How soon did you get the nursery done?

[beehappybe]

So the sickness and nausea is mostly gone now and have been replaced with tiredness and kicking but still, I have more energy than in the last three months (finally). So I have managed to come up with the nursery design and colour scheme and pick all the bits we need to buy. I am 20 weeks.

I wonder when did everyone start decorating and furnishing their nursery?It seems the second trimester is the best time to do this??

I figure if I start doing everything now it will be done before Christmas leaving me January to focus on training my maternity cover at work and February just for me...

[LittleBearPad]

About nine months after she was born.

I really don't get all these DH's who can't possibly be expected to sleep in the same room as the baby. They're working - so what.

[Gingergen2013]

I needed somewhere to put all the baby stuff we inherited from friends because I'm a messy cow at the best of times, so the 'nursery' developed from there at about 34 wks (bit superstitious before then.) The room is very small so there wasn't much I could do with it anyway, but having the cot set up from babys arrival, plus a single bed meant I had a haven to take DS to in his Moses basket in the early hours for a feed so as not to disturb DH too much, plus somewhere to crash if DS had trouble settling.
Enjoy, first baby's are exciting x

[TakesTwoToTango]

Op I'm with you on enjoying the prep for the new arrival while you have the time and energy for it. I've been organizing/choosing bits for dc3's room since about 20 weeks too. Had a bit of a hiatus though and now really need to get on with it if it's going to be ready before my energy and attention is diverted by her arrival! Enjoy the buying and decorating. Congrats on your pregnancy.

[MrsMillions]

DD1 it was complete around 6/7 months of pregnancy. We moved out old furniture, painted walls and woodwork, replaced curtains, then got new furniture. Before she moved in it was a home for her clothes and books, and I took her in for night feeds. We (well, DH) would not have had the time to do it so well had we waited until after.

We then moved house when I was 6 months pregnant with DD2. All bedrooms need decorating but we started with theirs - DH did "big girl" room for DD1 with new furniture, then once she'd moved (me at 7.5 months pregnant) FIL painted nursery ready for DD2 which has her sister's old furniture in. DD2 fighting sleep in the crib next to me now but good to know the room is all ready for her.

[mumchkin]

I am a proudly cheesy and impractical FTM and started decorating the nursery after our 20 week scan (had been making lists and a yep even a MOODBOARD well before then however). Almost 30 weeks now and should have it finished this weekend.
It's genuinely been one of the nicest things I've done. Sometimes this baby doesn't feel quite real but sitting in his lovely little room and imagining him in there has been a real lift to my spirits, especially when pregnancy gets me down.
Everyone is different of course, but I love interior design and fully enjoyed the process.

[Stercusaccidit911]

Hi OP. I started at around 20 weeks buying things for my nursery, so I totally get that you are excited and want everything organised.

This is my third DC, so I still have all the nursery furniture from my last pregnancies but I wanted new curtains and nursing chair etc. John Lewis do some lovely non 'cheesy' furnishings for nursery!!! everything still in boxes though waiting for room to be painted by DH! Enjoy the planning and buying.

Ps ignore rude poster!!!

[BBQueen]

What's with all the competitive anti-nursery sentiment?! Why has one poster got two children in travel cots? The mattresses are so thin and plasticky...

OP, I think it's lovely to plan and make a beautiful room for your baby. I hope you're not too disheartened by other posts.

[purplefizz26]

I am sure the OP is well aware that babies should sleep in parents room for at least 6 months. There is nothing wrong with making what will become the baby's bedroom look nice. It will probably be used in early months for night changing and feeding and storing babies things so not exactly obsolete!

It makes sense to decorate the room if you want to now so later pregnancy can be spent relaxing. And who has time to decorate a room with 'twee shite' with a small baby around?

[MinesAPintOfTea]

I didn't want to paint whilst pregnant due to tge chemicals. DS had furniture in a room as soon as we moved house at 36 weeks and got a properly decorated room at 2 years when he had a bit of personality and tastes to decorate to.

[53rdAndBird]

Just recently, when DD was nearly 18 months old. She still doesn't sleep in it though!

I think if you like the idea of doing a nursery, then more power to you, go right ahead and enjoy it. It's just that sometimes Having A Nursery is presented as this essential thing you have to do before the baby arrives, and it's really not, so people maybe just wanted to point that out?

[babyconverse]

I'm 39 weeks and getting the nursery sorted has been really important to us in terms of feeling organized - having places to keep everything tidy and sorted etc. I'm sure it's perfectly possible to wait like some of the above have until baby is much older but we wanted things ready and really don't think there's anything wrong with that. I agree with the poster who expressed bemusement at the competitive anti nursery sentiment - each to their own. I'd rather do it now than in six months when he's moving into his own room when we'll have him to contend with - not just my pregnancy

[RowenaJB]

I love decorating and for me designing how the nursery looks will be a fun challenge that I'm looking forward to. Everyone's different (what works for one person won't for another) but I personally want the nursery ready for when our baby is born as we will be keeping clothes, changing nappies there, etc.
It's a big job though as at the moment our spare room is a bit of a junk room that also needs plastering so will need to get someone in to do this! I'm 17 weeks and on holiday at the moment but plan to get started once I get back. I've seen a really lovely tree stencil that I want on the wall but other than that I think I will keep the room quite neutral. I can then adapt and change it as our baby grows older.
Good luck with decorating and let us know how you get on! x

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

I suppose if our house was big enough to have a room sitting unused for months we might have done it, but ours is needed as an office and guest room for as long as possible (also have a nearly 2 year old in her own room)

[Lemonfizzypop]

I don't think it's rude to point out the room won't even be used for 6 months

[Mintyy]

Lol at "competitive anti-nursery sentiment". Just goes to show that posting anything, but anything, will result in an argument on Mumsnet .

[Oysterbabe]

Yes lol @ the competition for who can give the least of a shit. Gotta love mumsnet.

BTW my child slept in a cardboard box at the end of our bed until they were old enough to decorate the nursery themselves.

[randomsabreuse]

Ours was decorated as part of the general do up the whole house process started on purchase. Happens to be blue despite having a DD as I loved the colour! Currently contains a cot and the clothes she's grown out of (10 weeks so not masses) and the stuff we have borrowed from SIL that she isn't ready for yet (and is the room where stuff in the process of being sorted gets sorted as has the most available floor area!

[MrsBungle]

For dc 1 we got her bedroom I don't understand why they are called nurseries, I thought a nursery was a children's play room in a Victorian Manor House ready when I was around 30 weeks.

With dc2 I thought about it when he was around 4 months old.

[toohardtothinkofaname]

We've just started on the nursery now at 29 weeks. When we bought our house it was all artexed & this is the last room to be skimmed otherwise we might have just waited until he was here as he's going to be in with us anyway

[Christelle2207]

My son is 2 and we are now thinking about getting it sorted. We did sort a room out for him before he was born but didn't decorate. To be fair, if you have the time and energy now, why not, as you probably won't for quite a while after he is born.
But I think the assumption that everyone does it in advance is a touch naive. We deliberately chose to wait until we knew what our child would be "into" otherwise we might have found ourselves decorating it twice in a short space of time.

[SparklyTinselTits]

I started doing ours when I was about 24 weeks.... I hand painted a massive mural on one wall - kept me busy for the rest of the pregnancy!
But if you're not feeling that great, like other pp have said, there's no need to rush - baby won't be in there for a while anyway

[Starspread]

Genuinely feeling quite relieved to see all the people talking about not doing a nursery ahead of time; our spare room is currently mostly DP's office (works from home) plus a chest of drawers to store all the baby stuff - I figured as baby will be sleeping in with us for a good long while, I couldn't see the rush to change things around. But this seems to have really surprised other people, so I was starting to doubt myself.

For those who have the time, space and inclination to set up beautiful nurseries, good for you, but I'm relieved to see that my first thought was right and we're not being Terrible Parents by not doing so!

[Dachshund]

I'm currently 36+3 weeks and we started to decorate our nursery in late August when our flat mate moved out, partially because I didn't get on with him so I wanted to have a fresh start!

That said, it's still not finished in that we need to get a chest of drawers for the changing table to go on and we are also planning on getting some kind of day bed to go in there eventually.

At the moment it's just a lovely storage room with a cot and a pram in it, but I have been managed to get a few prints up on the wall. It's nice to be dedicating a room in our flat to the new arrival, feels like she's more real that way! Like others have said I'm well aware she will be in our room for months, but I'm anticipating being quite busy once she's born so there's absolutely no harm getting decorating out of the way now.

Congrats on your baby OP

[ispyfispi]

DC1-decorated nursery while pregnant, he never ever slept in it! He was in with us til we moved when he was about 18mths.
DC2-gradually decorated after she was born, moved into it from our room around 18mths
DC3-we've been gradually decorating it but not as a nursery as such, more as his bedroom. He's almost 2 and mostly still in with us.
DC4-still pregnant and not going to do anything. Baby will be in with us for a good while yet and not sure which room it will move in to eventually. Definitely not giving up the spare room when it won't be used by baby for a couple of years!

[Lemonfizzypop]

We live in a one bed flat so no nursery decorating for us yet!