Excited about nursery. What do you think?

[RosieL]

I am really excited to re-do what is current our office and a spare bedroom downstairs into the baby's room and the new office. We have lived in this house for three years and have re-done  a couple rooms, but not nearly as many as are necessary. It's an old house with lots of small rooms. Anyway, the baby's room will be 99sqft, so not a lot to work with. I'm okay with that, as it doesn't need to be a huge space. No idea if all this will fit, however. 

It's got one window opposing the door. next to the door is a closet. Oak wood floor (light colored). 

The stripes are an area rug, polka dots and green would be crib sheet and skirt. The skip hop owl because I love him. :) 

What do you think? Our goals are:

- Bright

- Colorful

- Gender-neutral 

- Will grow with baby to some extent

No idea on paint colors yet. I'm just kind of collecting ideas at this point. The stuff on the right is ikea, left from amazon. Crib free, everything else is wishful thinking, though my mom hinted at wanting to help furnish the room. I'll be scouring craigslist. :)

[AiryFairy]

I loooooove it! Bright, fun and ageless :0)

[wendybird]

I also love it, especially the owl!

[adoremybabe]

Great choices! I've have been eyeing up that dresser from IKEA! I'd have it if we didn't live so far away.

[Thursday Girl]

very cute, with the potential to change just a few things to make the room totally grow with baby.

[vivica2]

LOOOOVe that dresser! so cute!

[RosieL]

Thanks everyone. I was worried it was too much color overload, but I guess not? With toned-down walls it shouldn't be too much. 

The dresser is ikea. A smaller version comes in a bright, primary red which I love as well. Plenty deep to be a great changing surface if you want a distinct changing area. 

Anyone else designing a room? If we had already re-done this room I probably wouldn't be doing much to it to change for baby. But since it's got 70s wallpaper and gross carpet (with finished hardwood underneath) and old, broken blinds, this is a GREAT excuse to get it updated and refreshed. :) I'm tickled!!!

[Thursday Girl]

that IS a great reason to redo it!

we aren't doing anything. When our first was born we did the room, and now the 2 older ones are in the room and the baby (our 2 1/2 year old) is transitioning in. IF we get the 3rd room in living condition before baby arrives we will make a separate playroom and all the kids will share a sleeping room, you know  once this one is 2-3 years old.

[RosieL]

So, we have a ridiculous number of bedrooms. 5 (although two are very small). We are choosing one of the very small ones for the nursery. And one day when another baby comes along, I expect we will move the toddler to another room, and the baby would be in the small room. But THEN if/when LOT3 or LO4 come along, I fully plan on having them room together, and keeping my guest bedroom and office space. I mentioned this to a friend and she thought I was NUTS! 

So, a question to you mamas of many (or more than your # of rooms) - if you have the space to give each child a room, but you'd have to give up other nice living space, would you prefer to let the kids have a room each? My brother and I grew up sharing a room until I was at least 12, and I don't remember any issues. 

[KateyW]

Yay! That looks so similar to the colors scheme we are leaning toward.  I think we're just going with a creamy off-white wall then some nice bold, yet somewhat muted colors.  Perfectly gender and age neutral :)  I absolutely love those curtains.  I'm thinking of making my own, but if I make it to an Ikea, I might have to check those out!

[Thursday Girl]

Rosie- When we get the third room fixed (we only have 2 rooms available now) I plan on keeping them all in a room together and using the other room as a play room. Probably until my oldest turns about 13. Hubs wants to put a futon or pull out couch in the playroom for guests, I'm not sure it will fit. I don't think it's crazy to keep them together.

[zuzusplace]

I know in Michigan there is actually a law that children of differing genders need to have their own rooms. I think by the time they hit 8 or 9 my kids didn't really feel comfortable sharing a room with the opposite sex anyway (except for right after the fire, when they spent a few months insisting that they all get to be together). So if I had to give up a nice living space for them to make 2 kids bedrooms, one boy and one girl, I probably would. To do it so that each individual child had their own room I wouldn't, at least not until they were teens and I felt they needed more personal space.

[Thursday Girl]

I'd be pissed if some law tried to tell me how my family should sleep. I know my friend who has foster kids has rules regarding room arrangements, but that's one thing and acceptable. Now if I had older different sex kids who were uncomfortable with the situation b/c of the gender issue I would make separate rooms, but not just because they were different genders.

[zuzusplace]

Yeah, it's apparently part of the child welfare law, and I guess to be technical, they can share a room until they are 5, after that they need to be separated.

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by zuzusplace 

Yeah, it's apparently part of the child welfare law, and I guess to be technical, they can share a room until they are 5, after that they need to be separated.

That regulation applies only to foster care situations.  Foster children may not share a room with an opposite gender child once they turn 6.  Biological children in the home may continue to share as long as the family desires. 

[zuzusplace]

Oh, I was told quite the opposite by a person I tried to rent a house from a few years back, and had a child protective services worker confirm it. They said that it showed inadequate space for the family in the home and that it meant the children weren't being cared for properly!!!  If that's not accurate it would be nice to know.

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by zuzusplace 

Oh, I was told quite the opposite by a person I tried to rent a house from a few years back, and had a child protective services worker confirm it. They said that it showed inadequate space for the family in the home and that it meant the children weren't being cared for properly!!!  If that's not accurate it would be nice to know.

Weird as I also used to be a CPS worker.  Maybe it varies by state, but I would be really surprised... Poverty and lack of space in a home is never a reason to say kids are not being cared for properly. 

[Blueone]

Wow, I had no idea there was a law on different genders sharing a room.  I shared a room with my brother till I was in 1st grade I think.  Not sure.  I had no issues with it and it was fun to make up stories with him. 

Anyways, I love the nursery decorations!  So colorful!  We only have one other bedroom and it's my sons so we won't get to do a nursery (his room is small).  The baby will be in our room sleeping with me.  I never got to do a nursery for our son either because I was staying with family while my hubby was at a month long training after he finished a long basic training.  Then we ended up co-sleeping anyways so it turned out to not be all that necessary. 

[prettyisa]

I love it! Mostly because ours is starting to look very similar. We’ve got a teeny tiny nursery (6x7’) with a window, closet, and main door on three walls. We painted the walls a bright apple green color and the curtains and other decorations are all the same green, bright blue, white, and orange, mostly in stripes. DP and I both love green, and I think that blue is a good color for boys or girls, so I’m hoping it all looks good even if it leans a little towards the ‘boy’ end of the spectrum for now. I got one of those big cube bookshelves from Ikea with little fabric cubes that I figure will work as a dresser, toy chest, bookshelf, and some storage for adult things (extra wipes, etc) for quite a while. We got a mini-crib this weekend, and are planning to repurpose an old sewing machine table into the changing area. We just bit the bullet and decided to get rid of one living room couch and replace with with a glider and a recliner because there’s no way a chair is going to fit in the nursery, too, and we’d rather have there be SOME room for playing, but I think we’re getting a glider very similar to the one you’ve got on there. I’d love to see more nursery pics or ideas! Especially advice from those of you who already have kids on how to keep things (relatively) organized!

[RosieL]

prettyisa you sound like you've got most if it all worked out already! The glider I have on that collage is not unavailable, can't find it anywhere on the 'net, unfortunately. Which puts me back to almost square 1. I do LOVE the pottery barn chair, but I don't see forking out $1000 for a glider. Maybe I can find one on craigslist somewhere. I tend to hang over and sit in my armchairs in various ways, so I would love to be able to do this with a glider too. I LOVE rocking chairs but hate that I can't hang my legs comfortable over the arms. If IKEA would just make one of the Ektorm armchairs into a glider my world would be complete. (I've wanted a rocker/glider just for me anyway, for reading, for a while.)