Now that the big bathroom makeover is finished, it’s time to focus on the nursery. We adore our third bedroom, so turning it into a baby room feels a little bittersweet. Still, we’re thrilled to welcome our daughter in May and excited to create a cozy, practical space for her at Casa Petersik.
We try to use what we already have whenever possible, so the thought of suddenly having a daybed, a small table, a chair, a rug and an ottoman with nowhere to go had us thinking creatively. After a short brainstorming session—Tim Gunn vibes and all—we started repurposing pieces and finding new homes for them around the house.
A while back we moved a small wrap-paper and letter-writing table down to the basement during the big renovation, along with an extra chair that had been stored in the closet after we swapped two dining chairs for a bench. That cleared a few items, but the daybed posed the real challenge: the nursery is the smallest room we have, and a crib is non-negotiable.
The solution was the sunroom. We already had one comfortable daybed in there for lounging from spring to fall, so we decided to bring the second daybed into the sunroom too. After a bit of lifting and maneuvering, we got it into place—John handled the heavy lifting while I supervised—and it immediately made the room feel more inviting and useful. We can picture ourselves relaxing there with books the moment it warms up a bit.
One pleasant surprise was that the darker wood tone of the new daybed worked better than we expected beside the existing white daybed. The room already features oil-rubbed bronze sliding door hardware that ties those tones together, so the contrast isn’t jarring. We’re still leaning toward painting the darker daybed white eventually to create more visual balance, while keeping the two pieces different in style. That way they’ll coordinate without being overly matchy.
For now we reused many of the pillows that had been on the third bedroom’s daybed and added an oatmeal-colored throw over the mattress to help the new bed blend with the existing one. The layered, serene look suits the sunroom, but we’re planning to add a few brighter pillows next spring to liven up the space and make the seating pop.
Placing the daybed along the wall where a single teak chair and side table used to live has a practical benefit: it offers the best view of our private backyard. The other daybed faces inward toward the house, so this arrangement improves both seating and sightlines. Swapping one small chair for a full daybed also increases the sunroom’s guest capacity—game night, anyone?
We consider the sunroom a smart temporary home for the daybed. Friends and family have told us that daybeds often make excellent “big-girl” beds when kids transition out of cribs, so the piece may well return to the nursery in a few years. On the other hand, we can already imagine sunroom sleepovers if more children come along, so it might stay put indefinitely. Only time will tell.
Next up was the jute rug from the third bedroom. Since we wanted a softer, plusher rug underfoot in the nursery, the jute needed a new spot. We realized it’s the same rug we have in the kitchen—one we liked so much we bought twice—so we rolled the spare up and tucked it behind the blinds above the laundry nook. That leaves a backup rug close at hand if the kitchen faces spills or stains, and the storage area above the washer and dryer was perfect after the basement makeover reduced our clutter.
We decided to keep the woven ottoman in the nursery for now. It will be handy for toy storage and for propping up my feet while nursing. The asymmetrical photo collage on the wall will remain, too, although we may swap in a few colorful, baby-focused prints to fit the nursery’s evolving palette. Everything will be placed out of reach of the baby, and once she becomes more mobile we’ll either securely anchor frames to the wall or relocate them entirely for safety.
That’s how we cleared the nursery without creating a pile of displaced furniture. The empty room felt full of potential, which made repainting the walls—and the ceiling—this weekend especially satisfying. We’ve still got a few finishing touches to reveal, including the nursery’s color scheme and decorative details, so stay tuned.
How about you? If you turned a spare room into a nursery, where did you put the furniture that used to live there? Did you sell items online, adapt pieces for the nursery, store them, or redistribute them throughout the house? And for those who repurposed rooms for non-baby uses—converting a bedroom into a home office, library, or studio—how did you handle the transition? We’d love to hear your solutions and ideas.