If you are looking for inspiration for your baby’s nursery, it can be tricky to decide what theme nursery to go for, along with what to buy and make. Over the past 2 years, our resident mummy blogger and photographer Claire has been sharing the thrifty transformation of her daughter’s nursery. Today’s blog post is about multi-purpose furniture that’ll grow with your baby waaaay into their teens, and some finishing touches to give their nursery the wow factor. Over to Claire…
When my baby daughter arrived, I settled for a changing mat on a chest of drawers. However, the drawers are not quite wide enough to fit her changing mat and my tall hubby finds the current drawers a little low and has to stoop over for every nappy change. My daughter is now a very wiggly 20-month-old, who won’t sit still. In typical toddler fashion, her answer to everything is no! Having her nappy changed is no exception – she just wants to be on the move.
At times it’s been messy, often her liquid vitamins and other liquids (which I will not go into more detail) have leaked into the drawers below. I’ve sometimes pondered what it would be like to have a changer top, to keep her and any items contained in one space. I was therefore super excited to be gifted a Mamas & Papas 3 drawer dresser and changer unit from the ‘Dover’ range, to see what we’d been missing out on over the past 20 months.
When the dresser arrived, I was not expecting it to be flat pack. I’ve done my fair share of flat pack in recent years and I found this pretty easy, thanks to the easy-to-follow diagrams and numbered items. I was pleased that it took me just under two hours during her afternoon nap to put it up.
The drawers are deep and sturdy – I easily fit a whole pack of nappies plus 10 packs of wet wipes, in one drawer. I like how effortlessly the drawers roll open and shut in complete silence; you only have to give them a little push to close them. My little one loves putting her own clothes away and these drawers are perfect for allowing her to do this with ease.
I love the simplicity of the design. When I no longer need it as a changer unit, I can simply take off the top which reveals the clean, curved top edges. It’s a great, classic piece of furniture which we’ll use for years to come in my daughters bedroom. I can even imagine the sleek design fitting into her teenage bedroom, with a mirror above as a dressing table!
I’m always on the lookout for wall art for my daughter’s room. Her room is nature themed, you can watch the video of how I painted this feature wall mountain mural here. The ‘I whale always love you’ wall art and ‘Dream high, love deep’ art print that I was gifted by Mamas & Papas, fit perfectly in her room.
I love the dreamy watercolour designs and subtle tones of blue in the images. Again, these pieces of wall art would look equally at home in an older child or teen’s bedroom. In fact, Cassie told me how much she loved them and wanted to frame them up in her own bedroom haha!
Another thing my toddler loves to do is role play – she’s at such a fun, busy age of make-believe. One of her favourite games is to help and care for other people – a trait, I can only hope will long continue! We therefore wanted to add some cute age-appropriate toys to the nursery for her to experiment with.
Hape have a gorgeous range of wooden toys, perfect for role play and to keep your little one entertained. I can sit and enjoy my real breakfast in peace, whilst she makes me a second breakfast 😊
Living where we do in south London, you are never more than 50 meters from a coffee shop. When Santa bought my tot a Hape Coffee machine it could not be a more perfect gift, her own coffee machine, just like daddy.
I love the attention to detail of Hape toys, the Hape Coffee Machine is no exception. It even comes with its own coffee beans! The coffee machine is sturdy and chunky, it lives on the top of her mini oven and the coffee machine has been dropped on our wooden floor boards at least 50 times and not one paint chip! It comes with a milk carton, sugar pot and spoon and one coffee cup – everything you need to make the perfect cuppa!
I was really chuffed to then be gifted the Hape Pop-up Toaster set and Tea Set for Two. Thanks to the toaster, her new favourite word is ‘Pop!’, she loves pressing the lever and making the toast pop up. It comes with a honey pot, plate and wooden knife, perfect for lots of honey sandwiches, mummy’s favourite.
Who doesn’t love a teddy bear’s picnic or a duck and bear picnic!
I can just sit back as she brings out the tea on the handy tray, that comes with the set. Again, I love Hape’s attention to detail. Dunking the tea bag in and out of the tea pot. The tea set is so pretty, with the scalloped edge saucers and hearts on the lids of the tea and sugar pot.
If you have a toddler on the go, I cannot recommend Hape’s toys more. My daughter normally has the attention span of two minutes with a toy, but they keep her entertained and she’ll happy play alone for a peaceful hour 😊.
What do you think of Claire’s nursery makeover? Will you be investing in a multi-purpose chest of drawers that doubles-up as changing station for your own baby’s nursery? It’s another case of ‘buy well and buy once’ – this classic chest of drawers can grow with your little one and will fit into any bedroom decor in the future – they can even be used in their teenage room! Let me know what plans you have for your little one’s nursery as they grow up in the comments below.
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Some items in this blog post have been gifted to me and the pink links indicate a gifted product, affiliate link or information source. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my own experience and I am not responsible for your experience 🙂
