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As you begin to prepare for the arrival of your little one, it's common for new parents to start 'nesting'. A big part of this is setting up your little one's nursery and purchasing some of those 'must-have' products.
We reached out to Brit from @thefeelingsneutral_ to find out how she created her little Quinn's nursery and what her top baby products are for the Fourth Trimester.
Creating a nursery is arguably the most fun you can have on maternity leave - between constant naps and binging Netflix, gosh I miss naps and not having to share my snacks - but I digress. With the little bun baking we set to work on setting up a space for the nursery and it has evolved so much since we first put the room together.
The theme behind the room seemed to come together quite naturally using a few existing pieces of art around the house and continuing the general tone of our home which is based around ‘Australiana’. Wanting to find a balance between light, bright and airy, and warm and cosy - we ended up with a mix of natural tones based around timber, jute and cotton. Since we chose to find out the gender of the aforementioned bun, we knew we were creating a room for a little lady - however we chose to continue the theme of our home on the whole and opted for autumnal and neutral tones in lieu of the classically girly pinks and purples.
The whole nursery is a base of timber and white. Our cot (IKEA Gulliver) is simple and clean and allows for a bit of fun with the bedding like my personal favourite - Rust Rainbow from Joey + Pup. The dresser is also IKEA (Hemnes in white wash), it comes with black iron handles which I’ve swapped out for leather pulls (Osternas 65mm). The draws are organised using IKEA Skubb separators and timber vinyl labels from Shoplabld.
I chose the Evie rocking chair from Freedom in natural - back support, comfortable AND pretty. I do highly recommend having a little feeding station next to your rocker (water, tissues, cookies - Milk and Cookies by Jewels lactation cookies are DIVINE just fyi).
Keeping with the natural textures we opted for a light filtering blind under natural linen curtains with black out backing from IntoBlinds in Melbourne.
One of my favourite features of the room is the decal wall. To avoid painting we used removable fabric wall decals from Blond + Noir in tones of blush, tan, mustard and beige. The light is a paper light from IKEA that you can scrunch into your own shape which I thought was pretty nifty. The mobile is a beautiful Etsy find from What a Curly Life featuring a little Koala and his balloons.
Let’s talk storage (this is my kind of fun now guys don’t judge me). Since our bub arrived, we’ve figured out that a nursery is really just a storage facility for ALL. THE. TOYS. And clothes, and books. Again, to try and minimise furniture and keep the natural tone to the room we’ve used woven baskets in natural and white for toys and books. A small storage unit sits beside the rocker full of puzzles, books and toys - for now it’s organised into music, soft toys, wooden toys etc but let’s be honest, something tells me my darling girl won’t have any time for such trivial matters and will create absolute chaos among my beautifully organised shelves.
So that’s all fine and well for a nursery right, except.. that it’s at the opposite end of the house to our bedroom. Between new parent anxiety and safe sleeping guidelines we have kept bubs in our bedroom for the first 6-12 months. “But the cot? The cot is in the nursery” I hear you say - ah yes my friends - enter the bassinet - one of my favourite pieces of furniture. Fun fact (and by fun, I mean kind of concerning), there currently are no bassinet safety standards in Australia. There are elsewhere, and Red Nose has recommendations regarding bassinet choice - but it makes hunting for a safe and practical bassinet quite stressful. We chose the Charlie Crane Kumi Cradle in hazelnut, I liked that it was timber, breathable (all mesh sides) and sturdy, plus you can rock it, and it meets European safety standards - bonus - it’s BEAUTIFUL.
The baby monitor was another mammoth research task. There are so many options out there with varying levels of monitoring, alerts galore and more intense tech stuff I’m not even going to try and comprehend. It’s a minefield. The Lollipop has a crystal clear picture, built in white noise and lullabies and it’s a phone app so no additional display to cart around. It does have a subscription service for storing things on the cloud but I haven’t had the need for it. They sell the Koala Grey casing separately on their website which is a neutral dream.
I love me a good playmat, especially considering the sheer volume of spit up in the first few months. We have a large padded playmat from Munchkin and Bear that’s is excellent for the rolling stages and the handy and beautiful leather playmat from Faemli that folds up into a teeny square - great for taking to the park or throwing under a high chair and for a bit of cheeky nappy free time.
Bubs started in a fab little Love to Dream suit as sleepwear because my goodness swaddling a baby in the middle of the night like origami is not my forte. Once she started rolling we moved into the Ergopouch sleeping bag and haven’t looked back. They’re SO cosy, two way zip and hip healthy!
If you’ve ever delved into the world of baby skincare - goodness me is it extensive. I use the Go-To range myself, and after plenty of research I decided to try the Gro-To range for my mini and we have loved it. She has super sensitive skin and between swimming lessons, being prone to dry skin and even a little bit of eczema - this stuff has been absolute magic.
Last but not least, our lifesaver, extra pair of hands, our baby nest - the DockATot. The park, the beach, poolside, an AirBNB, or rather every room of the house throughout Melbourne’s lockdown. Little miss always had a cosy little safe spot for playtime, to read a book or for tummy time. When upset the dock helped settle her, when she got dozy it helped us get her off to sleep before moving her to her cot. Having the DockATot handy meant even when travelling she had a familiar and cosy spot no matter where we were. BONUS - the patterns are just too sweet - she has the Brer Rabbit cover as well as a Pristine White.
Honourable mentions to the Ergobaby Embrace (such a simple and comfy carrier), the Bugaboo Fox 2 (my favourite vehicle in our family) and Clover the Riff Raff sleep comforter (our absolute favourite nap buddy). I could go on and on, but you guys have got more important things to read, buns to bake and/or babies to wrangle.
Good luck!
Brit x
- 5 Tips for Surviving Newborn Life with Midwife Em
- Motherhood Musings: Just You Wait and See by Jess Urlichs
- Postnatal Anxiety and Depression as a New Parent with Panda
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