A look inside our nursery

One of the most exciting things about moving into our new house was making a nursery for tiny man. We moved out of our flat - the place he came home to after being born - when he was about five months' old, so he'd never slept in his own room before. This was our chance to make a lovely place for tiny man to play, be changed, store all of his toys and clothes - oh, and, hopefully sleep through the night one day too...

Only one problem: the budget. Unlike the multi-gazillion-pound monochrome nurseries I oggled over on Instagram, we'd just moved house so.... the budget wasn't big..

Here's what we did - a mixture of lovely-looking, practical and functional nursery furniture, Ikea hacks and DIY accessories. 

First up, storage. We needed a big cupboard to fill with tiny man's clothes, bedding, nappies, shoes, blankets, and more. But so many that I saw online were so dark and overbearing that they'd suck the light out of a room. Then we found Mothercare's Lulworth wardrobe - it's white and oak effect, has loads of space, but light and airy too. It has plenty of hanging space, a shelf, and two drawers, and there's a matching unit and cot if you're looking for those. Bonus points: the store's furniture delivery was so easy (nice time slots, called 20 minutes' before arrival..) Sometimes that makes a big difference!

On the walls, my mum embroidered tiny man this amazing sampler - available from Jolly Red - with his birth date and name. We added a string of photos underneath - it's just above the changing mat so the pics are a useful distraction during the more, uh, boisterous nappy changes. The hot air balloon wall stickers are from Mamas & Papas and I love that they're so easily removable - this is the third wall I tried them on..

Elsewhere we've stocked up on lots of little (and reasonable) animal-themed accessories. I love the chevron elephant paper lampshade from KOKO at Not On the High Street and the elephant doorstop from Mothercare - it's from the Tusk range, which donates a percentage of proceeds to animal conservation. 

I did splurge on Anthropologie door knobs -  the zebras and elephants above. But whilst they look nice, they're always breaking - spinning around their screw, two have fallen off entirely, and not very safe. So I recommend buying from anywhere but there!

I totally love this twig branch shelf - also from Mothercare's Tusk range - which is just waiting to go up on the wall (not too high, so tiny man can grab books all day long.)

I put up these cardboard letters from Hobbycraft after a fun afternoon covering them in decoupage - and covered the boring Ikea Poang rocking chair, which I swear every parent in London has, with this gorgeous Etsy creation - the maker has loads of slip-covers for Ikea stalwarts. 

Lastly, our changing table is an old repurposed Ikea dresser - but to jazz up its boringness, we added these gorgeous Sass & Belle (amazing place for accessories) chevron knobs in three different colours. 

What have you done with your babies' nurseries? Please share below!

Thanks to Mothercare, Sass & Belle and Not On the High Street for sending nursery review items. Rest assured we're seriously gobby and only rave about things we love.