Sorting out Babys nursery

[Amethyst36]

Just after an opinion please....
I am due my first baby in September with my partner who already has 2 daughters - 8 & 6 from a previous relationship. They live quite far away from us so come up to us in the school holidays and during term time we go down there every other week.
When his daughters come up to us they have their own bedrooms which they now want to redecorate. I do not have an issue with this however I want to start getting a nursey sorted for the baby. I am aware that the baby will be in with us initially but I still would like everything ready for when he/she does move into their own room. The nursery will be the small room anyway and when they come up in the holidays they will have a large double room which I was thinking of trying to split somehow (like you see people have done during lockdown!) so they both will have their own space in that room.
I own the house that we live in and have done everything to make them feel comfortable when they are here and they also call this their home, but is it unreasonable for me to want to sort out that room as a nursery now rather than decorate it for a few months when it is only used during the school holidays?
I just want to get everything ready for when the baby comes as its my first one and I will end up being the one to decorate so would rather get everything prepared now.
Any thoughts would be welcome please.

So they currently have separate rooms and now you want to move them into one big room so you can decorate their new room and the nursery at the same time so its all ready for everyone when baby comes? Absolutely makes perfect sense and i bet they'll really enjoy choosing how their halves will look! Youre a great step mum 🙂

You are definitely not being unreasonable. Even if baby doesn’t go in for six months or so it’s nice to have the nursery ready so you have somewhere to store all baby’s clothes / nappies etc and you can always change and feed the baby in the nursery. :)

Not unreasonable at all! Crack on and decorate it how you want. As it’s the best part of a year until your baby sleeps in there, you could keep a bed for one of your DSDs in there and change it for a cot at 6 months PP (or whenever you decide to move your DC). Let your DSDs decorate the bigger bedroom which they will eventually share - if this is the fun, exciting bedroom it might even make them want to share it now to be honest!

Yep i agree. My baby is 3 months now and is my 2nd so i knew what to expect and i still got the nursery ready before he was born and i use it daily to change him and obviously hang his clothes somewhere. And also have a comfy armchair and when I'm home alone and want some chill time i feed him in there rather than wearing out the sofa and watching a screen all the time 🙂 good luck with your baby.

Splitting the big room with a divider is a great idea! Maybe you can put a ‘secret’ door in the divider to make it magical? I’d focus on making their room really special first, then decorate the new nursery.

Yanbu great idea. Even though baby won't use it immediately, it would be great to get them used to it for daytime naps so an easier transition later on.

Yanbu and I think redecorating and moving them into a shared room at the same time will actually make it easier on them - the one who currently has the baby’s room will not want to give it up if it’s been newly decorated to her taste to move into a room that her sister chose.

Thank you for all of your comments. I always overthink things so just wanted an independent perspective on the situation! I intend to use the room to feed, change etc. so its not as if it will be unused for months. I just dont want them to feel pushed out or that everything is changing so thank you for your thoughts and suggestions 😀

Congratulations.

I would definitely do it before baby is born, so a space is established for the new arrive.

Sounds like your plan is fair and the best thing for all of you.

I used the nursery for storage, playing, story time, night feeds etc. I also had much more time to decorate before I had a newborn and was sleep deprived! Much better idea to do it now

Room dividers are a great idea