With less than three weeks until our newest addition arrives, we thought we’d share our nursery reveal! I’ll admit it was quite a process figuring out how to turn this tiny room into a space that we’d be proud of bringing our baby girl home to. After all, being first-time parents, we were a bit meticulous in choosing what products we wanted and had such fun collecting them and making the room her own. Together, we must’ve spent over 100 hours looking into different brands, styles, color ideas, and more. Finally, we had a color palette, inspiration board and a layout mockup finalized.
Crib | Bedding | Mobile | Glider | Dresser | Changing Topper
We had a few things that were important to us in choosing products for her nursery. First, we wanted to make sure we stuck with one brand, which allowed the products to blend well. We noticed you could end up with different color variations if you mix brands, which would have driven my OCD up the walls. Secondly, and most important, is the brand’s safety rating. I’ve heard lots of horror stories of how many brands don’t keep up to date with safety guidelines, which result in recalls due to suffocation and fall risks. Many name brands have had this issue, and after doing a lot of research on child safety and safe sleep, we wanted to do everything possible to make sure all was up to “code,” especially for her crib.
Dresser | Changing Topper | Cube Organizers | Drawer Pulls
After looking at several brands for our main furniture pieces, we decided on Storkcraft. Storkcraft has been manufacturing products for over 75 years right here in the United States and offers a wide variety of affordable styles from cribs, gliders, dressers to changing tables. They also sell many of their products at major realtors, such as BuyBuyBaby, Target, Walmart, and Amazon, making it easy to add their items to your baby registry and offer a chance to see the floor model for yourself. More importantly, one of the brand’s highlights is that they hold a high safety rating, meaning all of their products are heavily tested, certified, and compliant with all current safety standards.
Crib | Bedding | Mobile | Canopy | Unicorn Blanket
Before making a large purchase, such as a nursery set, I wanted to make sure my vision from the images online matched in person. A quick trip to BuyBuyBaby to see the floor model of the set we were looking at proved my gut feeling right, and we quickly made the purchase. We decided on the Homestead collection for the crib in white, which offered a beautifully paneled backing and a storage drawer for sheets and blankets. The crib is also convertible, which was a massive plus for us, as it converts from a crib to a toddler bed to a full-size bed! Since the crib offered a long shelf life, we thought investing in a two-in-one mattress would make sense. We learned that Graco had recently released a dual-sided infant/toddler mattress with a removable, washable cover that nicely fit the bill.
Choosing the right color palette and theme can be critical in making the design of a room work. Since we were having a girl, we thought a peachy coral and white color theme with floral blends would go together nicely. I had my eye on the floral fields nursery bedding from Target’s Cloud Island brand, and with hints of coral, white, pink, and a dip of mint, we instantly fell in love. The only thing missing was this collection didn’t come with a mobile. But after doing some intense Target searching, we were able to find one that matched perfectly. Quite perfectly, I’d recommend them adding it to the floral fields collection! Remember how I said it is essential to stay within brands when it comes to colors? You can easily see how the mint, coral, and pink in the pom pom mobile blend nicely with the bedding collection. That’s because they’re both from the Cloud Island brand.
Glider | Dresser | Changing Topper | Drawer Pulls
Since we were tight on space, we didn’t want the crib to have a connecting changing table and decided on a two-in-one dresser/changing table. The Storkcraft Kenton collection offers a 6-drawer dresser compatible with a neat attachment that sits snug on the dresser to create a changing topper base. The top drawers of the Kenton dresser have curves that add a unique look to the design. Since the dresser is from the same brand as the crib, the dresser’s white matches the crib perfectly. I loved how deep the drawers are too, which made it easy to add cube organizers inside the drawers to keep the baby’s clothes neat and organized. To add some color and personalization to the dresser, we purchased a box of hand-painted drawer pulls, which added just the pop of color we were looking for!
Cube Organizers | Drawer Pulls
The final big-ticket item was a glider. I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t always think a glider was one of those necessary items when it came to nursery furniture. However, now that we have one, I wouldn’t go back. Not only are gliders multi-purpose, as they can be used in the nursery and as extra seating for guests, they also offer a quiet nook where mom, dad, and baby can read, sing, eat, and spend one-on-one time together. Especially in the first few months of life, the glider’s soothing motion simulates the womb, which can help calm a fussy baby. Studies show that laying a baby on the parent’s chest versus an electric rocking swing offers many lifelong bonding benefits between parent and child. Bonds that are essential to create in the first year of life.
Crib | Bedding | Mobile | Glider | Dresser | Changing Topper
A quick online search proved that there are many different styles and colors available for nursery gliders. However, we envisioned something that wasn’t too bulky and wanted to avoid light colors to eliminate easy staining. Since the nursery walls were grey, we thought a grey rocker would be a perfect color choice. Yet, our first choice, grey fabric with white wood, didn’t seem to complement nicely. Then we discovered the Tuscany glider by Storkcraft, which featured a grey microfiber fabric paired with a dark wood base. It offered the sleekness we were looking for, with a color variation that pulls the room together. This glider also comes with a matching ottoman, which will be heavenly in offering a comfy place to put up our feet during those sleepless nights with our newborn.
Glider | “I Love You More” Book
With the nursery finally complete, and the clothing and bedding washed, we are eager to meet the arrival of our baby girl. These last 37 weeks have gone from feeling like it would last forever to quickly catching up to us. We are thankful that we started our nursery planning well in advance, around week 14. This early planning allowed optimal time to get everything together and do proper research to figure out exactly what we needed and ensure we chose the best products. Being first-time parents will undoubtedly take a bit of experimenting to learn what products work best for our family and lifestyle. Yet, it offers me great comfort knowing that we are doing all we can to keep our daughter safe as we learn how to perfect this incredible journey called parenthood.