I'm a Design Editor and Here Is Everything I Bought for My Baby's Nursery

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You wouldn't expect decorating a nursery to feel overwhelming for a design-obsessed editor like myself. But when it comes to creating a stylish and safe room for a baby, it's hard to know where to start—even for an interiors expert. Like most parents, I was not sitting around a perfectly designed home with a spare room just waiting to be transformed into a nursery and tons of free time. In fact, I had swapped my city apartment for a full-blown house, and we moved in a mere five weeks before our daughter was born. (10/10 do not recommend this, but such is life in a hoppin' real estate market.) On my priority list, decorating the nursery fell somewhere after "replace 1920s electrical circuits" and "unpack 400 boxes."

So, how did I manage to decorate the baby's nursery with limited time, a cramped budget, and my signature flawless taste? All it took was hours of research, hundreds of texts to designers and design savvy friends, and several rounds of crying on the floor.

My guiding principle for the nursery decor was that everything had to be flexible and multiuse. I knew my daughter wouldn't always be a baby, so I wanted anything we bought to be able to grow with her. To that end, I chose a Stokke crib that adapts from infant use to up to 5-years-old, and an extra-wide dresser that could easily hold a changing pad and diaper accoutrements now, and can be used as a regular bureau later. Another consideration was safety, which, from a design perspective, can be a real buzzkill. I am by no means an expert, so please check with your pediatrician for best guidelines. In my case, among several other safety measures, I avoided hanging anything above the crib or placing it next to a window. I also opted out of vintage and antique decor because of concerns over lead paint and other materials we now know aren't healthy for babies.

Instead, I added character through removable wallpaper (I am obsessed with Chasing Paper and use it all over the house). More charm came from an easy-to-clean floor mat available in the best William Morris prints, and baby-friendly accessories including crib sheets. And the baby bookshelves may have been the cutest items of all—especially when our little one grew old enough to start picking out books for us to read her. She's now a bona fide toddler, and I still use—and love!—the well-designed nursery items below daily.

For more ideas to add style to a nursery:

• 40 Nursery Decorating Ideas for a Sweet, Comfortable Space
  

• 10 Cute and Clever Stuffed Animal Storage Ideas
  

• 18 Sweet Nurseries That Emphasize Form and Function Over Gender

Morris & Co. The Willow Boughs Play Mat

"I want to get rid of our rugs and just have these everywhere," my husband has said more than once. These durable mats feel so good underfoot and wipe clean easily, but read as a "rug" visually. Bonus: They are reversible so you can change the print up.

Sleepi Crib

Most design parents know and love the Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair, but the brand's crib is just as beautifully designed and adaptable. It has three "settings" that go from infant to baby to toddler/child. The mattress is plush and the wheels make it easy to move when searching for lost pacifiers. Most mornings my daughter prefers lounging in her crib over being picked up right away—and if that isn't a convincing endorsement, I don't know what is.

Fitted Crib Sheet

These crib sheets are the absolute softest, and they only get better with washing—which is great since you'll be washing them a lot. Our contributing editor Elyse Moody gifted one to me and I have since bought three more. She says, "I love that the company is a small AAPI business founded by two moms who are twin sisters; it's also a B Corp, which means it upholds the very highest environmental and production standards. Given all those great things, I feel so good about supporting them."

Penny Extra-Wide Dresser

Pottery Barn's extra-wide dressers are a cult favorite among parents. The designs are stylish but not trendy, and the tops are large enough to hold a changing mat, a lamp, supplies organizer, and endure the WWE showdown that happens once your baby gets wiggly during diaper changes. They last forever (I got mine secondhand and it still looks brand new), and transition seamlessly to a regular dresser when the diaper days are over.

Hatch Sound Machine

You will do anything, ANYTHING to help your child sleep. The Hatch is a sound machine with a few life-saving extras: You can control it via your phone, which is helpful for when you are carrying a sleeping baby into a room and need to turn the sound machine on in advance, or if you need to turn on a low light to find where the f*** the baby threw their pacifier at 3 a.m., or simply need to turn up the volume a little bit because you want to watch a movie downstairs. When the babe is a little bit older, you can program a green light to come on when they are allowed to get out of bed to wake you up.

Diaper Can

I hate to tell you this, but all diaper cans are going to be a bit stinky. However, the Simplehuman is my favorite because not only is it sleek and easy-to-use, it also contains the smell. And it comes with an "odorsorb" pod for an extra layer of protection. Plus, when the diaper days are over it will make for a great trashcan elsewhere in the home.

Swivel Glider

A glider is one of the few nursery-only items I recommend, but so many give La-Z-Boy vibes. Not this beauty by Serena & Lily. It is perfection and comes in 176 colors to match any decor. Plus, it's a mood regulator for babies and parents alike. A comfortable chair nice to have for feeding, sure, but sometimes rocking back and forth is the only soothing thing you can think of, even if it is just to calm yourself.

Rue de l'Amour

Adding one or two fun pillows to the glider is an easy way to infuse personality to the nursery without going overboard. Oeuf offers options both chic (like this French street sign) and sweet (like a honey bear or heart).

Signature Hemmed Fitted Crib Sheet

Made from 100-percent organic cotton, Boll & Branch sheets are luxuriously soft and environmentally safe. I am particularly partial to the bunny pattern, which is sweet but not silly.

The Play Kit

Lalo has lots of great products for children, with clean lines and simple colors. My toddler is particularly enamored with this set—she loves having a table and chairs of her very own. I like that it doesn't look out of place in my home, and that it's kid-proof—I've wiped it clean of enthusiastic coloring marks hundreds of times.

Explore the World

Since hanging art can be dicey around babies (or too challenging for sleep-deprived parents), colorful wallpaper is a must. I love Chasing Paper because it is so easy to install and comes in fun prints for children like "Explore the World" (pictured), "My Neighborhood," and "Magical Safari." When you want to refresh the walls with a more sophisticated pattern come kindergarten, simply peel it off and try something new!

Flowerpot VP3 Table Lamp

This modernist lamp is not just design snobbery: it turns on with a light touch, which is weirdly essential when holding a baby. (I've done it with an elbow!) The steel coating wipes clean easily and the soft glow is perfect for bedtime routines, since harsh, overhead lighting can jazz a baby right up.

Acrylic Organizer

A diaper organizer was one of those things that I dismissed as parental propaganda—isn't that what drawers are for? But no, experience has taught me that it's extremely handy to have everything corralled neatly for diaper changes, especially as your baby gets older and starts doing gymnastics on the changing mat. This one is ultra-sturdy, so it won't slide or be kicked off, and it holds exactly everything you need.

Ceres Chill Breast Milk Chiller

For those who are pumping, this sleek system is easy to throw into a work tote and is ingenious for keeping the milk cold if you have an art gallery opening or two to attend before heading home. It's an all-around editor favorite.

Lemo 4-in-1

The adaptability continues with Cybex's Lemo highchair, which adjusts from highchair to elevated dining chair to learning tower. We have ours currently configured as a learning tower in the kitchen, which has been a lifesaver. The minimal profile makes it unobtrusive in any room, and, of all the baby furniture I assembled (a lot!), the Lemo was by far the easiest.

Droplet Ultrasonic Small Air Humidifier

The shape of this humidifier is so pleasing and unobtrusive. We ran one in the nursery for most of the winter, and it never felt like an eyesore. Pro tip: When cleaning, it is worth unscrewing the parts to get all of the mildew out.

Air Mini+

Along with a humidifier, a sleek Molekule air purifier was necessary for the "baby biome" I created in the nursery to ensure that the environment was as clean and fresh as the design.

Multi Color Pom Pom Curtains

Pure fun! These rainbow pom pom curtains go with everything; they're colorful without painting the room in the primary colors.

Montessori Bookshelf

We have a couple of these simple, wooden shelves, which hold lots of board books at baby's eye level, encouraging them to pick out options for bedtime stories. They're the stuff of sweet nursery dreams.

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