To use normal furniture in baby’s nursery?

[Poppetshop]

We are moving house soon and baby is due a month or so after we move. We have held off buying nursery furniture until we move in.

We currently have a lovely M&S Hastings chest of drawers and wardrobe in the spare room in our flat. It just crossed my mind that we could use these in the nursery and just buy a cot. Is there any downsides to using normal furniture instead of nursery furniture? ie clothes too small to hang in wardrobe?

I would definitely use the furniture you have. Babies don't stay small, and you can absolutely make it work. You can buy some organiser cubes that are made to hang down from the clothes rail.

DS never had any ‘nursery furniture’. In fact, he never had a nursery, as he slept in our room till he was about two.

By which I mean, no specific furniture needed — use what you have!

Of course use what you have. Stupid to do otherwise. Our baby’s stuff is just in our wardrobe and chest of drawers.

Definitely use non-nursery furniture. The house we lived in had a built in wardrobe so we used that.

The upside is that you won’t have to replace it in a few years time.

Of course. 'Nursery furniture' is generally overpriced and poor quality. Aimed at those who will pay more if it's labelled for a baby.

It's fine.

Babies don't really have clothes that need to be hung up, so I'd maybe get some more drawers or hanging cubes as pp suggested. It's very drawer based for at least the first few years.

We bought a cot which converted to a toddler bed and a unit from ikea where the change table folded out and back, had drawers underneath. 24 years later the change unit is used as normal chest of drawers in dd’s room. Everything else was just standard furniture that we already had.

Specific nursery furniture is a fairly recent thing. It is just a reason to part parents from their cash. Most nursery furniture will be useless after a couple of years as clothes get bigger and don't fit in the small drawers. You would end up having to buy normal furniture anyway.

We used a normal wardrobe and chest of drawers, CoD doubled as a changing unit with a mat on top and a basket with bits in.
The wardrobe DH added a second hanging rail halfway down, it's been invaluable. It also had a shelf bottom third so had two big baskets in there and a drawer in the bottom. DS is five and still had the same wardrobe, the chest of drawers has gone into the spare room and we got a taller thinner one once he went into a full sized bed, just for space reasons.

Apart from a cot I always had “normal” furniture in my DCs rooms. When I had our first she went into our spare room which had fitted wardrobes & drawers and a single bed already in it so we just added a cot. When we had our second we’d had an extension so redid our “old” room with new fitted wardrobes and baby went into his sisters old room and cot. His room was then redone when he was old enough to say what he wanted.

Thank you! I can’t believe I didn’t consider this sooner. I was planning on getting nursery furniture from FB marketplace as I was reluctant to spend £££ on brand new nursery furniture.

This will safe me a fortune!

Good idea re adding a second rail half way down the wardrobe too, thanks @MyOtherCarisAVauxhallZafira

“Nursery furniture” is really just for those that want an Instagram type nursery. The baby will outgrow it in just a few years. There’s absolutely no need at all.

My daughter did not have specific nursery furniture. Just a big chest of drawers we already had - all her clothes were folded until I bought a wardrobe when she was 4.

Apart from DC1 my other two children never even had nurseries so no specific nursery furniture apart from their cots so obviously it's absolutely fine. Honestly OP take no notice of stuff you see online

Thank you @SparkyBlue, this just goes to show how much I have been influenced by all the new parent content I see online!!!

@Poppetshop even if like me you aren't someone who easily buys into the whole "influencer " nonsense when you have a small baby and are feeling a bit sleep deprived or a bit out of sorts at home with a small baby it's easy to see pictures of all these immaculate fully co ordinated rooms and feel awful that your DC haven't similar. Honestly take no notice.

As PPs have said, it's fine. However a smaller wardrobe has been great now our DD is a bit older. She wouldn't be able to reach a regular sized one, but can hang up and get down her own clothes with a children's one.

Other than the cot the furniture was 'normal' in our kids rooms. Didn't need a hanging wardrobe though - just a chest of drawers.

Nursery furniture is a complete waste of money IMO.

Yep normal furniture. Get a cot that can turn into a bed afterwards and ideally a 140cm on as it will last longer and you stand a better chance of squeezing yourself in for cuddles once they are in the bed. I'm 5ft2 and can fit comfortably and my 6ft partner can fit uncomfortably but it's good enough to lie in bed with her whilst reading a bed time story or a quick cuddle at 2 am to get her back to sleep.

In general remove the word baby from your search and you will find a regular thing that fits the bill at a fraction of the price or already in the cupboard. I used a rucksack I already had for a changing bag for example.