Baby room furniture

[Noodles14]

Not strictly pregnancy related but certainly 'baby is on its way' related!
Where have people bought their baby room furniture form, i.e. cot and chest of drawers etc from?
Budget wise, hoping to go mid price so say approx £300-600 for cot and chest of drawers (we have decided against a wardrobe as we just don't have the space!).
Any recommendations on places to look either in-store or online? We aren't sure if we want to go down the Ikea route only because we've had so many things from them in the past and just don't think they are as sturdy as other items we've had form elsewhere.
Thanks!

I (think) I'm buying IKEA hemnes chest of drawers, the larger one of the two sizes. Cot I like one from mamas and papas that turns into a bed. As for IKEA stuff, we actually have a hemnes in our room and have had it over 10 years. We are moving house so are treating ourselves to new furniture but it's otherwise in good condition! Haven't decided fully but I doubt we will get a wardrobe... Not yet anyway. Do baby clothes really need hanging up?!

Just buy furniture that you like and will use for years to come. Get an ikea cot with an over cot changer. Don’t get fooled buy mamas and papas nursery ideas. After 18 months you will regret it. Put £400 in your child’s bank account and buy nirmal furniture.

Thanks- no doubt we will end up in Ikea at some point so will have a look at your suggested range. We could probably fit a wardrobe in but it would be a squeeze and I too thought do baby's clothes really need hanging up?!

Wayfair and John Lewis do some lovely furniture.

We bought a small IKEA cot for our DD but wish we had bought a sturdier and larger cot bed initially rather than the IKEA one. We ended up buying a lovely John Lewis cot bed.

We did buy the large Hemnes chest of drawers from IKEA that is about waist height and has 8 drawers. We used it as a changing table which definitely saved our backs as we are both quite tall. Also had plenty of storage for all baby clothes, nappies etc.

We also had a rocking chair in the nursery which was a life/sleep saver!

I just about can be bothered to hang up my own clothes, let alone teeny baby clothes. Haha. Drawers are so much easier! I would also take a look at IKEA cots, however I haven't seen one I actually like and I don't think their cots convert to toddler beds. The one I have seen in mamas and papas can be used until baby is 4 or 5 years old. There is a version that has drawers underneath for extra storage too although it's more expensive - you can just buy wicker baskets for under cot storage or big plastic boxes. You can see them when pushed back. I think it's called Mia sleigh? It's about £300/350 without drawers. However I have also been looking in argos at something called Obaby Lincoln Sleigh Cot Bed. It's £299 and gets amazing reviews everywhere. Although I don't like not being able to actually see it in the flesh!

I think it’s more work to fold and organise drawers than to hang things up! I would always have a wardrobe, with an internal drawer unit (Ikea Pax style or similar). They’re only babies for a very short period and children’s clothes need hanging up, especially once they start school. More hanging means less ironing.

I would look on eBay or fb for second hand stuff-what suits now won’t by the time they’re 2/3 yrs old.
I would say mothercare no better quality than Ikea but a lot more expensive. I got a second hand changing table/chest of drawers for £40 tho and it will do the job!
I bought Ikea cot new and it’s been great-will reuse for #2.

I'm hoping to get something second hand. At the moment I'm thinking a cot bed and a little bookshelf.

I'd go with the pre owned route. You'll get some good quality as new bargains, these bits of furniture aren't usually used for very long so stay nice. Then sell it on again when finished with it yourself and get your money back. Just get a new cot mattress.

Don’t bother with a wardrobe - baby and small kids’ clothes don’t need hanging and they won’t reach a normal rail for a long time. Our 3yo dresses herself from her chest of drawers.

We have the 8 drawer Hemnes too and it has enough room for all our 3yo’s and 1.5yo’s clothes, plus nappies and bed linen. As a PP has said you can also use it as a changing table.

Nursery furniture is overpriced. Just buy normal furniture!!

I don't think there is anything a kid would wear that I would iron - except school shirts maybe and that will be a good few years away. Special occasion outfits possibly but I would just do a one off iron for that. Drawers are definitely the way forward and the hemnes is huge so can store everything clothes, nappies, linen, other bits they need blankets, muslin, 'toiletries' etc. Pinterest has loads of examples of how people have organised the drawers. Definitely don't but nursery stuff (other than a cot obviously!) normal furniture will last u much longer!

On a safety note, please tether wardrobes and chests of drawers to the wall. They are easy for a toddler to climb and tip frighteningly easily.

Don’t waste precious floor space in a tiny room on a freestanding bookcase. Put book storage on the wall. The GLTC ladder bookcases are fantastic, though quite expensive. Alternatively have a look on Pinterest for the IKEA spice rack hack to create brilliant bookshelves for about £3 each.

The wardrobes with a couple of drawers at the bottom are a good space saver.

Personally I find folding a huge hassle much prefer hanging up in the wardrobe. My cot from mother care and chest of drawers IKEA with a changing mat on top.

I bought a mamas & papas cot bed second hand for £50 which came with an over the cot changing table. All in excellent condition. Will get a new mattress, but huge money saver to buy good condition used.

Buxbaum thanks for the tip, I think that IKEA spice rack could be the perfect solution.

We've got Ikea chest of drawers, Ikea wardrobe (child's wardrobe, so cute) and a brand new sleigh cot from eBay. Was going to buy a cot from John Lewis for £180 but the style we liked got discontinued. Someone mentioned a baby store on eBay and we found our cot for £170 with mattress. I love it

We had no furniture in the room so needed everything. Wanted a wardrobe for longevity, ATM it just holds nappies, wipes, piles of clothes in larger sizes. We went to IKEA first, the old reliable, but didn't like the wardrobes I think. Ended up with a set from Mothercare, which I'd sworn we wouldn't. But the (sale) price was good and the quality is fine. It was trickier to assemble than IKEA stuff though, not nearly as well designed in that sense.

I’ve found a wardrobe really useful. I got one that will last years though and have extra storage buckets on the top for bulk bought nappies (I always buy lots when on offer). We have lots of clothes like dresses hanging up and use it to store loads. At the beginning I only used drawers though but they do change (and acquire stuff) very quickly.

We had a Mamas and Papas cotbed and chest of drawers. It had a changing unit on top which was very useful.

The Ikea Gulliver cot that can work as a side sleeper and be lowered into a toddler bed is a total winner imo.

We got a beautiful sleigh cotbed from precious little ones for £165. Baby is due in 5 weeks. Cot is sturdy and has a drawer underneath it. It looks a lot more expensive than what we paid for it.

@liz3891 that sounds a great deal! Where did you find that? And @flamingox what is the ebay shop? We have space in our nursery to be for a wardrobe so last night I started looking at wardrobes - the pax ikea style rather than baby/child specific wardrobes. Child wardrobes are smaller, will it look strange having an 'adult' wardrobe? I guess the chest of drawers is 'adult' size! The Pax can be changed internally so I am thinking of having a small amount of hanging space and then lots and lots of drawers for storage. I'm not a big hanger upper (each to their own!) but think drawers will be useful for all the other 'stuff' babies have that might not need to be accessed daily but still needs to be stored! Gah I can't wait for anomaly scan so I can start buying! Just two more weeks...

We found ours on Facebook marketplace. Quite lucky really. We're in a furnished rental house so I've been prevented from fully nesting since the room to be used as a nursery already has adult bedroom furniture in it, so I didn't want to buy an expensive cot since when/if we move, I'll probably want to set up a matching set properly from scratch and at the moment can only just squeeze the cot in as it is!

We got a mokee cot bed which should see ours through to age 2-3, then it turns in to a day bed until they’re older. Beautiful quality, extremely reasonably priced, and they do a changing mat which sits on top of the crib too. We got 2 cribs with drawers underneath, 2 wall mounted shelves, mattresses and 2 changing mats including delivery for around £400, and the quality is superb.

We didn’t have space in their room for furniture (twins!) so have a clothes rail mounted higher up on the wall, and wicker lidded baskets that fit in the spare space! It’s compact, but it’s my favourite room in the house 😍