Our nursery is really small too, I would forgo the changing table all together and just keep a basket of diapers/wipes etc that you can easily access. Our oldest is 8 now and I realize now how brief the infant period is- I wasted a lot of $$ the first time around! Heirloom furniture is a terrific idea especially when paired with modern accessories- be careful about a used crib though, with all of the recalls it's too risky.
Congratulations and Good Luck!

agree with mixing old and new - we have a 100 sq ft room as well that is a space challenge. we found a vintage Heywood Wakefield dresser with wide drawers that is just the right height to double as a changing table - we keep diapers in a divided section of the top drawer and use wall organizer in reach to keep supplies in. visually it mixes well with the more contemporary pieces in the room.

have fun with your room!

Elfa for the closet so you can adapt as the kid grows. We inherited a 4 year old crib from one of our friends, works fine and is sturdy - just check online for recalls. I think a lot of the crib thing is common sense too, make sure its put together properly, etc. and you should be fine. We nixed the expensive and ugly glider thing and just moved an IKEA poang chair there, which neither my wife nor I have used that much anyway. We went with vinyl wall adhesives as we can remove them and change it up later on. We also went with a color that wasn't a standard baby color so that we won't have to repaint for a bit.

My suggestion would be not to stress too much about getting everything *done* before baby gets here. We had the nursery painted and the basics in there (crib, dresser/changing table, bookcase) but other than that it was pretty bare. I wouldn't say it was "finished" until my son was six months old when I finally got all the decorations hung and . We picked a pretty non-baby color scheme that can grow with him until at least elementary school. Waiting to do the nursery a while also meant we could see what we actually needed, like a rocker/glider that I was insistent we'd never use and that we still use every day two years later. We did the ELFA for our son's closet and it was a great investment. For furniture, I chose an IKEA crib that can be thrifted or given to a friend when we're done with it as I know we have no place to store an heirloom piece and didn't want a 3-in-1 crib as a double bed but we did buy nicer bookcase and dresser since these things can grow with him. Definitely see if you can borrow or buy secondhand all the baby things like a swing, jumperoo (got one brand new as a gift and my son was completely indifferent to it), etc. because they aren't used very long at all. We borrowed a bassinet from my sister and that is where the baby slept for the first three months. And just know that as much as you try, plastic pieces are almost inevitable but the span of time with them is also relatively short.

Instead of a traditional changing table, convert a dresser so it doubles as as a changing station and (stylish) storage. Dwell studio makes a great, wooden tabletop changer that you can bolt to any dresser.

http://www.dwellstudio.com/designer-baby-boutique/furniture/changing-station.html

Also remember that you don't have to plan for the long-term to be a conscientious consumer. For things we didn't already own, or that we thought we'd only use for the short term, we found Craigslist to be fantastic. For the couple of items (like a swing, or cradle) that were bought for us new, we kept them in good condition to pass along to other babies in the family.

Love your priorities and empathize with how overwhelming it is. IMO the only "necessities" for a baby's room are a good, quality crib, a baby monitor (love the angelcare movement monitor for SIDS peace-of-mind), and a changing pad with diapers/wipes easily grabbable. Like others above, we skipped the changing table and put the changing pad on top of a small vintage dresser. I recommend the Stokke oval crib for tight spaces. The rounded shape takes up less space, and they are beautiful and made from cultivated, sustainable wood. After that, if you can spare the space and expense, I highly recommend a beautiful, cozy rocker or glider. My biggest baby-splurge was the Monte Vola glider, and I've never regretted it. It's modern and beautiful, insanely comfy, and the wings make a perfect headrest when you fall asleep nursing. My daughter is now almost three, and that chair is still her favorite place to read and snuggle (and it still looks great). After that, as you said, great art, a few treasured toys and stuffed animals, and lots of love will make it a perfect nursery. Enjoy!!

We did a dresser as changing table so it has all the clothes, etc, also in it along with diapers, creams, etc. Definitely worth finding some sturdy thrift furniture if you can - we took my husband's childhood furniture and painted it and added new pulls from Anthropologie for my daughter (who is due on Saturday!).

Also, as for art, i love love love Blik stickers. www.whatisblik.com ... lots of fun options and they can be removed/moved without damage. My son loved his zoo animals (placed near the dresser where we changed diapers most often) and now we moved them to my daughter's room and have gotten my son a new design.

If you have an active moms group in your area, this is a great way to get loads of second hand baby stuff and also a great place to later on unload said baby stuff when you no longer need it.

Good luck!

Congratulations! Setting up the nursery has been one of my favorite home design projects. I've had 3 children, all boys, but we always chose to wait to find out what we were having. I created a gender neutral room in a design that really appealed to me. This has been great as each child arrived, we were able to just move one out, and simply give the room a good clean, wash clothes and we were ready! We went with a plain dresser and just put a changing pad on top. We did invest in a great crib and we did go with a glider. You will spend a ton of time rocking... esp in the middle of the night! Whatever chair you chose, make sure you love sitting in it!! My youngest is 1 1/2, and will be my last baby. I am already thinking about what changes we will make as we move past the baby stage. While I am ready to move on to the next phase of raising children, I am going to miss all the time I have spent in my light and bright nursery. Have fun with your project and enjoy all the special moments with your new son!

Our first did not have his own room until 8 months and our daughter sleeps in a converted walk-in closet (it has a window) so I know the fun of small.
-You need somewhere for sleep, for storing clothes, tools (cream, snot sucker, swaddle blankets...), a place to sit is nice (with something to put your feet up on), a place for diaper changes, dirty diapers, dirty laundry and black out curtains.
-Put shelves over the change space. I have and truly love my change table, mostly because it is easier on me to changed them standing up and the wiggle less when up and not on the floor. Shelves make it easy to store and grab what you need. My main change table was $20 used and I will probably sell it for that when we are done. My daughter's bedroom change table is a shelf between the upper and lower hanging rails.
-make sure to have a basket or bin in the closet to put clothes as they are outgrown. It makes organizing on that end so much easier. I keep the next size up of clothing accessible so I don't forget to use it.
-We like the simple Ikea crib. It works great as a toddler bed too and then can go to a new home.
-We cloth diaper and use a regular lidded garbage can as our diaper pail. It is in the corner between the change table and a bookcase.

I love what you've done with your house -- the teal in the living room, and soot in the bedroom.

I've got some ideas that I think will work for you.

First off, I would suggest painting at least 2 walls in the nursery pure black. The black background makes colourful wooden toys highly decorative. Our son's nursery was tiny -- just wide enough for a single bed (or crib) and a door, with a sloping ceiling to boot, and the impact of the black walls actually made the space seem larger.

The rug we used was made of recycled t-shirts:

http://museumofhappiness.blogspot.com/2008/04/potholder-rug.html

They don't carry them at ROMP anymore, but you can order them here:

http://crispina.com/2011/02/682/

We had a bright turquoise distress-finished Jenny Lind crib as well as a bright turquoise upholstered Finnish MCM rocker (fabric by DesignersGuild), the Lepo Moderno L-66 by Yrjö Kukkapuro:

http://www.lepoproduct.fi/pics/tuotteet/L66.pdf

We hung simple white cantilevered shelves on the black walls to show off the toys, and had low white modern drawers for more storage and a play surface (a great baby height!). Ledges for face-front display of books on a black wall is also gorgeous, as it makes the covers come alive.

We finished it all off with a large paper pendant in the middle, a primary blue black-out curtains, and rope lighting hidden under molding just under the ceiling for gentle ambient light.

You might want to cover the radiator, and work it into a window seat and storage. We had a carpenter knock off a custom diaper unit, which was based on on David Netto's Moderno unit.

We left our nursery late with our first-born too; we were renovating the whole house at the time. Alas, I went into labour my first day off work, and we had almost nothing!! (until that point, I had no idea that 37 weeks is actually full term... the residents laughed when I said -- no, I can't be having this baby now -- we have no crib! We have no sheets!). So, don't leave it too late...

I'm wondering if you might find some inspiration looking at Montessori rooms. A lot of the priorities - quality sustainable materials, no clutter - seem a lot like yours. I'm planning my upcoming baby's nursery and am tentatively planning on giving the Montessori floor bed a try after the beginning months, when the infant will be in our room. I like the idea of completely foregoing the crib and investing in an organic futon that can just go on the floor. I figure, if it doesn't end up working, I can always run to Ikea for the crib. But I also like the idea of storing and rotating toys, using natural containers like baskets to hold baby toys, and the use of natural woods in the room.

Our son's room was "done" when he was born but it has changed an adapted as he's grown. My #1 suggestion is not to hang glass frames over the crib. I had a beautiful array of about a dozen pieces of artwork that I took down when one frame broke and we are SO lucky it was not while our son was in his crib. Stick with light fabric weight items or decals or something highly secured and without glass. #2 suggestion, if you do have a change table (ours is a converted hand-me-down dresser) - artwork hung above will need to be out of reach once baby gets bigger. My son found nothing more fun than kicking the frame of some artwork at change time so that's down now too. The art on the walls has changed almost completely since he was born!

Well you've got yourself a pretty complicated problem. I've addressed it in several ways on my blog (this was an interesting quandary for me), so check that out here: http://designindependence.blogspot.com/2012/02/baby-room-redesign.html

For those of you lazy on clicking links, generally here's what should happen. The crib will need to be immediately adjacent to the door. Normally I don't place a crib directly adjacent to doors, but with the layout of the windows, and the potential for baby-waking sunlight, it's the best bet. A small slipper chair or rocker, no bigger than 30"x30" should work nicely in the corner adjacent to both windows. A smallish dresser with changing station on top can go next to the blocked-out corner, between both doors.

I also highly recommend room black-out roman shades, mostly due to the radiator in this room. Drapery immediately adjacent to radiators is never a safe bet, and the room-darkening will be a blessing with the odds of your baby making it through the night going WAY up.

Stick to natural fabrics, furniture with no added urea formaldehyde, low or no-odor varnishes, etc... Keep in mind that re-purposing or buying used or antique is the greenest option by far, since it keeps things out of a landfill. There are plenty of pretty options out there, so I've suggested some ideas on the link.

Happy babyroom making! And thanks for the little project!

Design Independence

I have never used a changing table. We had a counter in the bathroom that we used for changing and I wouldn't have it any other way. Changing a diaper without immediate access to soap and water was not for me. I never used diaper wipes, just a lot of blue washcloths (color chosen to indicate use).

Do not hang anything less than 5 feet above the crib; that child will be able to reach it before you know it. Forget about matching and color coordinating everything; the baby will not care. Use bins for clothing; they are easier to store than in a drawer or on hangers. Do not buy newborn size clothing; most babies will wear that size only a week or so before they grow out of them.

I did the same thing as Heirloom regarding the changing table, and we have it in our master bathroom. Both of our boys were in our bedroom for the first few months, too, so it made it much easier to just change and dress them in our room. My boys are 3 years and 19 months now, and we still bathe and dress them in our bathroom. I also keep their current clothing in our bathroom closet. It just works better for us and keeps the guest bathroom free of clutter.

Done it three times. Always spent too much money. When I look back I wish I had not. Ikea, such simple wonderful minimal beds and at their prices you don't have to feel guilty about letting it go after you no longer need it. You can always have bedding made to fit. Mine slept with me for the first year so don't go crazy you may find that's what you want to do as well and then when you're ready to have the little guy start sleeping in his room you can decide then what decor you need/want. Until then keep it simple. Trust me your life and needs will change. Good luck and congratulations on your upcoming birth!

Definitely get just a dresser instead of a changing table. You can change on top of that and use the drawers for clothes and diapers. We had a hand-me-down padded changing mattress on top our dresser. When our baby started getting too squirmy we moved to changing on our lap. I think changing tables are not worth it, if you are thrifty or eco-conscious.
Also you could get a crib that changes into a toddler bed and even junior bed. I want to say that you don't need a crib, just co-sleep as it's wonderful for the new family bonding, it makes you less sleep deprived as you can practically nurse without waking up (at least getting up) and the baby won't really wake up either and will go back to sleep easily.
And you get to have a slumber party every night :D
At least don't make the baby sleep alone in a separate room..
(Our kid asked for her own bed when she turned three, it's next to our bed and she sleeps in it some of the time now.)
Don't get a ton of stuff, clothes or anything. He will grow out of it so fast. It's your best bet in being ecological.

Oh and one thing that I have recommended to several parents with babies who are colicky and cry and will not sleep.. An exercise ball! Get one. Fill it with as much air as you possibly can. Hold baby in your lap and bounce away. We did this for months and we would be able to read and surf the web while bouncing on the ball with her. It got to a point where I was bouncing on it even though she wasn't in my lap :D
Seriously, a life saver and it has worked for everyone I told about it (and they have recommended it to others..)

We too use a dresser as a change table. So much more convenient to have the clothes handy, plus it can be used for the child's clothes all their childhood.

Honestly, infants and little kids don't seem to spend much time in their rooms alone. Most babies don't like to sleep alone and there's lots of research to suggest it is preventative for SIDS for babies to sleep in the same room as their parents. Even when they are ambulatory, it's not a good idea to leave them alone... that's how walls become decorated with Sharpie in about 18 seconds of inattention... not that I know about that personally :)

The crib was the biggest waste of space for us. It basically held clean laundry or stuffed animals until we got rid of it. Jack slept in our room for quite a while, then in a twin bed in his room where I could go and sleep with him if he woke. I wish I had bypassed the crib altogether and just went with the twin bed (or a double!) from the get-go.

The smartest purchase we made was a king bed for us, so we all have room even when Jack joins us :)

I was too scared to sleep with my baby in the bed. We started with him in our room in a playpen/bassinet that since then we've used mainly for travel. If you like to travel, do get one, if not, you probably can do without it.
Shop mom to mom consignment sales or craigslist, just search online for recalls on the model name and number. We bought a used Jenny Lind crib on Craigslist for $50. I searched online and it is a drop-side crib so I went to the manufacturer's website, entered the model number and they sent me the kit to 'fix' the drop-side for free, no questions asked. We are in the process of painting it red with ECO-spec paint from Benjamin Moore. It looks awesome. When my older son starts climbing out of his crib, we're going to build him a toddler bed with ideas that can be found on this website, and paint it the same color. We are going to have 2 little ones in a room the same size as yours and a dresser and a glider.

All you need to change a dresser to a changing table is a changing pad with 'grippy' stuff on the bottom (most have it) and a strap that allows you to bolt it to the back of your dresser to keep it secure. I recommend picking a dresser that is a comfortable height for you to be changing diapers and clothes without hunching down and straining your back.

Do get a glider with a foot rest that also glides. Nighttime feedings will be much more comfortable and easy to do, I definitely nodded off in it at times, & we still use ours every day. When we're done with it, we'll sell it.

Instead of spending lots of money and wasting kitchen space, we opted for a high chair that attaches and hangs from the table. Ours comes with a tray and rotates, we love it. It also doesn't take up a chair like the ones that strap to them which is good for when we have company.

The rest of the baby gear is up to you and how much money & space you're willing to trade for convenience & baby entertainment.

There are lots of small footprint cribs these days that also look like they'll fit your asthetic - Stokke, Bloom Luxo, Gro Furniture and Leander Tulip are some of my favorites. These cribs are not only well designed and high quality, they also grow with your child through toddlerhood and beyond. Our daughter was in her Stokke until she was almost 4.
I decided that I would buy fewer things, but make sure they I loved them. I also truly believe that you can use "grown-up" design elements in a nursery. Instead of a glider, we used our Mid-Century low rocker. Given the look of your other rooms this might be something you'd like too!

What are nursery must-haves? I always return to the advice I saw in an old Ohdeedoh post about baby must-haves. All you really need is boobs and a blanket (and I suppose, some diapers). Which I took as, all you really need is some way to make sure baby's basic needs are met (nutrition, warmth, elimination). Everything else is a convenience or a luxury -- something that will no doubt make your life as a parent easier, but not something that, strictly speaking, you "must" have.

I highly recommend taking the advice of the wise parents who have already commented, in starting with the absolute bare minimum you think you need, then adding over time as you learn what conveniences would make your family's life with baby easier and more enjoyable. (Especially since each baby is different -- hard to predict if, for example, you'll end up with a colicky baby who only sleeps in a swing or a super-pooper who needs changing every hour for whom a fully-stocked changing table is key or a cuddler who wants to be held and bounced all day)

I certainly found myself coming back to this advice many times in the face of all the marketing pressures new parents are exposed to. Of course we did start with more than boobs and a blanket (e.g., loved the Monte Design glider we invested in, hardly used the crib once we ended up co-sleeping) but whenever faced with overwhelming choices, it was very grounding to come back to basics and really assess what we truly needed vs. what would be a convenience.

Congrats, Landis! Can't wait to see what you come up with for your wee one's wee space.

I should add that I tried to spend as little money as possible on objects that wouldn't grow with our kids. The Jenny Lind crib was not expensive, and saw us through 2 kids. We would have sold it afterwards, but we love the colour too much and the kids won't let us. LACK shelving costs practically nothing, as does a face-front set-up for books.

We used this white BESTA drawer unit (with legs, not casters) to hide toys and act as a playsurface. It's more double-duty than a playtable (as much as I hate IKEA, I thought I'd mention it).

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/S39867104/#/S29862625

The rug, changing cabinet, and rocking chair are all either growing with our kids, or have been re-purposed elsewhere in our home. The rocking chair was particularly important for both our kids. Both loved to rock, especially our son who had colic. I searched long and hard for a rocker, because it had to be extremely comfortable (no hard arms to cut off circulation, high back, padded) and good looking enough to go elsewhere (we now have it in the living room, and it doesn't look like a repurposed baby rocker!). I'd add a leather Moroccan pouf for your feet to make it perfect.

They are little for such a short while, that it really helps to find things which grow with them. The black paint for our son's room worked out really well that way. It is not babyish, and has adapted well to his life as a 5 year-old (projects from kindergarten look great just stuck on the wall: they don't need to be framed).

We used a Lloyd Loom family bassinet (going back to my husband's father) in our bedroom for the first 4 months, but it is nice to slowly build their room with their things -- little treasures, photos. It's nice to have a room which isn't overly designed, but is flexible enough to accommodate their individual interests -- which come sooner than you think!

Have fun! It is a beautiful and magical time which goes very quickly!

I saw the greatest idea in Gabby's nursery - at about adult chest height - around the entire room is a running shelf with knobs underneath: think a really extended coat rack. It is painted to match the trim of the room - it hold adorable baby gifts, the items change as the baby grows. It is even above the changing table which makes for an easily accesible little shelf - maybe she would send you a picture

We strapped a contoured changing pad a dresser. Definitely recommend a contoured one. It will help keep tiny ones centered and they are a bit more padded.

We used a baby tub while DS was little and floppy. I was glad because DH would not have bathed him otherwise.