Goodbye office, hello adventure themed nursery!

We spent some time last weekend creating a dedicated bedroom for O. It meant saying goodbye to our much loved, but never used office and moving a whole lot of furniture around upstairs. The result is a bright, but cosy room that he seems to love sleeping in - success!

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O was in our room until he was about six months old

When we brought O home from hospital last December, he slept in our room in a Snuzpod crib beside our bed. As time passed, we gradually moved this further away from us, before switching it for his larger cot at the side of our room.

Fast forward to mid summer. Just after he turned six months old, we decided to move O out of our room into the front bedroom. We chose this room as it had a spare bed for all those nights when it was easier to sleep in the room with him.

O's first bedroom

Before we moved him in there, the front bedroom needed a refresh, so we settled on an adventure theme. I loved the process of planning, selecting the bits and pieces and decorating the room for him!

This set up worked perfectly for the late summer and autumn; we had a master bedroom, a fully functioning (albeit rarely used) office and a guest bedroom/O's nursery. However, as we hit November and the temperatures outside starting dropping at night, suddenly the temp in O's room was dropping during the night too. Nothing too low, the lowest was around 16/17 C, still within safe sleep guidelines, but certainly chillier than during the summer.

Does warmth = sleeping through the night?

This would probably have been fine, except we recently spent a few nights staying in my parents house, where O slept in a very cosy bedroom - and happily slept through the night.

I decided that there had to be a link between warmth and good sleep.

I was determined to make his room a little toastier. We tried heavy curtains, but they blocked the radiator. We tried moving the thermostat for the central heating into his room, but then the rest of the house got way too hot. To combat this, we tried turning off other radiators in the house, but then we froze!

I appreciate the lack of science, but after a year of crap sleep, I was willing to move a bit of furniture to further test my warmth = sleep hypothesis.

Goodbye office, hello nursery

We realised that we were never going to make the front room toasty. So moving him into the office was the obvious next step (for me anyway). This room has relatively modern windows and the biggest radiator in the house (even though it's the smallest room), so it usually feels pretty snug.

*The office before I started moving things*

So last Friday I decided to bite the bullet and move everything. I spent the day shifting furniture, cleaning, hoovering and dusting. I kept forgotting to take photos as I went but luckily the few that I have are from the same angle so you can (sort of) see the progress!

The finished product!

Now that it's done, I am delighted with how it all came together. The room feels bright and airy, but also warm and snug. It didn't cost a cent to do as I just moved the bits and pieces from his first bedroom and stole things from other rooms in the house.

We stuck with the adventure theme, but only using low cost pieces that can be switched easily as he grows and his interests change.

The display wall works!

The gridwall displaying his stuff and providing a great place to hang his dressing gown, room thermometer and other bits and pieces!

The metal frame on the wall is made from gridwall and was something we planned for the office to organise all the stationery. It was perfect for this and I really didn't want to go to the effort of taking it down, so I was a bit worried about how it would translate to a baby's room.

I've been pleasantly surprised by how cool it looks in the nursery. It's a nice way to display the artwork he brings home from creche and it will also make it super quick and easy to refresh and personalise his room for his interests and personality as he grows.

That cot though...

*This moKee cot was such a great purchase!*

O's cot is one of my favourite purchases to date. I stumbled across it when I was looking for cots that would fit between the wardrobes in his first bedroom. Most cots are 140cm long, whereas moKee makes this Mini Cot which is just 120cm. They come in a huge variety of colours (ours is Dusty Aqua) and the grey fabric teething rail is made to fit perfectly. The front comes off too, so it can transition into a cot bed for him when as he gets bigger.

(Edit: themumproject.ie is an affiliate of moKee, so if you purchase using the links above, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

Our storytime chair

*Our Ikea Poang chair is perfect for bedtime snuggles*

The Poang chair has been a faithful companion for us for years. It's the perfect chair for cuddles and for bedtime stories as he gets older. Also, O is so wriggly that we haven't used a raised changing station in a long time, so the footrest doubles as our changing table at the moment!

Sleeping through the night!

The best part of the whole move is that O has slept really well in the new room. The first two nights in it were the best we've ever had. The difference in temperature between the two rooms in probably about 2 degrees; his new room averages 20-21C overnight whereas the front room was probably 18-19C.

I'm not sure we can attribute his newfound sleep skills to the temperature, but I am definitely declaring the new room a success!

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