I wasn't going to 'do' a nursery...

[Sleepybeanbump]

We have two bedrooms. DH and I often sleep separately anyway (snoring, fidgeting). We are both terrible without sleep so the plan was for one of us to sleep with baby at any one time, and the other to sleep in the other room. We're hoping to move house next year anyway. The room is recently painted (v neutral). We were just going to keep everything as is and bung a crib somewhere.

And then I thought 'but we could just get a cute lampshade or something, and a couple of pictures'.

AND NOW I HAVE ABOUT 15 INTERNET SHOPPING WINDOWS OPEN AND AM PONDERING THE RELATIVE MERITS OF WOODLAND CREATURES, BEARS AND ZOO ANIMALS AND INTERIOR DESIGN MOTIFS.

"Why not just go straight to cot? That is a marketing ploy."

It's just another con. Neither of mine have needed a moses basket they just went straight into a cot from birth. Many parents fall into the trap of 'needing' these things though, that's the thing.

I got curtains and some small framed animal pictures, they still look nice in my 5 year old's room now. Changing table has become a bookcase and nursery wardrobe is still in use for my 4 year old and actually takes adult width hangers so will be used for some time yet. The only things I've passed on 5 years later are the cot and a nursing chair for obvious reasons.

When DD was born we had a tiny room for her in our rented house and I enjoyed decorating her nursery relatively cheaply, it looked lovely. I got a cotbed, wardrobe and chest of drawers on ebay. She had a border of pictures of owls and then I painted four small blank canvases with the colours from the border and cut out and stuck an owl on each canvas. I'm not particularly arty so I was proud of my postnatal creative efforts. I was sad to say goodbye to that room when we moved.

One thing I would say OP is that your back will soon get sore always changing your baby on the floor, so I would recommend getting a changing table. Its also good to store all your nappies and wipes.

We have painted our spare room a lovely yellow shade ( we don't know the sex of our baby ) and put in the essentials- cot, changer unit and wardrobe but in our budget and thought process, we chose to opt for a wood nursery set, and it's all pretty basic so that when baby is growing up we don't need to replace the babyish nursery furniture because actually they will have many years use out of it, the changer top just comes off of the drawers and the wardrobe is brilliant and the cot turns into a child's bed for when they are older. That was just our choice even though the white baby nursery items were wonderful, we just had to think of things long term. But each to their own, choices, budgets and ideas etc.

Just looking at some
Posts above ... I think It really just is choice up to the individual and the way things work for themselves at the end of the day and what they are willing to spend

I got curtains and a lovely big framed a-z picture. We have just moved last week (ds 22 mo) and moving these to the new room with his cot has helped him settle in very quickly as it's still "his room".

Apple - but the cotbed lasting longer isn't cost effective is it, they still need a full size bed whether you buy at 2 year or 4 years. A cot is usually cheaper, then the cot sheets/ duvets later/ bedding is all more expensive than just cot size.

We did a nursery for DS and went a bit mad on a matching theme in mamas and papas. Then redecorated when he was 2 as it was a bit babyish. Then had to decorate when he got a bit older and moved into a bigger bedroom. At some point I'll have to decorate his previous bedroom so our now spare room doesn't look like a toddlers room. I really wish I'd just gone for a neutral colour on the walls and maybe a few framed prints that were easy to swap out.

We've spent a small fortune. And wall stickers that we had at one point ripped the paintwork away when we took them off!

"See i think the fact the cot bed will last longer than a cot makes it better value."

It's not really, you'll get 4 or 5 years out of it maybe, depending on the weight and height of your child??

With a cot, you can use it for your first, second, third etc. They move out of this when they're around 2yo, and into a single bed which will last them well into their teens. Much more cost effective.

You don't need to buy extra bedding for a cot, you just need fitted sheets and that's about it. With a cot bed, you need to buy cot bed sized duvets and fitted sheets, etc. All very expensive when you can just buy a normal duvet for when they move into a normal sized bed...

As I've previously said, the marketing out there at parents does encourage you to spend your money on useless stuff. Some people are easily roped into more than others.

I'm buying a cot bed from ikea which baby will go into in its own room from day one. No Moses basket, no carry cot, no crib. I think the cot bed is about £80? Maybe 2/3 years use. Bargain IMO. However, if someone else wants to go the whole shebang and buy a matching suite from a baby store, why do those who wouldn't have to be so sneery about it?

Exactly. I just think the 'nursery shaming' on here is not on. It's spiteful and patronising.

Only on MN do you find snide posts about a bloody cot bed :o

OP if you have the cash and want to go all out on a nursery, go for it. If you don't want to don't.

Personally I didn't but I knew I wanted DS in with me for 12 months and DD, well she was in with us until 2 because she woke every 90 minutes until then and still wakes up every 3/4 hours now because of bloody night terrors (the joys ) but I know lots of people who have very pretty nurseries and love sitting in them all night feeding their baby :)

FWIW I never got the point of a changing table either and both of mine seem fine.