The Baby Nursery: Where to Save and Where to Spend

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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 preparing 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 in creating luxe furnishings for pint-size people means bringing up Baby in style is more expensive than it used to be.

Where Do I Start?

• Determine 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 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 and fit in with the different decorations that will come and go in your baby's life.

Invest in a few adaptable pieces that can change with your child. Spending $700 at EA Kids on a hardwood dresser won't be as painful if you know that it is going to take your child all the way through to his or her teen years. Similarly, a convertible crib grows with your child, starting as a crib and converting into a toddler bed and later a full-size bed.

Keep in mind that the best décor is when the objects that surround your child have meaning. A dresser from your grandmother may need to be refinished or painted, but there's history attached to it.