How do I choose?!?!

[Lissie]

Okay, I am making myself (and my husband!) nuts about choosing some crib linens! We are looking at: the John Lennon Real Love collection (it's currently on our registry at BRU but I've already put it on and taken it off a couple of times), Malawi from Kidsline, Pottery Barn Kids Velour Animals nursery bedding and Animal Safari from Company Kids. Yes, we like the animals! I think the JL is adorable, but am concerned about quality. Same for the Malawi and PBK. I keep reading good things about the Company Kids stuff, but their crib bumper doesn't have the animals on it, only gingham squares. Can someone sort me out here?! Or at least tell me I'm driving myself crazy over nothing?

- Lissie

[votre_ami03]

You will still second guess yourself after you get it. :) At least I did.

I recommend checking it all out in person, if you can. I wanted to see the bedding & be able to touch it IRL b/f I bought it. I went with Cocalo/Martex, the rating was a B, I believe, but I am happy with it. You can always buy additional crib sheets for the bedding too in the high rated brands.

PS. I think it would be fine to mix & match the bedding, if you like the gingham & the animal stuff, go for it.

Christy
EDD - 7/26
Boy! Nolan

[redhairedgirl]

>You will still second guess yourself after you get it. :) At
>least I did.
>

Same here! We went with a PBK setup. Their stuff was 100% cotton, and IMO, pretty nice, albeit a little expensive. I did get it on sale, so I don't feel "that" bad about buying it though.

I really like the PBK animals set that you're talking about! I love that it has so many accessories to go with it! And if I remember correctly, the animals are velour, so they would be really soft to the touch. That might be a really nice contrast between the linens and the velour. :)

[samiam]

Hi Lissie,

I can so relate to your dilemma. We've been waiting 11 months to adopt a baby so I've spent more of that time obsessing over the perfect gender neutral bedding! I considered the John Lennon collection but I'm not crazy about pastels, so ultimately decided the colors were too soft for me. Have you seen Malawi in real life? The colors are fantasic - closer to jewel tones than pastels. I knew once I saw it that I had to have it. I'm not using the set yet so can't really comment on the quality but it seems fine. When I first started out I wanted only something with an "A" rating from the Fields, but since I'm so darn picky figured I'd just buy what I liked as long as it was 100% cotton and had appropriate length top and bottom bumper ties. Malawi does.

I had also considered velour animals from Pottery Barn but decided to pass on it. My deciding factor was when I went to the PB site and went to "view rooms" and looked at the set. What jumped out at me was how much white there was - too much for my taste. It looks a bit bland when viewed that way, and too much white makes me nervous (baby spit up stains things so easily that it didn't seem like a good choice).

I hadn't seen the Company Kids set but just checked it out. It's great - very cheerful and colorful. I guess the difference with this set is its mostly primary colors from what I can tell. That's great if you prefer primary colors but so many of the baby items come in softer colors that I'd worry it might be hard to match other items to it. Also, do you know what gender you're having? What I liked about Malawi is that there's a fair amount of blue in it that could be played up for a boys room. But there's also some purple and a peachy pink, so it would work for a girl as well. If I have a little girl I can envision lots of purple and girly things, so if you're having a girl, you might be a bit limited with primary colors. But again, if primary colors are your favorite, I'm sure you could make it work for a girl or boy.

Also, have you seen the Safari set on Target's site? It's cheap and doesn't have bottom bumper ties, but I really loved that too. I'm considering buying it and sewing on bottom ties for grandma's house. The colors are great and the animals so cheery. That being said, I doubt the quality is too high.

Good luck on your search.

P.S. - How could I forget to mention after waiting so long we are expecting to adopt a baby in Sept? We don't know the gender yet but Malawi will work either way.

[csa12]

I got the PBK gingham bedding set in apple green for my DS. It was not as great as I thought it would be. Definately middle of the road in quality. I got a flannel sheet set, DS was born in January, and the sheets were somewhat soft but the bumper and skirt were adequate. If I did everything all over again, I would get a set by Wendy Belissimo. I know that its spending big bucks and now that DS is 4 months, I barely pay any attention to the bed linens, but its nice to walk into the nursery and at least see a nicely made up crib. I find that the bedding that is a bit more expensive is worth it in quality and comfort, so if you are willing to invest it's worth it to me.

Good Luck !
Cheryl :)

[Lissie]

Hi everyone, and thanks for your thoughts! I ended up just making a decision, to preserve my sanity (and to stop making my husband nuts!). I decided to go for the PBK bumper with the animals, and it got here yesterday, It's so cute! It does have the top and bottom ties, and seems like good quality. I didn't get the matching quilt since I think we'll never use it, and it was a little pricey! I ordered some swatches from the Company Store, and I'm planning to do plain sheets that pick up colors from the bumper, and probably do a red gingham dust ruffle (the mane of the lion is in red gingham, so it should match!). We had fun setting up the crib last night and trying out the bumper! Of course, we're moving before the baby arrives, so this morning we took the crib down!

Thanks again for your thoughts!!

- Lissie

[mam615]

Hi Lissie,
I got here late, but just want to chime in. We got the John Lennon Musical Parade set (bumper, dust ruffle, quilt and sheet) last summer before Dorothy was born. I swore I wasn't going to spend money on a set like this, but we saw it at an outlet and DH (!) loved it, so who am I to refuse when he wants to shell out money on baby stuff?

We hung up the quilt and it's cute. The dust ruffle is fine -- kind of a neutral calico that hides the metal part of the crib. The sheet is cute, but not as soft as I'd like. She was born in October, so we used wonderful flannel sheets from the Company Store (plain blue, plain yellow) throughout the long cold weather. They have held up great and I would highly recommend them.

We liked, and used, the bumper a lot at first. It was useful when she started rolling over. I'm glad to hear you picked an animal set because our experience was that Dorothy loved looking at the animals on the bumper. She would stare at one elephant in particular and "talk" to it every day.

Now that she is really moving around -- up on all fours, not quite crawling, but rocking -- the bumper is totally useless. She bangs her head because it's not high enough (even if it were high enough, it's not thick enough to cushion her head). And it sags terribly from all the wear and tear of sheet changing and rail going up and down.

Well, this is just a long-winded way of saying I think you'll be happy with your decision. The bumper stage may only last for a few months, but your baby may really enjoy having some friends in the crib!

[Lori in NJ]

Michelle,

I know this post is over a month old but I'm having the baby bedding dilemma and was just looking at the EXACT set you reviewed at Baby Depot today. I do love it and have loved it since the first moment I saw it... Do you find that your friends who have children similar in age to Dorothy have had better luck w/their bumpers or is it common for the bumpers to notwithstand banging heads, rails going up & down and sheet changes???

If you had it to do all over again would you have gone with a different set? I'm not looking to make a lifetime investment into baby bedding (read NO Wendy Belissimo) but if a bit more $$$ seems like it would've been worth it I'll heed your advice...

Please let me know,
Lori

[tstone]

Lissie,

If you are crazy, so am I. I am doing the same thing trying to decide on the PERFECT set. I also seem to have similar taste as you - I've registered for John Lennon's Musical Parade and Malawi at Babies R US and I keep looking back at Pottery Barn Kids Velour Animals too. My latest find is Lilly Pad by Baby Martex. I have found it at www.dreatimebaby.com. I love the bright colors. I haven't made a decision yet - have you?

- Teresa

[Lissie]

Hi Teresa, I ended up going with the PBK Velour animals, but I only got the bumper. I got sheets and a crib skirt from the Company Store - the sheets in pastel blue and pastel yellow, and a pastel yellow gingham crib skirt. It is SO cute, and I decided that I liked the less matched look. I also have some sheets from Lands End that are white with little animals on them - they are really cute (and were on sale!). I decided that I just had to buy something, because I was making myself totally nuts! Good luck! We've got the crib all set up - now we just need the baby (I'm due in two weeks!)!!

- Lissie