"budget" nurseries

i rarely use this blog for venting purposes of the non pg/new mom related nature. but, i've got to write it down somewhere that i am so annoyed about these "budget" nurseries that keep popping up on blogs and design sites that are not at all budget. and i understand that "budget" is relative. you can buy a clothes basket and some receiving blankets on the cheap, but i'm referring to designer style nurseries at a reduced cost.

here's my rant: if you are repurposing your own old furniture or using things that were gifts, they still cost money. they are not "free". that old ikea bookshelf from your office? it still cost $60. crib gift from grandparents? did they steal it? then it wasn't free. when you write up the total cost of the nursery, show us the money. if you were gifted a nice item, please tell us the cost. to reproduce or borrow ideas, "we" might need to pay for them. if you repaint, reuse, thrift, etc. an item from your house and it wasn't a garage sale find from 30 years ago, say so. most of the items people list as free/gift are actually pretty spendy (cribs, dressers, chairs) and tend to push a "budget" nursery of listed costs to quite a bit more.

so, yeah. here's finn with his grumpy face:

while i never itemized the cost of our nursery, i did consider it budget friendly for a semi-designer style (we were featured on spearmintbaby.com and ohdeedoh.com, so i can only assume someone thought it was nice). our crib, while a gift, was about $300. the rocker was the splurge, but the ikea furniture, handmade art, and mix and match decor kept our cost quite low. we did receive many items from family and if someone were to want to replicate any of our nursery (or anyone else's!), they probably wouldn't get the same things as gifts.

so that's my vent. if someone paid money for it, ever, to be in your nursery, then it wasn't "free!".