A little OT - setting up nurseries (argh)

[Wheetsin 714]

So we're trying to start working on putting a nursery together. We have a painter coming next week to paint all interior areas so I was hoping to know what furniture we were getting and let that influence my color decision for the nursery. I am having the hardest time. We had a whole suit of furniture picked out, but trying to get it is a nightmare and likely not going to happen. From very early on this is the suite we liked and had assumed we'd go with. Now it's last minute and we're trying to find something else.

We find another wood we like and think will work well for a child (I'm not the type who would put black furniture in a child's room, nor super soft pine), but can only find a crib, no dressers or anything. So then we find dressers we like, but there's no crib in the same finish. So then we find a line that offers everything, but we hate the wood choices. So then we find dressers in a finish we adore, but can't stand the style of the (only) crib. And I don't like mismatchy in kids' rooms, I like it all to be matching, so white this, wood that, painted that isn't going to work. And I have a strong aversion to white furniture. Why the heck is this so hard? I've had bedding since week 12. That was easy. We already have separate stroller, carrier, and bases. That was easy. This is impossible!

Right now we're at the "we could get this from this line, and these from this line, and hope the finish matches..." stage. Not to mention we'd be buying blind since, of course, none of the stores carry what we're looking at in the actual store, only online.

how the heck did you guys do it?

[juno610 1]

I had my heart set on a crib/dresser/armoir set I saw, but DH thought $1200 was too much. I thought it was a fantastic deal considering it was solid wood, dove-tailed drawers, really good quality. We'd never have to buy our kid furniture again because it definitely did not look baby-ish and the crib converts.

Well, he was not to be convinced, so our new plan is a set from Ikea. Crib, changing table with cabinet underneat, and armoir for a mere $500. I've heard good things about their crib quality, so I'm hoping I'm not turned off by the rest of the stuff when we finally get around to checking it out.

Oh yeah, and we hate white furniture too! :tongue2:

[PhotoEgor 0]

have you tried unfinished furniture? That's what DW and I did. We found used(but in good condition) dresser, rocker, and changing table. The only new furniture was the crib. $ was tight and I painted it all myself. Simple, but it worked well for the first 2 kids. Later, after a couple of moves and even tighter times we 'made do' with all used stuff for twins. Go for all you can.

[Wheetsin 714]

IKEA was our original plan all along. I plain like it, and I like the variety of pieces you can get. That was actually the "whole suite" I referred to. Then I realized how impossible it would be to get ahold of it. We're about 7 hours' drive from the nearest store, they won't hold items they're strictly first-come-first-served. Shipping on $700 of funiture is over $1800. Etc.

I bought a set Friday. Took it back yesterday. Once you put the drawers in the combo, you had to fight to get them open.

Unfinished furniture was actually our most recent venture, out of desperation, yesterday afternoon. About $450 for a crib I can't "check out" until I've already paid a non-refundable 30% deposit because they don't stock cribs in the store. I've submitted a list of questions for them to get answered and hope to have answers today or tomorrow $450 for a combo I can check out and that is ok, not super. Need I mention both are pine so if you look at it too hard, it will be dented. Plus 60% of total order if I want them to finish it, the stress of messing it up if I don't.

A hammock and a couple of Rubbermaids is looking really good about now.

[losingjusme 12]

i know this may not be ideal, but what about a temp crib/bassinette (sp?) to put in your room until you find something idea. i know you arent due for a little bit, but maybe the stress of finding the perfect thing is what's preventing you from finding something?

when we brought DD back from China, i put a portable crib (i think from babies r us) and it was perfect for us. small enough to put next to our bed and when we didnt need it anymore, we folded it up and threw it under our bed ... just in case we need it again.

i dunno ... im rambling... im stuck in the toronto airport with a really cranky child. yay.

[Wheetsin 714]

We went to USA baby tonight and bought a crib and combo. Hubby likes it more than I do, but I keep telling myself - "it's only for 3 years, and I won't care if it gets pooed on..." We shall see. Crib is downstairs in a box, combo we'll pick up tomorrow. We do have a bassinette - several good friends have had babies in the last two years so I'm lucky - we can borrow many, many things that get outgrown quickly (basinette, baby bjorn, etc.) quickly. Look at me, sounding all cheap...

[Wheetsin 714]

Oh I should add, because I sound psycho insisting on having furniture now when I'm only 20 weeks...

I'm being so "right now" about it (which really isn't right now, I've been looking daily for nearly 2 mos) is because we have a painter coming next week to paint our interior, including the nursery. My chosen nursery color would be very different if we ended up with a natural set vs. a white set or espresso or cherry or glazed or... And as a matter of principle, I refused to have him paint some color, only to have to repaint it to match whatever furniture we ended up getting in two or three months. Our solution = have furniture selected in time to get the color right the first time.

[Jachut 487]

Ack, that would send me insane too, I'm fussy like that.

We had no choice but to mismatch a bit since DH's father restores antique furniture, and we have some gorgeous pieces, but there aint no such thing as an entire nursery suite!

So we had a chest of drawers, lovely, about 5ft tall, huge drawers. Its rosewood. So we simply went for dark stained Vic Ash furniture (harder than pine) - all we had to get was a cot and a bookshelf. Our entire house is like that, our dining table and sideboard antiques but one rosewood, the other walnut, dining chairs fully upholstered (so as not to clash timbers too much), the jacobean loungesuite is cedar, lol. All on nice looking merbau timber floors. Its everything goes and in fact sometimes you can be too matched.

It works if the tone is right. When we wanted to put the floors down, DH kept veering towards yellow toned timbers and simply would not agree with me that they would not match our red toned furniture, or our pinky coloured kitchen.

[Daisalana 33]

Wow you're opening up a world I didn't even think about.... baby furniture?! You gotta furnish them?! :biggrin:

[Wheetsin 714]

Fairy - I take back whatever I said was crazy. This weekend we tried to register. THAT'S crazy.

DH's family lives about 6k miles away. They've been bugging us to register early so they could see online what we want, and then purchase local equivalents. To ship something like - a shoebox in a sane amount of time (within 12 days or so) might cost $30 - $80, depending on the weight. But to ship the same thing in a way that might take 3 - 4 months would cost - $15. So they wanted us registered early, to accomodate the increased shipping (we have told them we do not want gifts, but if they insist on sending something, you'd think money - as sucky of a gift as it can be - would be the best considering the whole convenience and cost factor).

Holy crap, registering is like - hard. We were there over 2 hours, and managed 2 items. Then when I got home I deleted them off anyway. 80 billion kinds of bottles. Get BPA free. Get vented. Get the kind with the drop-ins. Don't get glass. Get only 8oz bottles. Get 8 oz and 4 oz. Get 1 of each kind until you find what works.

So I gave up on bottles and went to look at bouncers and swings - how hard could that be? Forward and backward. Forward, backward and side to side. "Natural rocking". With MP3 player, without. With protective netting, without. Plastic or fabric. Batter, crank, or plugin. With a toy bar or without. *sigh*

[losingjusme 12]

OMG Wheetsin, you are stressing ME out and i have about 33 more weeks to go!! :smile2:

[Daisalana 33]

Fairy - I take back whatever I said was crazy. This weekend we tried to register. THAT'S crazy.

DH's family lives about 6k miles away. They've been bugging us to register early so they could see online what we want, and then purchase local equivalents. To ship something like - a shoebox in a sane amount of time (within 12 days or so) might cost $30 - $80, depending on the weight. But to ship the same thing in a way that might take 3 - 4 months would cost - $15. So they wanted us registered early, to accomodate the increased shipping (we have told them we do not want gifts, but if they insist on sending something, you'd think money - as sucky of a gift as it can be - would be the best considering the whole convenience and cost factor).

Holy crap, registering is like - hard. We were there over 2 hours, and managed 2 items. Then when I got home I deleted them off anyway. 80 billion kinds of bottles. Get BPA free. Get vented. Get the kind with the drop-ins. Don't get glass. Get only 8oz bottles. Get 8 oz and 4 oz. Get 1 of each kind until you find what works.

So I gave up on bottles and went to look at bouncers and swings - how hard could that be? Forward and backward. Forward, backward and side to side. "Natural rocking". With MP3 player, without. With protective netting, without. Plastic or fabric. Batter, crank, or plugin. With a toy bar or without. *sigh*

My head esploded. :smile2:

[juno610 1]

Wheetsin -- get this book: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Bargains-7th-furniture-maternity/dp/1889392251/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213870690&sr=8-1]Baby Bargains[/ame]

It was a lifesaver for registering. I used it as a guide whenever I wasn't sure which out of the 100 variations of something to pick!