Nursery Mania

In preparation for my first child, I was super pumped to decorate the nursery.  We had a four bedroom house, and only the master and one other were in use - and that one (the office) could be moved, so really, I had the choice of thee rooms.  I chose the biggest, brightest one at the front of the house.  It had three windows and I had visions on my infant and I, smiling and playing in all of the beautiful, natural light that filled the room.

Enter reality.  I've written at length about my son's sleeping troubles, and that light turned out to be my mortal enemy.  The windows that had previously been treated with just nice, clean, California shutters had to be covered over with super ugly, rolldown black-out shades :(  Another mommi friend had a gorgeous palladian window in her sons's room, and adorable, custom-made curtains for the lower part...but she ended up hanging a comforter over the curtain bar to block out more light, and stuffing the palladian semi-circle with pillows to obscure that.  Another just taped up garbage bags on the window in her baby's room to get the light-blocking job done in the meantime, before she could find a better solution.

Maybe you have nice, easy-sleeping babies who flourish in the pretty light. But if not, take my advice and choose the darkest, quietest room in your house to be your nursery.  A walk in closet will do.  I'm only half kidding.  When my son was about 18 months, we visited a friend in Ottawa, and Avery had to sleep in a playpen in a walk-in closet - wait, wait - before you judge: I called ahead to make sure the closet had proper ventilation, and it was the fanciest, biggest closet I had ever seen - much nicer than the fanciest room in my house!  It had gleaming, red wood floors, a matching California Closets system, and two chambers to it - one just a space for you to twirl around in front of the mirror!  It was the closet if most girls' dreams, being totally wasted on a GUY ( a straight guy!!!)!  But I digress...my point was going to be that Avery was never such a good sleeper as he was in that closet.

While convenient, avoid making the nursery right next to your own room, or any room that is likely to be occupied and noisy after baby bedtime.  You have a monitor, right?  Use it, and give yourself a bit of separation (physically, only, of course) from your infant.  Don't overlook bathrooms, either: plumbing in the wall against which your kid's crib or bed is can be very noisy, and then you'll start not flushing the toilet every time you use it - which, while environmentally friendly, gets pretty gross - just trust me on that one :s

Anyhow, in preparation for Baby #2, I was wiser than I was the first time around.  I also had help!  The first time, my now-ex-husband was too busy to help me with the nursery, and I was too excited to wait!  So, my mom and I painted the room, and my friend Karen and I assembled the crib, and so on (thank you!).  This time around, my baby daddi (FIANCE now, did I mention? :D :D :D) was there with me every step of the way, and set up the furniture and did most of the painting all by himself (including Baby #1's room, because I'm very consumed with making sure he gets just as much attention and spoiling as new baby ;), which was a very nice contrast to my first experience :)

I was going to share photos, and I guess I still will a little later (I can't access the website where the photos are stored from my current location)...but what I'm about to share puts my designs kind of to shame anyway :s  My good friend, Krista Salter, is a designer and owner of KMSalter Designs, but she is also a blogger, and did a delicious post on nursery design.  Click here to check it out, and steal some inspiration for your own nursery.  (Also check out my comments, because I feel they raise some valid points to consider when planning your own space ;))

Got any nursery-planning advice of your own?  What's on your windows??