#atozchallenge N is for Nursery

Today I'm continuing with the A-Z Blogging Challenge! The aim is to write a post for every day of the month except for Sundays, with each post representing a different letter of the alphabet. This year, since I've just become a mum for the first time, my theme is: 'an A-Z of Newborn Care'. I'll be talking about all the highs and lows of parenting, sharing things that have been useful for me and posting some cute pictures.

For the letter 'N' I have chosen to talk about the Nursery-baby's room. My little one is not quite four months old yet and still sleeps in a moses basket beside my bed. She probably won't move into her own room until she's at least six months old, so the nursery is not quite finished yet. All the furniture is built, we just need to tidy up a bit and sort out some of the decorative aspects.

What do you need for the nursery?

The main things you need for a nursery are:

• A cot. We went for one that converts into a toddler bed later to get more use out of it. Cot bumpers, pillows and blankets are no longer recommended for health and safety reasons. All you need is a firm mattress, some bottom sheets and a grobag style sleeping bag for baby to sleep in. 

• A changing table. At the moment we have two collapsible tables-one upstairs and one downstairs-that we use as changing stations. We just put a soft changing mat like the Fisher price rain forest friends mat on top and a box at the side to hold nappies, wipes and a few toiletries. 
• A chest of drawers and wardrobe for storing all of your baby's clothes. Mine are both full already.

• Cupboards, shelves and storage boxes so you have somewhere for baby's toys, books, toiletries, nappies, gifts and keepsakes. Babies take up so much space with all their stuff! We bought some fun storage boxes from The Works. Drawers or boxes that slide under the cot are a great idea too.

• A comfy chair or rocking chair is sometimes nice so you can easily sit and feed your baby during the night. Sadly, we don't have space for one.
• Decorative objects such as pretty curtains, rugs, lamps, cushions, cute pictures and wallpaper borders to give the nursery a finishing touch. We have a Winnie the Pooh and friends musical mobile that attaches to the cot. I also found one of those signs made of individual wooden letters that spell out 'LOVE'. As my little girl is called Leona, I through away the 'V' and rearranged it to spell 'LEO'. I'm really pleased with it.

The furniture set we have is called the BabyStart New Delfina 3 Piece Nursery Set in white. I can no longer find it available online but this one from Argos is very similar. We didn't redecorate the room as we thought the original colours-light blue and yellow-would work well for a nursery. All the furniture is white but we've added some colourful furnishings such as this under the sea rug to brighten it up. There is a bit of a beach or seaside theme to the room. We got some great decorating ideas from Pinterest-I really recommend it if you're looking for creative ideas. 

It's still a work in progress and I can't wait until it's finished!

If you have children, what were the best things you had in the nursery? Did you have a theme?