Baby
The Baby Nursery on Any Budget
Preparing for the highly anticipated arrival of baby hits parents-to-be with the challenge of setting up baby's room. Get help with these tips on decorating and planning a nursery.
The Baby Is Coming! Now What?
The moment you've been excitedly awaiting is only a few months away! There is so much planning, arranging, and getting ready to be done before your newborn arrives. There are color schemes to puzzle over, along with bedding and furniture choices to make. Then, store after store, catalog after catalog, another dilemma plagues you. Do you start saving for his or her college fund? Or do you take that chunk of money and redo the spare room into the nursery of your dreams? It may seem like a silly choice at first, but after you spend some time looking at the growing prices of juvenile furnishings, you'll realize that it's not so absurd after all.
Growing Costs of Children's Furniture
The juvenile furnishings market is hot. After conducting massive research on the increase in spending on children, Ethan Allen opened EA Kids, and Pottery Barn created Pottery Barn Kids. The investment that top furnishing companies have made into creating luxe furnishings for pint-size people points to the fact that bringing up baby in style is more expensive than it used to be.
Where Do I Start?
- Determine a budget. The best way to determine how to decorate for your baby is to first decide upon a budget. The furniture for babies at Pottery Barn Kids and EA Kids may be half the size of adult furniture, but it is definitely not half the cost. The well-built and stylized furniture is the same high quality as its adult counterparts. An entire bedroom set purchased at any one of these upscale baby boutiques can run a few thousand dollars. It is important to figure out how much you are willing to spend before you begin the decorating process.
- Pick a few key pieces as the central focus of the room. It is important to spend more on furniture that is of high quality and can blend easily into many different design styles. For instance, it is better to buy a hardwood bureau or bookcase that can withstand the years, as well as the different decorations that will come and go in your baby's life.
- Article: The Nursery Checklist
- Advice: Moms' Best-Loved Baby Gear Items
- Slideshow: 15 Innovative Baby & Toddler Products of 2008!
- Quiz: Baby Gear: Do You Have the Essentials?
- Poll: How do you shop for your new baby?
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