We ordered baby furniture

Most of you know I'm a research nerd and I read up on just about everything before I make major purchases or other big decisions. Baby gear is no exception. I've been reading the latest edition of Baby Bargains and also reading Consumer Reports. I've been researching things online too, of course.

John and I came to the conclusion that we'd rather spend a bit more money and buy pieces that will last when it comes to furniture. Dayton really only has a Babies R' Us. We looked there and found a few pieces we liked, but I wasn't sure about them. They were on the pricey side and only ranked a "B" in Baby Bargains. Now a "B" rating would be just fine, if the price was really great, but this just wasn't the case here. Also even the floor models had some flaws in the finish that were noticeable and I was afraid that if we ordered these, ours would look the same way. We liked the crib a lot, but the case pieces (dresser with changer top and armoire) just weren't all that great. We also looked in several regular furniture stores at dressers, and they were just as much money and we didn't really find anything we wanted to go with that crib.

I really wanted to see some furniture by Legacy (which is a sister company of Childcraft). I really liked what I saw online, and Baby Bargains had great things to say about their cribs and case pieces. They supposedly had outlets in Indiana and Kentucky that carried their stuff, but when I called I found the outlet in Indiana had closed and the one in Kentucky was only open certain Saturdays and no dates for July or August were listed. I did find 2 retail stores in Cinci that carried their lines though and we went to both today. These places had high-end furniture. Legacy and Sorelle were the cheapest lines they carried. We fell in love with a crib and we really liked the dressing bureau and 5- drawer chest that matched. One of the stores - USA Baby - was having a sale and their prices were significantly less on these pieces than at the other store.

We left the baby stores (which were only about 10 minutes apart from eachother) and went to the Kenwood Mall and walked around. John and I talked about what we wanted, our budget and our space. We ended up going back to USA Baby and ordered the furniture after thinking about it all afternoon. These pieces are made to last. They should easily furnish a nursery through 2 or 3 kids and then a regular bedroom for many years after that. Nothing about the dressers say "Baby" once the contour changing pad is removed from the dressing bureau. The crib turns into a toddler bed and then a full sized head board and foot board (with the footboard being shorter than the headboard, as I prefer). We ordered the rails to convert it to a full sized bed too, just to be sure we'd have them when we need them.

We also found a great deal on an oversized glider and ottoman made by Best Chair. The combo was $160 less than the same chair and ottoman at the other store. It was also less than the similar Dutailier and Shermag chairs we'd tested at Babies R Us and Baby Depot - and that isn't even including the ottomans. The chair is very comfy to me and wide enough to be comfortable for John too. This manufacturer also got an "A" from Baby Bargains, same as Dutailier. We ordered the fabric in a neutral medium beige. Its dark enough to not show dirt easily, and yet won't clash with most anything we'd end up putting in the nursery. It will look fine in the living room too if I decide I prefer to breastfeed in there.

The chair should be ready in 6 - 8 weeks and the furniture in 8 - 12 weeks. That means we should be able to get the nursery furnished by the time I'm in the beginning of the 3rd trimester. It pains me to spend all that cash, but I feel good about our choices. Between my grandmother's gift and my bonus at work (after the government takes their half) we have the furniture paid for. So really we just have to pay off the glider and ottoman and we actually could pay cash for that too. We did do the smart thing and put today's 50% deposit on a credit card though, just in case. If something goes wrong, we have 60 days to dispute the charges doing it that way. Of course with as long as the furniture could take to come in, that may not be enough, but it's better than what you have if you pay cash.