and be a little more creative with space & storage. A larger room gives you more flexibility however without the right furniture and placement it can feel disproportionate. If the room is very large, you may want to consider designating part of the room for building a play space as baby gets older.

2. Decide what furniture you need/want in the room.

The basics are fairly obvious: crib, dresser/changing table, chair (many prefer a rocker or glider). Does the room have adequate closet space? If not, a wardrobe or other storage solution may be necessary. This is also the perfect time to consider if there are pieces you already own that you want to be included in the room.

3. Take measurements of the room and decide which pieces you want/need to invest more in.

We’ve all had at least one experience whether with ourselves or a friend/relative where the brand new piece of furniture purchased just refuses to fit into the room it was selected for. Make sure this doesn’t happen in your nursery by taking careful measurements before you head out. It may help to sketch out a simple floorplan of the room with measurements noted.

Next, figure out what pieces in the room are worth investing more of your budget. For example, if you choose to use a dresser as your changer as well, this is a great place to invest a little more as it is a piece that can grow with baby. The crib however has a much more limited lifespan unless you plan to get one that transitions to a toddler bed or full bed.

Next Step: we’ll discuss putting together a nursery budget in next week’s edition of planning your nursery.

If you missed our 1st edition of planning your nursery, view it here.

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Photo from a nursery featured over at the Cheap & Chic Nursery Blog.

One of the most exciting, but also intimidating parts of preparing for baby’s arrival is planning the nursery. It isn’t just that it can take a lot of work, but it is a very emotional process. As if your hormones weren’t already going crazy, you just want it to be perfect; a sweet little sanctuary for your little one – peaceful, functional, and beautiful.

Over the next few weeks we’re going to talk a little bit about the steps in preparing the nursery in the hopes that the process will go as smoothly as possible.

First steps: Choosing a Space and Deciding on General Style

First and foremost, you need to decide on the space you’ll be using for the nursery. This sounds like a pretty simple step and for those of us living somewhere with only one room as an option, consider yourself done!

If you do have several rooms or spaces to choose from consider a few things before deciding:

1. How close is the potential nursery to the master? You’ll want it convenient for late night feedings etc.

2. Is there a bathroom nearby? It’s nice to have easy access to the tub and running water if needed!

3. What is the exposure of windows in the room? If it’s west-facing (especially in a warmer climate or warmer part of the year) the room could get pretty warm in the afternoons.

So now you’ve decided on the space – congratulations! Time to move on to the next phase of the project: deciding on the general feel/themes and colors for the room. Before starting on any design project there are a few questions that I ask:

1. Consider your family lifestyle as well as the style of the rest of your home. Most likely you’ll want baby’s room to be cohesive with the general feel of the home.

2. When you imagine baby’s nursery, what kind of feeling do you want it to evoke? What do you want the general mood to be? (For example: calm and serene or bright and cheerful? Elegant or modern? A combination of any of these?)

3. Think about colors you want to use in the room. This can be anything from a complete color palette or simply a main or accent color that is a must-have. Be creative, don’t feel like you have to stick with traditional colors.

Recap: Now you have decided on the nursery space and have come up with ideas for how you want the room to feel as well as possible colors to use.

One of the most important things from here on out is to stay flexible. You may think you definitely want yellow to be a main color in the room and then fall in love with bedding that would not go in a yellow room at all. That’s okay, be willing to change your mind if need be – and remember, you may be able to pull that bedding you love into a yellow room with the right accent pieces. Stay open minded and stick to what you know you want!

Next week’s Planning Your Nursery: planning the room.

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