Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Paralyzed With Indecision

Six weeks until the baby comes, and we haven't given her either a nursery or a name. (We'll talk about the name some other time!) I've been biding my time on the nursery. Originally I wanted to let her sleep in a Moses basket by the bed, but everyone's worried that she'll be stepped on (there's no horizontal surface for the basket). I've also noticed an increase in the number of crickets, ants, and spiders scurrying across our floors. However, our agent thinks the guest room might show better with its full bed than with a crib.
I'm torn. I've always believed that the more bare floor exposed, the bigger the room looks for resale. A crib would show more floor but might limit buyer's perception of the room. On the other hand, baby clothes and gear are demanding a home somewhere other than the attic. If I swap the bed for a crib, I will have a dedicated room for all this stuff. It's not like my mother-in-law will come up for a post-baby visit, anyway. I would simply insert the white crib we have, switch the artwork, and leave the dresser and mirror as is.
So what do you think? I could really use advice. Neither option will cost me any money. I will do a proper nursery in the next house (hopefully at the end of the summer). But what will look best? What will function best? The photo below will give you an idea of the small dimensions of the room.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Personally, I think the cool crisp white of the baby bed will give the look of more. It will look good with the mirror and the dresser. And anyway, you are the best decorator so far I have seen. You can pull this off. I will bet the house sells in no time!

Shannon said...

I agree with yuo - the crib will show more floor space and make the room look bigger. And, really, it shouldn't limit what the buyer can imagine the room to be - a serious buyer will be mentally arranging their own furniture in there anyway:)

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate said...

Wouldn't a good agent be talking to the prospective buyers about the fact that the room would be a great guest room? I would think a crib would make it look larger, as long as it didn't get cluttered with baby stuff. (Mine were always cluttered!)

You do have to LIVE in your house for the time being. I had Princess in our room for almost 2 months before she moved down the hall to her own room (the better to nurse at night) Buddy on the other hand grunted all night long in his sleep and kept me from the precious few hours of sleep I was managing to get anyway-he was in his own room in about 5 days. . . I think that you will be tired enough dealing with postpartum and new baby-go with the baby room if it will make your life easier.

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Terri said...

I agree with the other ladies - I think the crib would make the room appear larger and since you're keeping the dresser and mirror, it will still provide that clean, uncluttered look. Besides, I don't see you decorating the nursery in any way other than your usual sophisticated, streamlined style!

Anonymous said...

Ditto what everyone else says. If they walk into a room with a big bed and it doesn't look like there is room to walk around in they will think "no Space". If there is a crib and floor showing they will think "look at this room, I can put a bed in here and make a great guest room." We just went throught the house buying thing and this would be what I would think. I always was looking for rooms that looked spacious.
Leigh Ann

Carrie said...

Hmm, I don't know. I think I would consider the type of neighborhood you live in and the type of people who are going to be looking at your house - are they going to be families, or older couples, or single people? If it's a family, I'd say go for the crib, but I also know that babies don't care where they sleep and it's highly unlikely you'd be so unaware of your baby's presence that you'd step on it, so if it would really market better without the crib, I would do the basket!

Ann @TheAssetEdge said...

Go for the crib. Keep the room crisp, clean & uncluttered. It will look much more spacious.

Your home needs to be your home, even if it's on the real estate market. God will bring the right buyer in the right time, whether there's a crib or not!

I'm excited that you'll hopefully be in Crieve Hall by the end of the summer. Let me know if you want me to watch for houses for you. :)

Catherine at Frugal Homemaker Plus said...

Crib. It's clutter that makes a room look small. But I'd also agree with the person above who said that you should consider who may be buying your home. I know that when I'm looking at houses, I look in the rooms and think- will my kids fit here? (I have no kids yet, but I try to think ahead!) Will this make a good family home?

That's a beautiful room anyway! Have you ever considered being a professional decorator?

MommyLydia said...

Seems to me that you're very brave to be moving with a newborn :)

IS there any way to turn a bed into a place a baby could sleep? If so, then you could leave your bed and put that on top to lay the baby on top of the bed (And I will then know what to do when our baby comes since we have an antique bed in the spare room and no attic to put it in when a baby comes.)

In any case, I'd do what works for your family and not worry about how it shows. The crib will make the room look bigger.

Maybe, if you're afraid that people will think that a bed won't fit in there, take a picture with the bed in it and put that on the website or something to show?

Anonymous said...

What about a pack 'n play for the baby in your room? That's what we use for the first few months. Ours has a bassinet level (could conveniently store some stuff underneath it) that we split in half for a sleeping area and half for a diaper changing area.

If you had open houses, the pack 'n play could conviently be torn down and put away (or enough time before a scheduled appointment run-through).

Just my 2 cents (not sure if you have a pack 'n play though) :)

Anonymous said...

I used a rollable bassinet with a basket underneath for the first 4 months. I would put a few outfits, diapers and blankets in the botton bag and I was ready for the week. We have a small house and with a toddler still in our room this made it functionable. I could take the bassinet to different rooms so the baby would be close.
Hope this helps

Anonymous said...

Meredith:

On Designed to Sell the ruling principle is: "Make it appeal to as many buyers as possible". I notice they ALWAYS get rid of kid stuff. THEREFORE, I vote, keep it a guest room. Probably, psychologically, it's also advantageous: Wow, Walter, so much space there's even an extra bedroom!

Have you tried angling the bed with the head in the corner diagonal from the door? Anytime you look at something from the short end, as opposed to looking at it's width, the space around appears larger by appearing deeper. I don't think that would work if you would bang into the foot of the bed upon entering, though.

Baby can be in your room for the time being with an easily torn down baby-space. How much do they really need anyway?

One last idea. Photograph the room set up both ways. Then let us vote : D Yeah, like you don't have anything else to do...

Debbie

Kim C. said...

I'm with anonymous. We quit on cribs a long time ago for space considerations. Our babies have used pack-n-plays almost exclusively. I love the flexibility of being able to move the baby's bed anywhere in the house or pack it up in 60 seconds and take it with us when we leave!
And even though one would think they're not up to heavy daily use, we're still using the one we received as a gift 6 children ago!
It's certainly an option to consider.

mothersong said...

Why not put the Moses basket in the guest room? The baby won't need a crib for a while.

I don't know, after 5 kids I never have had a nursery, so it doesn't seem to bad to me to leave it a guest room and call it a day.

Roberta said...

A pac-n-play was going to be my suggestion as well. We have used the same one for 3 children and it's in great shape...also has a bassinet insert and separate changing pad but I am taller so it is much more convenient to lay a blanket on the floor or bed to change baby. Our pac-n-play fits snuggly in the corner of our room by my side of the bed and baby sleeps cozy and then usually is in our bed for nursing and tends to stay for the rest of the night. I like my babies close. And their clothes are so little I have a basket for clothes and one for diapers.
Our last house was very tiny and my daughter a baby koala (lol) so she stayed in our room in the p-n-p for 16 mo. It worked great. hth :)

Anonymous said...

I am going with the gals who voted for the pack and play. We bought one with my third son, for reasons similar to what you are facing, and I have honestly been surprised at both how well it has held up, and how much we have used it. It really does fold up pretty quickly, and would be easy for you to pack away quickly when you know that you have a house showing. You'll be able to use it for several years whenever you travel, etc., and then you can either resale it or give it to a friend when you're finished with it. Personally, I think that with only 6 weeks to go, and knowing that you are soon going to be moving anyway, leave the room as is. It looks lovely and beautiful, and not changing it is one less project that you have to worry about. And as an OB nurse too, (but not working now since I am SAHM with 5 kids!), I would also say that you don't really know what your last few weeks of pregnancy will bring. So many times, ladies have trouble with blood pressure or swelling, etc, right at the very end , and it really is important to follow bedrest orders at that point. I would hate to see you get a project of any size started and then feel stressed about not being able to finish it. My vote is to just do what you feel like you have to do, and then enjoy waiting for your sweet new little bundle to arrive!
Susan

Anonymous said...

I would wait until you know the baby's personality as well. We didn't start out with a nursery for either child. With our first the landlord decided perhaps it was time to replace the cracked and potentially hazardous ceiling and it wasn't done in time. With our second we decided it was time to replace yet another cracked ceiling (noticing a theme here?). With #1 we did a bassinet in our room and used the dresser as a changing table with no problems. With our second, we were planning on doing the same thing. I thought I would collapse from exhaustion because he did not sleep-the minute we put him in his bassinet he would scream. The moment my DH went to sleep he would scream. In desperation, we put the bassinet in the living room hoping we could take turns and he did so much better. Finally, his room was done and we moved him into the crib and he slept just fine. He's a very light sleeper and I think the sounds of my DH snoring or my getting undressed to get into bed were enough to wake him up.

Anonymous said...

Could you put the Moses Basket on the bed in the guest room? Then the room is still a guest-room as you could move the Moses Basket where-ever you wanted during the day.

For both of our kids we used a bassinet with wheels on it too - it was great. I could wheel it to whatever room I wanted to with ease and at night, baby was in the room with us (until their snuffling noises got to us!! LOL!)

Good luck! Can't wait to read your name selections!

Wilm (maybe your only "Kiwi" reader. A true blue New Zealander!)

PS First time that I have posted on your site Meredith - came via Mommy Life - have read your whole site now!

emily said...

Aren't you supposed to remove as much kid stuff as possible? I've heard that kid things makes people purposefully look for kid damage - scraped baseboards, spills on carpet, chipped paint on door frames. If they see less kid stuff, people assume only adults were in the house. When my parents had my childhood house for sale (fifteen years ago!) they even took down pictures of us as children. I was ten at the time, my sister was 8, my brother 2. Pack and plays are great and are what I used with #1 for the first 3 months.

Emily

Anonymous said...

btw, what a pleasing dresser/mirror vignette. pretty!

debbie

Meredith said...

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful responses! I'll let you know what we decide. I'm leaning toward leaving the guest room and using a pack 'n play instead. However, the tightwad in me hates to buy one when I have a perfectly good crib in the attic. Also, there is the unspoken fear that something will happen during my husband's dissertation progress and we'll end up staying here another few months--making me wish I had done the nursery all along. We'll see!

Emily, I do remove all toys and kid clutter. I think it's okay that kids live there, but only in an idealized, Pottery Barn kids kind of way : ) No family photos, though.

Anonymous said...

crazy question, but do you have a favorite black paint for covering odd furniture pieces? such as the chairs in these photos.