Hey Friends!  If you’ve been following along over on Instagram or on my last blog post, you know we announced that we are expecting number 3 in September!!! We are so excited to add another member to our family and to meet this new little one.  We don’t know the gender of the baby yet but will be finding out in the next couple weeks!  The last time we had a baby in our home, was our daughter Autumn 7 (almost 8) years ago.  Needless to say the baby stuff has been handed down, passed on, donated or tossed!  I’m realizing that SOOO much has changed since I last looked into baby gear.  I can’t even believe all the stylish and convenient options there are now.  From the crib designs, to bassinets and bedding.  

I think what it comes down is that yes, babies do require lots of stuff but not as much as you think.  My first baby registry I registered for everything under the sun pertaining to baby gear.  I wanted to be prepared and ready!  This time around I feel more relaxed, I know what’s coming.  I don’t need to go out and get all the stuff all at once.  I plan to keep it as simple and minimal as possible.   Of course we plan to get the essentials; car seat, stroller, crib/bassinet, swaddles, bottles, bibs, burp clothes, and diapers/wipes, etc…  I’m sure there will be a bit more than that.  But I really do want to try simplify the amount of stuff we have in our home and only purchase what we really need, when we need it. 

Once we found out the news of a new baby on the way, the first thing I said to Ben was “where are we going to put this baby?!”  Our home is a three bedroom cape style home.  If the older two were two boys or two girls it would be a little easier to move them into a shared room, that isn’t the case.  We do have a bonus room off our master that we have converted into a home office/walk in closet or as I have dubbed it our “cloffice” read more about our “cloffice” here.   Our office/closet is over our garage, it’s not the most climate controlled room in the house because it is over an older garage with barn doors.  It can get very cold in the winter, not ideal for a new baby.   Regardless of the lack of official nursery at the moment, I still have nursery design on the brain big time. 

We do plan to keep baby in our bedroom for at least the first 5-6 months.  Depending on what we decided to do with our home and the configuration of space in the future.  Potentially adding on or expanding our garage/cloffice into our master which would mean our room would get a hallway and then turn into baby #3’s room.  We are far off from that so baby #3 may be in our room for longer.  My goal as I start to plan out how to make our bedroom also function as a mini nursery, is to make it just as sweet and pretty as a nursery yet also flow into our bedroom without too much interruption to our space.

Nursery Nook Inspiration: 

Here are some nursery nook photos I found via Pinterest that inspired me to make the most out of the small space.  A space can be small and multifunctional and still be beautiful!  Have you heard of a Nursery Nook?  It’s a space in the parent’s bedroom dedicated to baby.  I know this is not a new concept but I never knew it had an actual name!  I think the name makes it more it’s own space- Nursery Nook.  We had our first two kids in our rooms as infants for sleep only in a bassinet.  All their changing supplies etc., was in their nursery.   The baby stuff never really interfered in our bedroom.  This time around ALLLLLL the things will be in our room, so hence the minimal approach.   I really love how the spaces below seem to make such great use of small space nursery design. 

(via Pinterest)

(via Tinted-green.com)

(via apartmenttherapy.com)

Our Master Bedroom Pre-Nursery Nook:

We do have a nook in between two dormers that I plan to add a changing table/dresser inside which won’t interfere with any of our square footage space.  The corner of our bedroom with my standing mirror/jewelry storage will be moved and the crib/bassinet will go there.  In addition, maybe a mobile and a piece of art.  Above the changing area on those side walls I’ll probably add a small shelf and a piece of art for baby to look at during changes.  Once we find out the gender I know I’ll want to start purchasing some clothes, blankets and other essential items.  I’ll also go through our kids baby clothes and pick and choose items to bring out.  So that is why I decided it’s time to get planning on some items for our Nursery Nook.  Here is how it looks now:

 

Nursery Nook Inspiration Board:

Mobile/ Shelf/ Dresser/ Changing Cover/ Diaper Caddy/ Crib/ Crib Storage Basket/  Alphabet Art Print/ Plant Stand

My inspiration for this really just came from my goal to create a simple, clean and very neutral design (hence the white).  Since we aren’t sure of the gender I also wanted to keep it neutral for now.   So accent colors could slightly change.  This nursery nook needs to flow into our bedroom so using crisp white and gray will help do that.  I didn’t want to add in too many more brown pieces since our bedside tables are wood tones. 

I love how the crib starts small and can expand as baby grows.  I think the round shape also lends itself better to small spaces.  These over crib storage baskets will be so helpful in holding blankets, pacifier, swaddles and all those little things we need close by.   I decided to not splurge on the dresser, I was looking some in the $700=$1000 price range and settled on this one.  Super affordable.  It’s more of a temporary piece for now while the baby is little and I need something small to fit in this narrow area.   We really don’t need anything fancy for changing diapers and storing little clothes.  So I think this will be fine.  The reviews look pretty good.   

So what do you think of the Nursery Nook concept?  I love that this little one will have a sweet spot not only in our hearts but in our bedroom.  We are happy to share it (for a little while anyway)!  I hope you take away from this post that you don’t need a huge house our a TON of space/bedrooms to make a room beautiful.  I’m excited to share how this all comes together over the next few months!

So tell me if you are a parent or soon to be parent what is your top baby essential?!  

Happy Decorating! 

Jordan

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