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Original poster

am i the only one who never spent a penny on a "nursery" for my kids?

136 replies

fillyjonk · 02/06/2007 22:00

This oogling of mothercare cabinets and agonising over winnie the pooh vs whatever is utterly, utterly lost on me.

surely the money could be better spent on a holiday or a nice pair of shoes or something?

newborns don't care and odds are they'll end up with you anyway for a bit.

Why not save the money and paint when they are toddlers and give a crap?

i thank you

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alex8 · 03/06/2007 08:32

you really don't need a baby wardrobe bumperlicious

Original poster
fillyjonk · 03/06/2007 08:43

lol at coordinating baby bags with baby gender

i am afraid that you DON'T need a wardrobe for the baby

OP posts:
LoveAngel · 03/06/2007 09:11

You aren't the only one. I hate the idea of a 'nursery'. All that over-priced pastel coloured tat. Why? They see you coming a mile off when you're a first time parent, too...suddenly a shitty pine wardrobe and chest of drawers becomes a 'nursery furniture suite' and costs £300 more than it would have. Con.

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zookeeper · 03/06/2007 09:43

I'm so pleased to see this thread - we didn't do any of it , reconing that the money would be better spent on their bedrooms when they were older and could appreciate it.
DS1 is nearly 6 now and I've only just got round to painting his room and sticking some spaceship stickers on it.

Agree iit's all a marketing ploy for new parents.

And don't get me started on pram prices and the snobbery that surrounds that..

zookeeper · 03/06/2007 09:44

reckoning

tortoiseSHELL · 03/06/2007 09:48

Ha. Well we DID make a gorgeous nursery for our children but spent very little on it. The room needed decorating in any case (our whole house was falling down when we bought it, so we have been renovating it). It is a tiny room, so we painted it a parchment white sort of colour, put down an Ikea wood floor (I know, I know), and got my friend who is an amazing painter to paint some huge Winnie the Pooh murals, which still look amazing 6 years later. The room is so tiny we could only fit a cot and a single bed in there (in a sort of L shape), but it is the nicest nursery I've seen, with original art work!

tortoiseSHELL · 03/06/2007 09:49

In fact, I will try and post a picture, to prove how nice it is!

tortoiseSHELL · 03/06/2007 09:51

Can't find a digital one to upload, but I'll try and scan a real one.

PinkMartini · 03/06/2007 09:57

I must say, we've recently started ttc number 1 and it's not the little clothes that make me broody. Other people regularly coo over babygrows and little bootees etc, don't they?
For me, it's children's bedding etc (partic the bits in the Little White Co - little stars and things) that give me that eyebrows knitted together "i really think we should do this" feeling of let's get pregnant. So sweet.
But think that OP has a point that you're better off spending money on other things.
Since I'm not even pg, it's not something I'm going to think about too much.

hatrick · 03/06/2007 09:58

This reply has been deleted

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berolina · 03/06/2007 10:02

Oh gosh, I don't get the nursery thing either. Until recently we lived in a 1-bedroom flat so ds (justturned 2) was in with us anyway. Now we've moved to a bigger flat with an extra room so he has a big playroom, but is still in with us . We all prefer it that way. We might not even move him into the playroom when dc2 arrives in Sept . We have put up some nice curtains, pretty mobiles and bought a table, chairs and nice rug for his playroom, but that's it. Can't be doing with all the overdone matching furniture and frilly coordinating 'ranges'.

Original poster
fillyjonk · 03/06/2007 10:03

oh i have my weaknesses

for me its handknitted stuff and slings

OP posts:
belgo · 03/06/2007 10:04

agree totally Filly.

My weakness is also slings.

berolina · 03/06/2007 10:05

Oh yes, handknitted stuff - ds was lent a load by his godmother, really really sweet cardigans, tops and things. I'm also constantly on the lookout for a lovely second-hand old-fashioned rocking horse (not one of these modern ones), but have had no luck so far.

bumperlicious · 03/06/2007 10:07

I know I don't need a baby wardrobe - sorry that sounded really PFBish - it's just that we have this computer cabinet which is a really nice bit of kit from IKEA, which hides away your computer etc. but looks like a nice cupboard But we are getting rid of the PC now we have a laptop and I don't really want to get rid of the cabinet in case we move and need to use it as a computer desk again.

Anyway, because of the way it is designed the upper cabinet bit where the monitor sits is just a big cavernous cupboard but short so we though we'd just stick a bar in it to make it a temporary baby wardrobe! Otherwise we would just shove loads of stuff in there randomly. Does that make sense.

Original poster
fillyjonk · 03/06/2007 10:11

lol at bumper

i am trying to decide if a handknitted sling would be a bad idea. i am worried about stretching but...

oh yes, baby cardis with nice trimmings.

this sort of thing

OP posts:
zookeeper · 03/06/2007 11:04

mind you I very nearly bought one of those super-duper fold away nappy carrier bag thing with all sorts of pockets and velcroed bits to put in you nappies and bags and a whole host of other things. It also doubled aas a nappy changing mat. A snip at £39.99

Now we make do with a carrier bag, a nappy and a sandy tube of sudocrem that parted company with its lid months ago.

fennel · 03/06/2007 11:09

I went in the opposite direction to nursery theming. When pregnant with our first I painted my study (which was already in nursery colours from when we'd bought the house) shades of dark green. Oh no, a baby wasn't going to take over MY study. And when, inevitably, I eventually gave up my study for the dds bedroom they had very adult shades of dark green.

Now, in a new house, only my 5yo has a room painted in colours and style a child would like. 7yo and 3yo dds just don't care so they have any old crap still.

cleaninglady · 03/06/2007 11:15

oh this is really good! we didnt do a "nursery" for either dd or ds - they both have cream walls, cream carpets but i did order some roman blinds with blackout linings in "child-like" material - but the decoration comes from their bedding and all the accumulated toys,books,teddies etc! A friend of mine had her first baby just over a year ago and did the whole mamas and papas thing (cant remember the range) even went so far as to cutting out pictures from the border and making 3D pictures that she then put in frames!! it did look lovely but that iccle baby is now a boisterous little boy and it doesnt really suit him......

PinkTulips · 03/06/2007 11:34

my mother still lays a guilt trip on me to this day about how she was up a ladder painting my nursery the day before going into labour. after having worked right up until 2 days before that. this was my response..... erm, gee thanks. what colour was it again?

we lived in a teeny tiny one bed rented flat when dd was born, we could barely fit her crib in the bedroom and when she grew out of the crib we had to put her in a travel cot in the hall (not that she slept in either for the majority of the night )

we didn't own a cot for her til she was 10 months old! now she has her own room (rented so no painting) and we shove all her artistic creations on the wall to cheer it up which she loves. we've plonked ds in there as well as we're in a 2 bed and he's outstayed his welcome in our room (still creeps into our bed most nights though )

i'd imagine it's a nice pregnancy diversion if you have the money to waste but i can't really see the point in blowing money on it when you don't

madamez · 03/06/2007 11:39

Well, when DS was born I moved back in with my parents for 6 months, and he and I shared the spare room. We had been lent a moses basket but after about a week went and got an Ikea cot, which he's still in - when we moved to the new house DS got his own bedroom, but no redecorating, he has a chest of drawers, his cot, his toys and a rail for his clothes. He's happy.

Judy1234 · 03/06/2007 12:06

I never did either. Babies couldn't care less about wall paper. I bet the 22 yeaer old now doesn't think my mother never bought me a nursery and stuck me in a spare room.

it's this making children into some kind of lifestyle even which is so silly. They are part of normal life. They don't need all this consumerism. I don't think they got any special bed room things as they got older either except the occasional duvet cover.

Obviously we just about ran financially to electric plug socket covers. Baby clothes from Oxfam, equipment second hand etc. Breastfeeding is free.

peachygirl · 03/06/2007 12:22

I haven't spent much yet. We have only just moved and DD has now got a new room.
My oarents have offered to buy a cot bed (so we will get one of those) and some storage, probably from the malm range in IKEA.

I have a wall sticker from JoJo to decorate the wall and a long time ago we bought this groovy monsters inc concept art print at the science museum and that will go in a frame

bumperlicious · 03/06/2007 12:34

Bit worried about all this talk about blackout blinds. Are they really necessary? All the windows in our flat are 9ft drop and just have the crappy curtains the landlord up as we just can't afford nice ones (in fact the living room just has liners up as we couldn't stomach the chintzy curtains he had up).

Our bed room, where the baby will be sleeping has a huge 9ft drop bay window - don't think we could afford to even paper something that size let alone put up blackout blinds!

flibbertyjibbet · 03/06/2007 12:43

Zookeeper, are you the only mum on the planet that didn't get a free changing bag from the Boots parenting club? Every group I go to we are all picking up and leaving with the wrong huggies bag!
My friend wanted everything so much co-ordinated and decided to do a deal with the shop, buy absolutely everything so she could get a discount. The room she wanted for 'nursery' was small and the feeding glider rocker that they talked her into buying as part of the package wouldn't fit in, it would have spoiled the 'co-ordination' of her own bedroom so she put it in the dining room and went and sat there whenever there was feeding going on! I lent her my triangular pillow when baby was born and she got all stressed cos the pillow case on it was WHITE and she 'needed' a beige one.....
I am sure some people think I am a right Clampet but for some reason I have never bothered what things look like as long as they do the job!