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This post goes out to all the first-time moms who haven't yet experienced nursery life and experienced moms who want to improve their care giving for a newborn. Things are hard enough as a new parent figuring out how to care for a new little life. Then things are kicked up a notch in the middle of the night when it's dark and you are exhausted.

Here are three ways we try to help new moms navigate the baby nursery when designing their space. We want them to be able to handle all that comes their way with less stress, even with their eyes shut, or barely open.

If you are using a bassinet to co-sleep in your room with baby by your side for the first weeks/months of your newborn's life as recommend by the American Academy of Pediatricians, you're eventually gonna need to move baby into the nursery and a regular crib. You'll want to be able to move swiftly and safely from your bed to the crib without bumping, slipping or making too much noise.

Because you'll pretty much be sleepwalking to pick up your baby for middle-of-the-night changes or feedings - thoughtful setting up of the nursery so that there are no items like a pouf or baby play gym in your way.

We suggest that when selecting furniture and decor you pay attention to the size of everything and keeping your furniture in proportion and out of the main paths from the entry door to the crib and from the crib to changing table or glider. 

Another place to be give special attention is with all rugs – large area or small decor rugs. Be sure and use rug pads under all rugs on hardwoods and and make sure your small accent rugs are not going to slide when place on carpet.

Whether you are breastfeeding or bottle feeding a little light is your friend for this is task. You don't want to flood the entire room from an overhead source. Going from dark to bright light will jolt and baby awake, making it hard for both of you to stay relaxed. Making it even harder for your bodies to fall back asleep fast.

We recommend adding a dimmer ceiling light, adding a motion sensor light to a smaller ambient lighting piece. The other key place to add a task lighting is near the glider. A dimmable light is even better so you can use it in low-light situations like feeding or rocking, but can also provide you a bit more light for reading at story time.

Think about setting up your changing area like you might a work desk. Have baby necessities from diapers to nasal aspirator to clean clothes with in a one hand's reach. With your eye glazed over and for safety reasons, you don't want to leave your baby unattended so make sure you can grab the essentials with one hand. Like when the other hand is covered in poo.

Ensure the changing table area can hold the essentials like diapers and wipes, plus a clean change of clothing. Also keep all baby toiletries well organized and always put back in the same spot like rash cream, nasal aspirator, nail clippers, boogie wipes and any other must-haves.

This post is sponsored by some of our favorite brands and retailers, but the content and opinions expressed are our own. This post may contain affiliate links which help support our blog efforts.

I connected with celebrity stylist ElShane through a national community for working moms like myself called HeyMama. Our early communication was a bit shaky. You see ElShane had one little girl already and has an amazing larger than life personal style. So why would she need a nursery designer?

She admitted it was hard to trust another person with the creation of such a personal space, even a design professional. On our first calls I shared my initial thoughts on how she could get all the functionality in the tiny space she was having to carve out of her New York City rental and I walked her through the convenient e-design process – she ultimately realized the YouthfulNest virtual expert service was exactly what her busy schedule needed.

This shining star of a nursery is the true meaning of good things come in small packages.

This post is sponsored by some of our favorite brands and retailers, but the content and opinions expressed are our own. This post may contain affiliate links which help support our blog efforts. Disclaimer - Bare is the best practice of nothing but baby in the crib.
Items in crib are for photography styling only.

If you are like me you can't stop gazing at this nursery image and not feel pure joy. It also makes me smile because I recall the first conversation I had with Christine Yeargin, author of Cake for Breakfast blog, about her vision for the nursery and the bold, bright oversized floral print she was in love with.

After seeing our first designs and considering the bolder wallpaper prints Christine decided they just weren't for her and we moved away from colorful wallpaper to a minimal look using a clean wall paint as the backdrop to delicate, fresh and soothing styling. We're calling it Boho Chic.

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Hello YouthfulNest readers! My name is Shelbi and I’m a lifestyle blogger over at EverydayMrs as well as a first-time expecting mom. Being a first-time mom is overwhelming for so many reasons. However, nursery design doesn’t need to be one of these reasons. Today I want to share with you four nursery tips I have for fellow nursery newbies (or even second time moms who may need a little extra motivation!).

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I spy with my little eye some pretty neat nursery mobiles. We wanted to share what we've been adding to our client's nursery design's lately. These visual delights range in various styles from modern, traditional, Boho, etc. Not to mention this collection of beloved baby room décor pieces showcase a range of materials and prices.

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So you’re having a baby or seriously considering it? Then you might be house hunting for a bigger place – maybe a home with enough room for a separate nursery or a large one bedroom urban apartment with space to carve out a spot for baby.

In either case before you jump on Zillow or go on showings with a realtor, I have a few home search tips and interior considerations to help you be more prepared to make room for baby.

 This post is sponsored by some of our favorite brands and retailers, but the content and opinions expressed are our own. This post may contain affiliate links which help support our blog efforts.

This is a classic case of the second child. Typically, a second baby gets along just fine with a bit less of their very own and enjoys hand-me-downs of gently worn clothing; lived in strollers; and well-tested toys. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with this scenario.

BUT, keeping your first child's newborn photo hung over the second baby's changing table is taking this whole hand-me-down thing a bit too far. That was the case in a client and friend of mine's baby number two's nursery. (It was clearly time for a nursery re-design for this baby number two.)

About a year after I designed a big girl bedroom for a friend's daughter, their second daughter Hadley was born. As busy parents now of two little girls, the nursery remained the same as it had been when big sister moved out over a year prior – with big sis's newborn image still hanging over the changing table.

One day just after Hadley celebrated her first birthday Kim (mom) and I got to talking and decided it was time to do something about the impersonal space that was the nursery. We discussed plans to freshen it up, bring in some personalized décor and add in significantly more functionality that was missing. I wasted no time and within a week we had a sweet, budget conscious nursery design.

Scroll down to learn the six key steps of designing any nursery that were applied to this makeover.

This post is sponsored by some of our favorite brands and retailers, but the content and opinions expressed are our own. This post may contain affiliate links which help support our blog efforts.

I share a lot with our readers and followers on social media about all things best design practices and products for baby and kids' rooms. That sometimes includes tooting our own horn about our time-saving virtual interior design services and how we love helping real, busy moms.

But talking about our services through words and still pictures lately seemed inadequate. Then I started working with one mother who was clearly meant to be on camera – her honest and expressive nature when talking about her appreciation for my expertise and using our virtual service gave me an idea beyond a room reveal.

I proposed to my client Jeannine, a modern show idea that told the story from both sides of designing a nursery as a real, busy mom and as a virtual designer. She graciously agreed.

The Virtually Perfect Room was born.

This post is sponsored by some of our favorite brands and retailers, but the content and opinions expressed are our own. This post may contain affiliate links which help support our blog efforts.
 
Depending where you live, your summer fun is over and your kids have or will be heading back-to-school soon. As a mom myself, I am excited for my son to start kindergarten and simply hoping he can avoid using the word “poopy” in front of the teachers. Yes, he is only five and his maturity level isn’t quite there.
 
I got to know another mom who is doing a double-take of her young son who will attend preschool this fall. Jeannine Benoit Adams, is the mother to Ethan a beautiful and spirited four year old. He is also now a big brother to a baby brother who joined the family just this past July. Those are both big responsibilities and some new life skills are on the horizon for him this year.

To get Ethan ready for the school year and his new role as big brother mom and dad called upon YouthfulNest to hook him up with a big boy bedroom of his very own.

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If you haven't ever shopped at Walmart this may come as a big surprise, but you can find some gems on their home shopping site. No really, stop smirking out there. I have worked with their sister e-commerce site, Hayneedle, for years styling and curating together rooms to be showcased on their site and catalogs. Now Walmart too is looking to join in the fun as a bonafide online home interiors retailer. I found dozens of furnishings and decor perfect to create that dream nursery on a budget.

This new Walmart home interiors experience showcases completely curated rooms by style and brands to better highlight their collections of products like furniture, accessories and other decorative items. Many even large furniture piece like gliders are eligible for free two day shipping or in-store pickup discounts!

To prove Walmart is a solid resource I have combed through their HOME site and share below a small sampling of my own favorite pieces including cribs, rugs, lighting and even gliders perfect for the baby nursery that might surprise you. (A few items may be shipped by their sister retailer Hayneedle.)