In preparation for releasing my little beast from her cage, I've started round two of baby proofing Emily's room. It was baby proofed when she became mobile, but once she's let loose in there and can get up and get into mischief while I am sleeping, it needs a baby proofing upgrade. I've never been super happy with her dresser/changing table. I loved it when I ordered it, but the price being right at the time doesn't make for quality furniture that lasts.
The back of the furniture is just a thick piece of cardboard essentially, so the blankets in the cabinet part have made the back pop off and bow out when the blankets get shoved in there to the back. The drawers and cabinet door are crooked and the drawers don't close all the way. I've put together a lot of furniture over the years and nothing ever turned out as poor as this piece did.
The belt on the changing pad has scratched the top of the dresser all up. I was looking forward to getting rid of the changing pad soon so I would have more surface area to put stuff on, but the table top looks horrible with all the scratches. The other day I was trying to put those sticky baby locks on. The second I tried to open the drawer with any force at all, the lock popped off and took a layer of veneer off the dresser. I wish I had paid a bit more to get better quality at the time, since now we have to buy something better, on top of the money we wasted on this one. But when you're planning for a baby, you have so much stuff to buy, so it's tempting to go cheap on some things, only to regret it later. My stepmom told me the other day that her and my dad and my inlaws were planning on buying all of the nursery furniture for us. They even went out to dinner to talk about it, but they said I went ahead and bought it all before they could. First of all, I waited quite a while to buy it, just in case anyone wanted to go in with others to get it. And secondly, I would have accepted reimbursement! So I jokingly told her she can buy me the new dresser :)
So anyway, a few people told me they were really happy with their babies r us furniture. I was excited to look there because I feel like so many traditional furniture stores have pieces that just look too grandma-ish.. Too old for a little girl's room. I immediately found a dresser I love and it got a lot of great reviews. This piece isn't cutesy at all, it just looks more age appropriate, but will still look great when she is a teenager too.
Since we've decided to spend more money for better quality, I was tempted to get the set I saw at Macy's a while back. The bed and chest and nightstand are all white and they are very "little girl, princessy". I know she'd love it now, but it's not really a set that would grow with her. I highly doubt she would still like it once she is like 15.
So then I was thinking, we're spending money to get a better dresser, so we should probably get her a better bed too. The metal canopy I had picked out is only about $100 or a little more. I guess it could, but for that price it likely won't last for years and years. So I started looking for a bed too, but the price for the bed and the dresser is a bit overwhelming, so we decided to just convert her crib into a full size bed.
I didn't want to at first, because we still need to buy the rails, but just buying the rails to convert it is way cheaper than buying a brand new bed and we'll have to get her box springs and a mattress no matter what bed we choose. We already know the crib is good quality and it looks great with her other furniture. I also didn't want to use it because it's a full size bed, and I didn't really want her in such a big bed. But, all it really means is she has more room to roll before falling out of bed. Isn't really a bad thing I guess (and we'll have a safety rail). It's not like a big bed is going to swallow her whole.
I had a twin bed up until I was like 18 or 19 because I took over my brother's bigger room once he moved out and finally had room for a bigger bed. I remember my first night sleeping in the double bed, I had so much room! And it was nice that when I moved out a few years later, I was able to take my bed with me. There was no way I was going to move out and take a twin bed. So my parents ended up having to buy me that new bed. But with Em starting out in a full size, maybe that will mean we won't have to get her a new bed ever, and she can even use this one even as an adult. It would be kind of cool to just one day when she's much older to say by the way, did you know this headboard and foot board was your crib? But watch, my entire plan will collapse when she one day claims she needs a queen or a king.
Well she can buy that on her dime. Besides, the full bed is barely going to fit in her room, no way will anything bigger. Pottery Barn has a room planner where you can choose the size of the room and put in all the furniture so you can decide where to put things before you start moving furniture. It will be a little tight, but I think everything is going to fit ok. We'll have to take the glider out though, no room for that. But once she has her big girl bed, I'll be able to climb in bed with her and read her stories, so we won't really need the glider in there anyway.
I just bought her a new pack of pull ups for naps and night time. So I think when we run out of those we'll take the front panel off her crib to make it into a toddler bed and work on night training. Once she is doing well with that, then we'll convert it into the full bed. I know I should enjoy this last month or so of her being behind bars....bed time will not be easy once the bars come down. But I'm so excited to move her on to the next stage. It is a little sad, but not like I thought it would be. When she was a baby I couldn't imagine getting rid of the crib, but that's cause she was a baby and still needed it. She's a big girl now and it just seems right for her to be moving on to the next stage. Besides I think she will love it. She sleeps in a big bed at Nana's now for nap, and whenever she gets on our bed she stretches out and looks so comfy. On to bigger and better things.
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