When we decided to start our family, my husband and I didn’t know exactly what we’d need for a bedroom for baby or how we’d pull it off financially. I’m sure many people are in the same boat wondering “how do I have a beautiful nursery without overspending?”
From some DIY hard work to savvy shopping, I’ll show you exactly how we created this cozy space for our new baby with very little cost.
Without further ado: My 5 Money- Saving Tips for a Fab and Frugal Nursery.
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Tip 1: DIY Some Things
Before
After
I prepped and painted the walls and trim myself. its not perfect, but it was way cheaper than paying someone to do it.
In a wonderful extra-frugal accident, we had this whole unopened bucket of paint from a project last year that we just never got to. The cost of painting and prepping these walls was really just that of the small bucket of drywall compound that I used to fill the small nail holes around the room because we had all the other supplies to paint after doing the master bedroom last year.
The color choice of green was actually also an effort to make the nursery gender-neutral as our baby’s sex is going to be a surprise!
This room needed to be painted because the walls were so beat up, but you may find that your walls and color are fine and there’s some other DIY project that could use your attention in the room. Don’t underestimate yourself, you can definitely learn to do a new home project and there’s nothing like the satisfaction of it turning out well!
Tip 2: Two words: Used Furniture
Not one piece of furniture in our nursery is new. I wasn’t really thinking about it or trying to do that when we did this, but it certainly saved us money.
The dresser was my husband’s from his childhood bedroom. It was quite beat up, but I took some Murphy’s oil soap and pledge to it and it is definitely improved. I also loved the idea of just putting a changing mat onto it because it seems like a waste of money to buy a dedicated changing table which will not be useful forever.
My mother bought the crib on Facebook marketplace for $50, my husband assembled it, and it’s perfect for us. It’s a Delta convertible crib, similar to the one at that link so we can buy the parts to convert it to a toddler bed and a full size bed as baby grows. This is not us just being lucky, you can find so many cribs at this price point on Facebook.
Our glider is the one my mother-in- law used when my husband was a baby.
Tip 3: Shop Your House for Art, Register for Functional Decor
I thought the diaper caddy was just so cute when I registered for it and I’m glad I did because it organizes and keeps accessible some necessities that would ordinarily be an eye-sore.
Tip 4: Wait Until After Your Baby Shower to Buy Big- Ticket Items
My baby shower was early enough that it was feasible to do this. I waited to see what people bought off our registry. We registered on Babylist.com and they have a feature where you can set things to be group gifts that multiple people can contribute money to. This allowed us to anticipate how much we’d have to spend on essentials that weren’t covered by the shower.
The key to this tip is knowing that people will likely bring you gift cards and even send you cash if they can’t show. This extra money can be used towards these big- ticket items even if nobody contributes anything to them on your online registry.
Our Newton Mattress was one such item that we were able to use $100 in amazon gift cards towards. I didn’t want to compromise on the quality of the mattress for baby because of its safety in being completely breathable.
Tip 5: Let Some Things Go…
Two other things I’ve let go of are needing curtains right now and a cute rug. I anticipate the curtains being a potential safety hazard as something for baby to get tangled in once they are walking and I don’t want to risk that. We will be putting up some cordless blinds soon though. With young dogs, and no budget-friendly solutions to a completely washable rug, the floor is going to remain bare for now.
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