Nursery Shopping

[RInewdad]

My wife and I recently went shopping for nursery furniture for the first time and can say we came back somewhat disappointed. After reading the reviews of Munire, we were really excited to see how it stacked up to the competition in person. Like the reviews noted, the cribs seem rock solid and well put together. However, we were really disappointed when it came to the drawers in the dressers. They seem to run on cheap side glides that have a lot of side to side wobble to them. Is this just an outdated display model? Does anyone have any real world advice on how they perform over time? In comparison, some of the Pali models have those well built German side glides, but it depended on which collection were were viewing.

Also, I am concerned with the lack of information on the construction of the nursery furniture in general. I'm sure I just need to ask more questions of the store associates, but I would prefer to see in the catalog which pieces are made of solid wood, wood veneer over hardwood, or wood veneer over furniture board. Add to the list, which models use basic side glides, upgraded side glides or under mount glides. It just seems like a very opaque process that puts the consumer in an uncomfortable position of not knowing what they are getting. If I had more confidence in what I was purchasing, I would have already placed my order. If anyone has any resources that can assist me with this it would be greatly appreciated.

[lizzywednesday]

No resources, but I wanted to say that we didn't bother looking at "nursery" dressers and whatnot - we bought our daughter a 3-drawer Hemnes dresser from IKEA that was on sale. We put a changing pad on top of the dresser & used that until she started to sit up.

OK, it's a foil veneer on either pine or fiberboard, but we were trying to coordinate it with a hand-me-down crib (that I actually want to ditch) with a white finish - white wouldn't have been my first finish choice - without spending a ton of money.

3 years later, and it's stood up to quite a lot of abuse ... and I can still store her sheets, blankets & towels neatly in the bottom drawer.

If I were you, I might consider "adult" dressers in the same finish as the crib you intend on purchasing instead of the whole nursery set. There's really not much of a point to a whole set if it's not well-constructed.

[mikala]

I agree with PP to look beyond items labeled as kid furniture. The Hemnes dresser is great and a lot of adult furniture would work too. I've read a lot of design blogs and sites lately and the colorful painted dresser seems to be a cute trend right now so you aren't limited by things that exactly match your crib.


You may also want to hold off on your nicer furniture purchases until your child is a little older. My 3 year old is less destructive than most kids we know his age but he's still managed to scratch and nick his dresser and bed frame while playing around it. As an infant he added bite marks to the his crib while teething like a little woodchuck.

[RInewdad]

Thanks for tips. I think going outside the nursery furniture label makes a lot of sense, then find a matching crib.

[cookiemonster80]

We did the same thing- got a Kincaid dresser and put a changing pad on top- love that it is sturdy and nice enough to use forever

[TxCat]

We bought a Munire crib and dresser. I do think the dresser drawer glides/tracks and joints are solid so you may have been seeing a bad model, or he quality has deteriorated more in 3 years since we bought ours. However, I will say I have been very disappointed with how easily the crib and dresser have become scratched - the veneer has not been very sturdy and it makes me very glad that we did not invest in a convertible crib.

[scrooks]

We had a munire crib for dd and we really liked it. We just got regular dressers as well and skipped the matching nursery set.