Nurseries – affordable options for adding personality

June 4th, 2010

What’s a bigger business for convincing people to spend lots of money on the latest MUST HAVE:  weddings or babies?  Maybe once you’ve done the big fabulous wedding with the fancy favors, dessert bar, and photo booth, it’s seems logical to invest in the fancy European stroller system, the designer crib set, and all the thousands of items babies seem to require.     

Really, I’m not jaded or bitter, I just see the gap between the big fancy versions and the basics of what’s necessary in each situation:  a justice of the peace at the court house and a witness or two will legalize a marriage, and a crib and a diaper changing mat are probably the barest of essentials for a baby.  But obviously the extremes aren’t for everyone, so there are always options in the middle.     

So how can you transform a space into a functional and inviting nursery with spending a small fortune?  After all, there’s a college fund to get started on ASAP.    

Here are some fun solutions I’ve run across recently.    

 Starting point: the basic white crib that’s sturdy enough that you aren’t going to go mad trying to lift the front up and down time after time.    

 Then you need some storage and a surface to change diapers on.  Though I know moms who have never used a changing table for any of their kids, prefering to just use a mat on the floor. This certainly gives you flexibility.    

For those who prefer a super clean modern style, the Malm dresser from IKEA is a great value. For those who prefer a little more detail without being ornate, the Koppang dresser is another great option. 

Put a changing tray top on top of either dresser now, and when the kid(s) become potty trained (yippee!) you can remove it and use the dresser for years to come. 

Here’s an example of a changing tray that you can set on top of the dresser.  The dresser in this photo is wider and offers a mix of open and closed storage, which I prefer to all open storage. Easy to grab a diaper or creams from a basket while changing the baby, but you don’t always want to see all the items that need to be stored.  

Now let’s have some fun and inject color, pattern and personality!     

Wall decals are a great option because they are easily removable as kids grow up and start developing their own interests that they’ll want to express in their room.  But until then, the parents get to decorate!    

 Some of my favorite artists are doing special collections for wall decal companies. Amy Ruppel does amazing encaustic art pieces (I have a print of one of her pieces in my bathroom art gallery), and I think it’s great that she’s branching out into other medium as well, making it very affordable to get a bit of her art.    

Or, if you are less into the nature theme, there are hundreds of other options, ranging from city skylines to graphic patterns.

I’m a big fan of bubbles, dots, circles, whatever you want to call them.

Here are a couple nice examples.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 4th, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Design & Home Living Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.