« Callin' Out, In On Transit | Home | Make Room for Baby, part 2 »
After about nine months, we're almost there. Our first baby will be here in a few days, so of course we've been frantically preparing for his arrival. There are a lot of things to get ready for a little person to come live with you, but as with many new parents, we've focused a lot on his room. We realized early on that this would be the first room in which we'd have the chance to completely design it from the ground (or rug) up how we want it.
We made a point to empty absolutely everything that wasn't for the baby out of the room, as we really wanted to make this his and not clutter with our stuff. We do enough of that in our other rooms. In the end, only the bookshelf remains in the room now from its previous use as Maura's study. We moved her desk, books, and files into the room I was using as my study and music room. It's a bit more crowded in there now, but we've done a pretty good job of getting rid of extra furniture and items that we really can live without. After a few months, it's completely comfortable and I think having a room just for my little son is absolutely worth it.
One of the first decisions we made was that we didn't want to spend ridiculous amounts of money on baby furniture that wouldn't be useful beyond his toddler years. We were very fortunate that we were able to start off with a crib from Maura's sister. Our niece, who is almost three years old now, just moved to a small bed so the timing for them getting rid of their crib was perfect. Its white paint fit perfectly with what we were thinking for the room, so we it turned out to be a good start to our baby furniture collection.
I spent a few weeks scouring baby furniture websites trying to find just the perfect dresser and/or changing table. We decided that we wanted to get a dresser with a changing top that could be easily used as just a dresser after he's done with the diapers. While some of the Italian pieces were quite enticing, we just didn't want to spend >$1k on a baby piece. I had spent a bit of time looking at the Ikea catalog, as well, but hadn't found anything that I really liked in their room layouts and pictures. Still, that didn't keep me from wanting to go to the store in Stoughton to check out what they might have. Fortunately, in the kids' section we saw a setup that we immediately realized would work perfectly for us. They had on display two small Aneboda chests side-by-side with a taller wardrobe beside it. At just about 30" wide, the two low dressers were the perfect size for a changing pad and at less than $200 for all three pieces we knew that we'd found what we wanted. At first we thought that the dressers might be too low and that I should build a changing top on which we could raise the pad. After a while (or after my other projects took all of my time), we realized that the height was probably good as it is and that we didn't need anything else to add to the furniture.
The last piece of furniture that we wanted, or had room for, was a rocking chair. We've heard from everywhere how a rocking chair is indispensable for new parents. To put the baby to sleep, just keep rocking and rocking and rocking... As I mentioned, I was very inspired to make this just the room that we wanted it to be and that meant that I couldn't settle for a big, ugly, oversized fiberboard glider that's in every baby store. The only problem was that I wasn't finding anything else that I liked enough that would be as comfortable as the big ugly glider, because damn they are comfy. After a couple weeks of searching I found this post on daddytypes.com and immediately fell in love with the Eames rocker. I knew I had to have one. But again I wasn't going to pay $550 at DWR for a new one, so it was off to eBay. I discovered there that they made them with fabric cushioned covers and zeroed in on one that I HAD to have. I was sure that this was the one, but I was going to have to follow the last few minutes of bidding on it on my phone in a locker room before my volleyball game. I watched the price rise in the final few minutes, but I thought that it would still be mine, but with about 15 seconds left I was outbid and it was finally pushed out of my price range.
I spent the next two weeks bidding on any cushioned Eames rockers with no luck. In the end, it couldn't have worked out better that I lost those auctions as I found a blue polypropylene (no cushion) one on Craigslist. Maura and I went to have a look at it and were very pleasantly surprised at what we found. We brought along a pillow that matched our color scheme in the room and as we walked in the front door of the sellers' house in the South End, they said, "The chair will match that; we have the same pattern in our kid's room." We spent about 20 minutes chatting with them before taking the chair home and on the way out Maura said, "I think we just met our nursery design doppelgangers!" Without having sat in one before trying it at their place, we both fell in love with its looks and it's oh so comfortable to sit in. Since it's uncushioned, I thought that we could use a pillow or blanket on the back, but I think that these chairs are best without anything else there. We're happy that now we have a chair that will hopefully serve us well for rocking, nursing, and sitting up in the boy's room, as well as be something that we'll be happy to have for years afterwards.
We have been looking for a good rug to go in the room but I had thought that we probably wouldn't find one before the baby is born. Earlier this week we had started to focus on some Flor designs in red and were just about ready to order some samples that our nursery doppelgangers had recommended. However, yesterday in Crate and Barrel I found a great deal on a soft red ribbed wool rug, so we're going to try that in the room. Unfortunately, we won't be able to get it for a few days, so we'll have to add that to the room after the baby has settled in.
We're both incredibly happy with how the room has turned out. I'm very happy just to sit in there and enjoy the newness and be so happy that this is something we designed ourselves. I plan to follow up, hopefully tomorrow, with another post about the rest of our design choices in the room - paint, bedding, wall decorations, and of course, the subwoofer.
Jerad posted this in Baby | Comments (6)
We're expecting our first in early May. This post looks really helpful -- we're starting to hit the OMG wewontbeready phase. So thanks!
Posted by: jay clicky clicky at December 18, 2008 9:46 AM
I'm glad that this was helpful! I know I spent weeks looking at things like this when I was starting to think about what we wanted. Just remember that there's always more that you could do and youwillbeready when it actually happens! Stay tuned for part two, which I hope to have written before the little one arrives.
Posted by: Jerad at December 18, 2008 10:19 AM
the funny thing is, you think you are prepared right now...when you see the bebe, your jaw will be on the floor and you will loose any of the confidence that you had. you'll recover though after you decide that you need to sleep for a couple hours (3 max) one week after the baby is born.
I recommend a nice pad for the rocker...you'll be spending a LONG TIME there. Comfort is key.
Also, make sure that your floor plan in the room is conducive to pacing back and forth. I've noticed that walking Rowen around works far better at putting her to sleep and rocking keeps her asleep. Newborns/preemies like to feel the motions they felt in the womb. I read research on it...they are happier babies.
you also have the martha stewart doppleganger thing down in nursery prep!!!!
peace.
Posted by: greg at December 18, 2008 10:28 PM
Great job you two! Looks cozy yet modern and peaceful.
Posted by: Rebecca at December 19, 2008 4:20 PM
Hypotheek informatie, hypotheek aanvragen of afsluiten? Hypotheekrentes bekijken. Hypotheek aanbieders vergelijken, hypotheek vormen, bijkomende kosten,
Posted by: hypotheek at August 8, 2010 8:06 PM
Hypotheken? Heel veel hypotheek informatie: verschillende hypotheekvormen, hypotheekrentes, nationale hypotheek garantie, hoe een hypotheek te vergelijken.
Posted by: hypotheek at August 9, 2010 1:43 AM
www.flickr.com
|
