I am not a believer in cribs. Ever since I went looking for one at Target when I was pregnant and a store employee advised me against them. She recommended that I save money by using a Pack n’ Play (which is waaay cheaper!) as both a play and sleep space, and that’s what I’ve done.
I’ve blogged before about my son’s nursery (when he was born I had to squeeze it into 60 square feet!) Now that I’m in a bigger apartment we’ve gotten a chance to expand things a bit, but I still don’t have a crib.
Here are a few pictures of the nursery before I got a chance to clean it, lol…
His Joovy play yard doubles as a crib, and I am still using the Ikea Expedit book shelf as a changing table/storage space. The wall decal is from Etsy, and the hot air balloon rug is from Overstock.com. These pics are after I cleaned — and yes, that is a Barack Obama poster above his play yard 
Cribs are super expensive, so forgoing one has saved a lot on decorating costs. Ladies, how have you decorated your children’s sleep and play spaces?
I never used a crib for my son either. It was much cheaper for me to purchase a bassinet, and later, a pack n’ play, for my son. I didn’t really do any decorating, because my son always slept where I sleep. As a toddler(2 years old), he now sleeps in an Elmo bed that I got from Walmart a while ago. It was not very expensive and he loves being able to climb in and out of his bed when he wants. He also has a Sesame Street(primarily Elmo,LOL) table and chair set that he likes to eat and play at as well. He doesn’t have his own room(he sleeps in the same room as me), so decorating his(and mine!) room with Elmo is out of the question right now.
Lol at the thought of you decorating your room with Elmo stuff, lol!
I work from home, so the need for Noah’s own space came out of that. It’s super important that he have his own space to play while I’m working.
But if he was going to daycare during the day, or if I didn’t work while I stayed with him at home, I don’t think I would have set aside a room for him.
I bought the crib of my dreams and it was the biggest waste of money. It’s a convertible crib and expands into a youth bed so she can use it until she’s 10 or so that’s my consolation. She sleeps in it about 2 hours a day for naps, that’s about it.
That’s what the lady at Target told me! She said that babies tend to like Pack n’ Plays and play yards better than cribs. But, like you said, at least you will get some good use out of it!
I was planning to buy a convertible crib but I took your advice and opted for a pack n play. I was thinking about the long term use of the crib but even as I think about it now, it would have been a mistake. We’re limited on space. And even just shy of 6 months, he only naps in his pack n play (which is in our bedroom) and sleeps with us at night. The area that’s supposed to be our dining room but acted as my office is now Xander’s “area”. It basically a place where we have all his stuff (bookshelf closet, changing table, bathing essentials, and totes filled with too big clothes). Besides getting dressed and getting his diaper changed, he doesn’t spend any time in there. Since we’ll be in this space for another 9 months and he’s paying more attention to his surroundings, I’m making an effort to make it Xander friendly with theme we decided.
Khyla,
I really don’t think kids need nurseries until they start playing actively and by themselves. And even then, they will probably prefer to hang out wherever you and your hubby are. We are training Noah to spend time in his room, because he prefers being in my office area because I’m there. But this is disastrous when I’m working because he’ll make concerted attempts to grab at the computer or eat pieces of paper I’m taking notes on.
We were given both a crib and a Pack n Play for this recent pregnancy. I’m planning on giving the crib away just because we really don’t need both. I prefer the Pack n Play. I’m all for free stuff though.