This weekend was not a light and peppy weekend. With only a little more than 4 months to go, I’ve been freaking out a bit and recognizing just how much we need to get done before our sweet pumpkin arrives. So, I was determined to make some progress with the selection of our baby furniture and making some progress on deciding what to paint.

On Friday, we went to Colders (a furniture store) to check out their cribs, and actually, really liked the Young America Sleigh Crib. The store was having a “50% off” sale… ie: they inflate their prices so they can offer ridiculous discounts… which would make the crib about $800. Originally, we had thought it was closer to $700, but regardless, we were excited about the crib and thought it was a really good option.

On Saturday, after a nice mani/pedi with my mom and sis and lunch with the two of them and the hubs, Mark and I set off to Chicago to check out all that Pottery Barn Kids had to offer. We drove over an hour to spend about 20 minutes in the store. The quality of the furniture and some of the blankets, etc. just did not match the prices. (My Pottery Barn Kids Discoveries: Blankets I loved… The Sherpa Stroller Blanket and the Emerson Stroller Blanket. Blankets that felt rough and yucky… The Chevron Stroller Blanket and the St. Tropez Stroller Blanket. I had also registered for the Harper Changing Table Runner and End of Crib Storage. After seeing them in person, I removed them from my registry. And, generally speaking, unless it’s on total sale, I wouldn’t waste your money on their nursery furniture.)

I was feeling a bit bummed out, but we headed back towards home… in even more snow. We literally saw 10-15 accidents on our way home.

Anyway, we stopped at Colders on our way and got pricing on the full nursery furniture set that we saw quickly on Friday. With a crib, toddler conversion, dresser with changing topper, bookshelf and side table, the total was $2,800! We were a bit taken a back. Obviously, that was not going to work… it didn’t even include the glider, which can be another $200-1000+.

So, we drove home very quietly. Actually, we put on my Big Band Swing CD, which somehow saved us a little. It brought the perfect level of calm to the car ride so I didn’t break down in tears.

The next day was my friend’s baby shower. A group of us planned the shower, and it really came together to be a nice little celebration. However, I’m not going to lie… by about halfway through the gift opening, I was feeling some MAJOR anxiety. My friend opened present after present and literally it felt like 85-90% of the gifts were clothes. The cutest and sweetest little clothes… but all clothes. She barely got anything off of her registry.

And as I sat there struggling with my own, “how the hell are we going to afford everything we need” dilemma, watching my friend not receive the registry items she needs started to stress me out more.

Needless to say, by the time I got home, I was on a mission to find cheaper options for our furniture and was kind of a basket case. While I was gone, my husband had done some research on furniture options, which were summarized in a nice little email. Although, the message was disappointing… not that he had said something I didn’t know, but he had put into writing what I had been avoiding. It is not worth it to spend all that money on baby furniture, no matter how adorable it would make the room.

So, in my full pregnancy fashion, I sat in front of my computer looking for furniture options, as silent little overwhelmed tears fell from my eyes. Thankfully, Mark was amazing. He cooked dinner without even asking me what to make and just let me digest and reformulate my plan.

By the end of the night, I felt way better. I had found a new crib option from Babies R’ Us for under $500 AND a Babies R Us Coupon, an awesome dresser on Craigslist for under $200 (that needs to be refinished to match the white crib), and a cheap bookshelf.

This afternoon at lunch, I went to Babies R Us to check out the crib and I think it’s going to work. The wood is a little soft, so the crib rail seems like it might get easily dented by belt buckles, etc., but with a crib guard, I think it would be fine! I also saw a glider that was pretty comfortable and fits the look I like… it has an ottoman, although I can’t find it online. The set is just under $600.

So, if we go with this set, we’re looking at $1,500 for all of our furniture. Not too shabby in my opinion! We’re going to check out the Craigslist dresser tonight and hopefully get everything squared away this week.

Other things accomplished… I ordered this chandelier from Home Depot:

With an inexpensive ceiling medallion. The light was $99.97, which is a little splurge, but the fixture in the current room is terrible. It doesn’t give off a lot of light and is very yellow. My sweet and compromising husband didn’t fight me on this one 🙂

I’m also thinking of doing crib netting with the mobile hanging from the inside. Not sure if that makes sense yet, but here are a couple of examples…

I found the netting for only $19 online. Here’s the picture from their website (maybe I can sew some lace on it to spruce it up a bit):

 

And here’s the mobile I’m thinking. It’s from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child.

 

FINALLY, we’re making progress.

Symptoms

I just love our little baby and want everything to be perfect for her. In the midst of my meltdown yesterday, I had a really nice chat with my friend’s mom who is just SUCH a voice of reason. She reminded me that a) stuff is just stuff; b) that mismatchy stuff is usually even cuter than a set of all matchy matchy; and c) I need to compromise. It was the exact conversation I needed to make it through yesterday and be able to end the day with a new plan.

Even with our more reasonable budget, I’m confident that the room is going to be perfectly amazing and lovely.