10 Nursery Items to Make Your Nursery Functional & Beautiful

After finding out I was pregnant, one of the earliest things I did was start thinking about the nursery! My family likes to make fun of me because I’m all about researching and reading reviews for everything. Restaurants, hotels, excursions and tours, clothes, products — you name it, I research the crap out of it. So when I started planning for Christian’s nursery, the research began. I was on a budget, so I didn’t want to buy things that wouldn’t get used. So I really researched what nursery items would make my life easier while also making the nursery look beautiful! Below is a list of five things that, in my opinion, are must have nursery items. Then I include a list of five things that are nice to have because they help the nursery look beautiful, organized, and functional!

Must Have Nursery Items

These are the items that, in my opinion, every nursery should have in order to be functional and make your life easier!

1. Crib: baby has to sleep somewhere! If you’re looking to budget, you could always purchase a playard.
2. Dresser/Changing Table: I personally am not a fan of furniture labelled “changing table” because the price is usually outrageous and the storage on it is minimal. The majority of the ones in my price range just didn’t seem very functional and didn’t have good reviews! I bought myself a dresser from target and then also purchased the changing table topper (like this one) to screw onto the dresser. By doing this I got the awesome storage space of a regular dresser but still had the changing table on top. So what’s inside the dresser?
   • The top three drawers are for diaper changing items: diapers, wipes, diaper creams, changing pad liners, baby lotion, and cleft-related items such as the taping and glues we need.
   • The two drawers on the left are for sleeping items: pajamas and swaddles
   • The two drawers on the right are filled with bibs and burp clothes
3. Glider/Rocking Chair: a glider or rocking chair is so great to have. You can use it when breastfeeding, pumping, bottle feeding, reading books, and/or soothing baby. Christian loves our glider! And sometimes it’s the only way we can get her to sleep.
4. Diaper Pail: I know plenty of families that will just throw the dirty diapers in the garage/outside trashcan. But I personally think the convenience of having a diaper pail right next to the changing table is too good to pass up! After doing the research, I went with the Ubbi Diaper Pail because you can use any kinds of trash bags with it. This is nice because you don’t have to pay for special bags that most other diaper pails require.
5. Baby Monitor: Since Christian is only 5 weeks old and still sleeping in our bedroom, we haven’t gotten much use out of our monitor. However, once she’s sleeping in her room throughout the night, a baby monitor will definitely be a must-have item!

Nice to Have Nursery Items

These items didn’t exactly make the cut for “must have” items, but they almost made the cut. What I like about everything on this list is that most of these items serve a purpose, such as helping keep things organized. And they also add to your nursery’s decor!

1. Book Shelves: Hopefully you’re planning on getting baby tons of books to read! The inner teacher in me wants you to know that you can help baby’s speech development and literacy from the day you bring him/her home from the hospital. You’ll want to have a way to store all those book. I like when things serve more than one function. In this case, the book shelves are also decor!
2. Storage, storage, storage!: Again, I like when the decor also has a function. So the basket by the side table holds swaddle blankets. The basket next to the dresser holds miscellaneous items, and I took advantage of every door in the nursery by hanging up hanging storage for bows, diapers, diaper bags, wipes, burp cloths, swaddle blankets, etc.
3. Night Light: we have the Hatch Nightlight/Sound Machine, and it’s really nice to have when we’re trying to put Christian to sleep or keep her asleep. If we’re feeding or changing baby girl, we don’t have to blind her and wake her up fully by turning on the light — even our lamp is a little too bright!
4. Ottoman/Foot stool: you’ll probably be spending most of your life in the glider, especially during the first few weeks, and the ottoman makes sitting in it even more comfortable. Plus, again, functional and cute!
5. Decor: so some decor is just meant to be cute and serve no other purpose! This final “item” is a catch-all for most of the other things in the nursery. The “theme” of my nursery is floral. It’s not a very obvious flowers-galore theme, but I like that it’s a little more subtle. The one thing I’m planning on adding to the decor is more pictures of Christian and our family!

Nursery Tour in Pictures

Here’s the rest of the nursery, along with information about where you can buy most of the things in the nursery! If there’s something I missed, let me know in the comments!

Did y’all notice a theme in where I got everything?! Amazon. Target. Hobby Lobby. Home Goods. Repeat! Beautiful doesn’t have to be expensive, and I’m all about sticking to a budget. What did I not include on the list that you think I should’ve? Let me know in the comments below!