Gaia Hera nursery furniture review: "Striking, simple and incredibly well-made"

Price on writing: £1,700 | Buy now from John Lewis | Buy now from Natural Baby Shower

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Overall impressions of the Hera nursery bundle:

• Everyone who steps into our nursery comments on how beautiful the furniture is. The scandi design is striking yet simple and feels incredibly well-made. 

• The drawers on the changing table offer ample space for baby essentials and the wardrobe is big enough to last well into the childhood years. 

• The changing table is set up quite high. At 5ft4 it’s not too high for me to use, but I definitely feel like it’s been designed for tall people.

• The whole set has a large footprint so wouldn’t be suitable for small rooms

How did the furniture arrive?

I was surprised to find out that the Hera range comes in flat pack boxes with instructions to self-assemble at home. I tried to console myself with the knowledge that flat pack furniture reduces the environmental impact of transporting the pieces, before getting stuck in with our trusty electric screwdriver - but assembling the whole set is a big job and took a bit of time. 

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How easy was it to assemble?

We’ve assembled a lot of furniture in our time, and this wasn’t the easiest. While you only needed a screwdriver and the allen key provided to assemble it, it felt more complicated than it needed to be, at points it felt like some of the instructions skipped over a few steps. 

To add to the challenge, because the whole set is made from solid wood, it’s quite heavy to manoeuvre around. If flat pack furniture isn’t your thing, expect that it’s going to take a bit of time to get it right. But it’ll be worth it in the end!

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How does it look?

It really has made the room feel very special. However all the pieces are quite big, they require a lot of floor space, and even in our larger than average second bedroom, the set takes up most of the room. So if you’re looking for a scandi-inspired design for a small room, the Hera range is probably not the right fit. 

What's it like to use?

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How big is the drawer unit and changing table?

The drawer unit is a generous size, measuring 131 cm (l)x 64 cm (w) x 92 (h). There are three large drawers and a cupboard offering ample and very usable storage space. I like that all the drawers and cupboards are soft-close too.

The changing table unit is sold separately from the drawer unit, but comes in a bundle when you buy the drawer unit and the cot bed. It sits on top of the drawer unit, making access to actually changing a baby a little tricky for shorter people. I’m 5ft4 and I can just about comfortably change our son, but my mum who is 5ft3 struggled a little. 

While the changing unit is aesthetically very pleasing, we’ve noticed that our DS gets his hands caught in the side openings pretty often. He hasn’t hurt himself yet but there have been a few times where I’ve almost picked him up from the table without realising his hands are in the openings. It seems like a major design flaw for a piece of furniture designed for children to lay on. And so even though it looks nice, I’d want anyone who was considering buying this piece to be aware of the risk. 

How big is the wardrobe?

The wardrobe has quite a large footprint 129.4 cm (l) x 64 cm (w) x 160 (h). The two large internal sections have a clothes rail and adjustable shelves which offer plenty of storage and it’s deep enough to hang adult clothes to extend the usefulness of this wardrobe.

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Do you think the furniture will last a long time?

The Gaia baby ethos is to build timeless, practical and beautiful pieces of furniture and there’s no doubt these values have been built into the design of the Hera furniture set. The wardrobe is definitely big enough to use as children grow older, I can see us using it well into the primary school years. The bed is suitable to be used from birth to five years, and if there’s an additional bed extension you can buy for use up to seven years old.

Do you think the Gaia nursery set represents good value for money?

There’s no getting around it, you’ll need a generous budget if you want to furnish your nursery with the Gaia Baby Hera range. There are definitely cheaper ways to create a scandi-inspired sleep space for your child; this similar looking scandi-inspired design from Tutti Bambini for example costs £950 and the Mama and Papas Coxley 3 Piece Cotbed Range also offer statement furniture set at £1,500. That’s without delving into the wonderful world of IKEA nursery furniture where sets start at £350. 

The full Hera set, changing table, wardrobe and cot bed and mattress costs £1,700. However, most nursery sets aren’t made from solid wood, even the pricier ranges at John Lewis or Mamas and Papas are usually composed of MDF and engineered wood. And whilst these lightweight MDF counterparts look nice, they feel completely different to use.

Once you start looking at solid wood furniture, Gaia baby prices are comparable with a lot of pieces on the market. This reclaimed pine wardrobe for Tika Moon for example is £50 more expensive than the same the Hera wardrobe and arguably less functional. 

If you’re planning to invest in nursery furniture, it really is worth looking closely at the materials used in the styles you like, in many instances even high end furniture from well loved brands offer style over substance by churning out flimsy furniture made from MDF instead of solid wood pieces built to last. 

Overall verdict:

The Gaia baby Hera range is refreshingly different. I would have liked the set to come fully assembled rather than flat pack, but on the whole it’s clear that the materials used are of the highest quality, thoughtfully designed and built to last. 

About the author

Tina Williams is the Head of Editorial Content at Mumsnet where she leads a team of expert writers and editors to develop Mumsnet Swears By, the home for product reviews and buying advice, where parents test and recommend the products they love. She was previously Mumsnet’s Head of Reviews and developed a comprehensive testing system to rigorously test baby essentials and new product innovations. 

About Mumsnet Reviews

All Mumsnet product reviews are written by real people after weeks of research and testing – this includes recommendations from the Mumsnet Talk boards. We work hard to provide honest and independent advice you can trust. Sometimes, we earn revenue through affiliate (click-to-buy) links in our articles. However, we never allow this to influence our coverage.