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Simple Nursery Design Tips from Wendy Bellissimo *Giveaway*

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This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Clarissa Neiding!

Our “nursery” looks more like a little boy’s playroom these days.  Our baby girl came 3 weeks early and we’re still trying to work through the process of organizing the room to function as both a toddler room and a nursery.  Home design isn’t something I’m great at and I’m always looking for ways to make the rooms in our home look stylish and representative of our family.

Q-tips just released their new Baby Packs which are launching at Target and Walmart stores nationwide this week and into early February.  The company teamed up with celebrity nursery designer, Wendy Bellissimo, to design the Baby Packs which come in two cute animal designs and compliment a boy’s or girl’s nursery beautifully.  We typically take our Q-tips out of the plastic box they come in and store them in a plastic circular container in the bathroom.  The new space-saving baby packs feature a sliding drawer that will keep them clean for use.

Q-tips can be used to clean those hard-to-reach baby areas such as in between the toes (where lint likes to hide) and around the umbilical cord (our little girl’s got really icky before it fell off).  They’re also handy for applying creams or ointments to your baby.  The new Baby Packs include 285 Q-tips and retail for $3.19.

Wendy Bellissimo offers some simple tips for creating the perfect nursery.  Here are some of my favorites:

1. Don’t Sacrifice Style for Functionality: It is easy to create a beautiful, organized space in the nursery to care for your baby (without the piles of diapers and a mess of toiletries). Place a basket or fabric covered box (from an arts & crafts or paper store) on the changing table or shelf above and fill with diapers, Vaseline® petroleum jelly, diaper cream and rubbing alcohol. One nursery essential you won’t have to hide is the new Q-tips Baby Pack! They are available in two adorable nursery animal designs and are functional (with a new sliding drawer that keeps Q-tips cotton swabs protected for baby) so they can always be within arm’s reach.
2. Add a Personal Touch: Give your nursery a personal touch by adding framed covers of your favorite childhood books or classic black & white or sepia photos of you and your significant other when you were babies.
3. Create A Sleepy Time Sanctuary: We all need our beauty rest, so it is important to create an environment that’s peaceful for your baby to sleep. Create a calming atmosphere with soothing colors and softer tones rather than bright or harsh colors. Then, use accents to add pops of color without being too overwhelming. Be careful not to make the room too dark or too quiet at nap time. This way your child will be able to fall asleep in any environment, which is great when you are traveling or when new siblings arrive! You can also play soft, soothing music or lullabies to help the baby fall asleep.
4.  Room to Grow: Choose design options that can grow with your child – consider color palette, furniture style, storage options and a play/reading area. Look for a dresser with drawers and cabinets, rather than a standard changing table and simply secure a changing pad on top. Once your child outgrows diapers, you will have a beautiful piece of furniture with drawers for clothing and cabinets for toys that are within reach for your child.
5. Accessorize: A few must-have accessories for any nursery are books, books and more books! You can also add a silver piggy bank and a few irresistibly soft stuffed animals that will quickly become your child’s best friends! Even my celebrity clients still go for the traditional accessories – they bring us all back to that magical time of childhood.

Q-tips has taken something simple and functional and transformed it into a multi-purpose item. I hope other companies continue doing this (perhaps I wouldn’t have to spend a lot of effort transforming the room after all!).

On Thursday, February 4th at 8 p.m. EST, MomSelect and Q-tips are having a Twitter party where you’ll learn tips and tricks for caring for your baby in style.  There will be opportunities to win prizes so be sure to follow @MomTalkRadio, @ResourcefulMom and @MomSelectAmy throughout the evening for updates, prize information and contest details.  If you RSVP before the party, you’ll be entered to win a Q-tips prize pack.

Win It! One of you will win a Perfect Nursery Product Pack which will include Q-tips Baby Packs and a Silver Elephant Bank.  Simply leave me a comment with YOUR best nursery design tip.  Comments will close on February 7, 2010 at 10 PM PST. One comment per person, please (unless you do the extra credit). US residents only. Duplicates and comments not including the above information will be disqualified. Comments are moderated. If you don’t see your comment in a reasonable amount of time, send me an email. Bloggers and non-bloggers may enter. If you don’t want to leave your email address, please be sure to check back for my announcement on the winner. Please note that winners must respond within 48 hours of being announced/contacted or another winner will be drawn.

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I did not receive compensation for this post.  I received product samples, courtesy of Q-tips and MomSelect to facilitate my review.

Caryn Bailey
Latest posts by Caryn Bailey (see all)

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92 Responses to Simple Nursery Design Tips from Wendy Bellissimo *Giveaway*

  3. When my son was born; his room had a shelf that ran the length of one wall. We used it to display all his stuffed animals when he was born. This kept them neat and not all over the place.

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  7. I like to use sponges in different shapes for stamping designs with paint on the walls because they’re cheap and reusable and the wall is easy to keep clean. Also I think any nursery needs a disco ball lamp. My daughter loved hers.

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  10. I used a hammock to put up the stuffed animals. It hangs in a corner and is beautiful with all of the colors. And it makes more floor space.

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  12. My best nursery design tip. To save money on (expensive) nursery decorations, I decided on a “theme” and bought my bedding. To decorate the walls I went online & printed out pictures to color that matched my bedding. I colored & cut out the pics, glued them onto colorful paper, framed them & hung them on the walls. Instant inexpensive wall decorations. Thanks for the chance!

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  16. Be practical. Make sure to place frequently used items where they are handy. There is no use in placing the baby wipes on the dresser if you always change the baby in the crib.

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  18. Have a comfortable rocking chair in the room. Some of the best times are in the middle of the night rocking your child back to sleep in the quiet of his room. Also have a nightlight either on or quickly available so you don’t have to turn the bright lights on all the time.

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  21. keep things neutral so you can use with your next baby should your next be a different sex…helps keep costs down next time when you wont’ likely be getting a baby shower etc to help out

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  24. my best nursery tip is don’t go tooo baby…i did a neutral color with a few baby knick knacks, crib, changing table etc… but it is easily evolving into a bigger kids room without alot of money or fuss…there’s no borders to pull down or baby nurals..it worked for me

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  32. My tip is while tempting to really decorate cutely, decorate so the accessories can change and grow with the child. A friend of mine found a fantastic shaped wooden floor lamp at a garage sale. It looked so nice in the nursery and will still look nice when the baby is a teenager.

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  33. Dark window coverings! I have curtains that are basically a dark denim and it has been perfect creating a good sleeping environment during naptime.

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  35. I always love the look of the bookcases with the different colored baskets!

    Great contest – thanks for posting!

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  45. When painting the walls or hanging decorations/art , make sure the colors and decorations will last beyond the baby stage, or else you will be spending too much time and money on your child’s room

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  47. My tip is for those that already have a child. Have a small basket with special books or toys, that can be rotated out. That way your other child(ren) won’t feel alienated when you are in the nursery taking care of the baby. I actually have a small rocking chair next to the basket, so that when I am rocking, my 3 year old can too!

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  54. Our daughter sleeps in our room (save $ on heating), so we did things that maximized the use of space. Instead of a bookcase or bookshelf, we used bookends and lined up some of our daughter’s books under her crib. She can easily access them there. We rotate those books with ones in the living area where we have more of her books on the lowest shelf of a bookcase.

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  55. pick a theme that will last with them through the years….i picked a very light pastel pink and a disny wall runner that has purple bows, i am hoping she will like this for a few years!

    [email protected]

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  57. My advice it to keep it clutter free and organized. When you’re REALLY tired the last thing you want to do it search through a clutter drawer. Keep the baby essentials & health related items easy to find. Also keep the floor clear so when lil one starts to move around it’s easy for you to spread a blanket and play on the floor.

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  60. My tip is to use a paint color that can carry over when your child is older. A 5 year old boy may not like baby blue;)

    mscoffee77(AT)juno(DOT)com

    Reply

  61. We used wall decals that we bought on etsy. It brought color into our nursery without having to paint it, and it brought super cute designs into our room without us having to paint. That was $50 REALLY well spent!

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  65. My tip is that I used different shades of one color to start out with. Then as my sons grew,I could add contrast colors as they came to have favorites. These are adorable & will look great in my grand daughter’s room. Which is two baby girls room!

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  67. We tried to pick colors and themes that our kids could grow with so we wouldn’t have to redo the room as they grow older.

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  68. My tip is to go with a gender neutral color. Of course if you know the sex of the baby you are going to have then this wont necessarily apply. But I’d choose greens or yellow’s.

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  70. My best nursery design tip is to pick a unisex color for the nursery. That way if you have another child, he/she will be able to use it as well. I picked a sage green color for my son’s room.

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  74. My tip in this economy is not to go overboard. The baby won’t know or care how much money or time you spent on his or her nursery. Get a nice crib, a rocker, and stuffed toys that s/he will appreciate for a while. I agree with another comment to keep things neutral so it will be easier to redecorate it into a child’s room.

    Reply

  77. Be original, but don’t try too hard to make it so different.
    Its a nursery, so keep it simple, and add sweet touches.

    Reply

  84. My best nursery design tip is to have a nice soft rug or large playmat down if you have hardwood floors. It won’t be long at all before little one is up and moving, and the hard floors, though beautiful and cleaner than carpeting, don’t give an inch when little ones take a tumble.

    Reply

  86. My best tip is keep it simple. Once I learned my baby’s personality and likes I decorated accordingly.
    The wall art vinyls keep the walls interesting.

    Reply

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