This used to be the pride of our home, the prettiest room. It was the study and the most thought through and planned space of our unit. I must show you what it looked like some time, but that’s for later.

Then we got pregnant. Then months and months went past and then finally we started acquiring all the STUFF you need for the newest member of our family. And we chucked it all in the study.

We had stuff in the study that needed out, and stuff in the rest of the unit that needed in, but we couldn’t do anything until we had shifted the living room/kitchen debacle into storage. Once that was done we could finally shift:

• The filing cabinet
• Desk and bench
• Sofa bed

And that landed in the living room and dining room. Of course. So that’s once again messy.

The sofa bed won’t stay there but we have family coming to stay in a month so need that sleeping space for now. Once our (much welcomed and wanted) guest has gone we’re going to have to reassess the sofa situation and get rid of one of them. We think. But that issue is to be dealt with later. One thing at a time. And once the kitchen is done the appliances will of course be gone from that space as well and I’ll be able to set up a nice little desk area in front of our “library” (yes we think we’re that posh) and make that look alright again. We think.

Then we stole our comfy armchair from the living room and shifted that into the nursery for feeding time, and I also stole the Moroccan pouf (from the living room people, I initially bought it in a shop) and chucked that in with the armchair.

We bought a chest of drawers on eBay. I have wanted one of these retro drawer units for ages and was stoked to be allowed to include that in our very inofficial nursery mood board (that only ever existed in my head, sorry). Unfortunately you can’t pick one of these up for $20 here in Sydney like you seem to be able to do in the US, so we paid a bit more for it. Like a lot bit more. But I still love it, and love how the drawers are different widths.

It had a little bit of a smell to it so we washed it, every last inch of it, with white vinegar which I’ve read on internet should work to kill bacteria and remove smells. We actually even wiped down the walls with the white vinegar and I sprayed a light mist on the carpet too while I was at it to deal with any potential residues of mould or other scary things that might be in there. (Long story. When I tell you the story of the study it shall all be revealed.)

We also bought the Boori cot second hand on eBay for about $300 less than it would’ve cost to buy it new. It was in great shape and the model is still sold so we felt confident saving a buck doing that. It’s all enviromental and chemically safe for babies to chew on apparently and we wanted a white one so were quite chuffed to get hold of this one which was even my preferred model if we had bought a brand spanking new cot.

Drawers are drying in the background from their white vinegar bath. We also wiped the cot down. It’s our new thing. It does stink for a wee bit but as soon as it dries you can’t tell anymore. Apparently it even deodorises any old stinky smells. And kills nasty chemicals in fabric, so I washed all fabrics for the nursery, including the baby clothes, in… yes you got it in one – white vinegar!

The black book case was from the study and I think I can repurpose that nicely for the nursery, although I want to paint it a different colour.

The colours I’ve had in mind for the nursery are grey, white and yellow. And I think the book case would get the darker grey while the walls are already the lighter grey.

We still have to:

• put up the blinds (already bought)
• make the curtains (fabric already bought)
• put up art (gifted)
• make the cot skirt (fabric already bought)
• paint book case (already have the dark grey paint)
• change ceiling light shade (red was never part of my nursery plan, that’s a left over from the study, may do a swapsie with the dining room shade)
• rearrange the shelves with more nursery appropriate decoration
• pimp the shade on the table lamp (not seen in pictures)
• maybe chuck a rug in there

The only things we bought new was the table lamp, blinds and curtain fabric, all from Ikea. Then I bought some fabric for the cot skirt. Oh yes, and the tidy drawer for storing stuff underneath the cot (which is what the cot skirt is for, hiding the drawer and its contents).

But that’s all decorative. If baby comes tonight she’ll have somewhere safe to sleep, bathe and feed.

Oh and of course we bought clothes and toiletries and bath and travel equipment and movement detector and about a million other things for her, but to put the nursery together we didn’t spend a whole heap thankfully.

Now I just need to get the decorative thingies in place and it might actually look alright in there.