Transforming the Nursery
Happy mid-week folks! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Our weekend has been pretty productive as the hubs and I are working on transforming Asher’s useless nursery into a toddler room for him instead!
A rough week or not, I was not letting go of our plans to pack up the car and make a day trip to the nearest IKEA. Like most woman in the world, I love Ikea!
I slowly walk through the showroom, ‘ooh’-ing and ‘ahh’-ing at the cleverness and usefulness of all the setups and thinking to myself “I totally need that (fill in the blank) because it will absolutely fine-tune my processes in the most stylish of ways!”
Though I loved nearly everything I saw, I was a bit more reserved this trip and we focused on our current big project: “Operation Turn Our Useless Nursery Into a Montessori Inspired Nursing Nook/Toddler Room”.
Our Useless Nursery
With Asher, we put together a traditional nursery with all the bells and whistles only to discover that we were more comfortable having Asher in our room with us.
With this being the case our beautiful nursery has sat mostly unused except for diaper changes and storage of clothes and extra toys for nearly two years.
When our little lady arrives we know we will have her in our room just as we did Asher and around that time Asher will likely move back to his room full time.
As the room is, it isn’t appropriate for a toddler (ie: no need for a crib any longer and not much of a set up for playing) but we will still need the changing area.
Our house is a 3 bedroom home but as a work from home mom, I have to keep our third bedroom an office so that means Asher’s room will serve double duty.
New Room Goals
I have decided to forgo the traditional “toddler room” vs “nursery” and instead combine them in a mesh of a room that will serve the purposes of a toddler room, playroom, nursing nook, changing area all with a touch of Montessori love.
The goal is to create a shared space where Asher will feel comfortable and be able to play and learn without boundaries but also where I will be able to care for little lady alongside him comfortably. Additionally, it will provide a place to accomplish the not so glamorous aspects of parenting (good ol’ diaper changes).
A View of the Useless Nursery
Here is a glimpse of our lovely nursery in its before state.
Our crib is so shiny and so white and SO not used for sleeping. This crib is used to dry our cloth diapers and not much more.
One area of the room that does get quite a bit of love is this little nook of books and toys. I will be keeping these sort of things readily available for Asher.
Though the room didn’t get the use we had expected, it has been one of my favorite rooms in the house.
I love how the colors turned out, the antique dresser turned changing table, the Ikea-hack bookshelves, and the DIY details my husband and I made, and really how it all came together. Sadly though, it just wasn’t used in the way we anticipated.
Next Steps for the Nursery
As we say goodbye to the mostly useless nursery here are a few goals for the new room:
1. A floor bed for Asher. We love this Montessori idea and I think he will do great having an easily accessible sleeping area.
2. Open-faced shelving for open toy display. We use this method for toys in our living room and Asher really does well with it. It prevents toys from piling up and only the top things getting played with. It also helps to prevent Asher from getting overwhelmed with too many options and in turn not playing with anything.
3. Keep the open-faced bookshelves. These are amazing and Asher loves being able to see to choose what book he wants to read.
4. Add a tent/teepee that will provide Asher with a fun and private space to play and/or escape his tiny sister when she becomes mobile. My mom always made sure we had a space that was all our own and I want Asher to feel like he can have some place to go if he feels overwhelmed or if he wants to escape baby sister. And plus they just look awesome!
5. I want to maximize the changing table/dresser and chair. These things will stay and/or be upgraded in order to be used for baby sister but I want everything about them to be useful. The room is too small and too important to waste space!
So we have embarked on the room transformation and so far it is coming along pretty well. I look forward to sharing the after shots with you soon!
