With multiple weekly shopping trips to find all of the perfect pieces, I decorated and finished my “dream nursery” with Baby #1 (“K”) just days before she arrived (2 weeks early).
Fast forward two years and I could have never imagined the difference between my dream nursery now versus then after being introduced and falling in love with the Montessori method.
This time around for Baby #2 (“E”) it has been a completely different and refreshing experience choosing a Montessori inspired nursery.
When we designed our first baby room we didn’t really think about the future when K would be crawling around in her room. With a traditional crib and dresser, she had access to nearly nothing at her level (other than when we set up some activities and books on the floor).
That first nursery was created with us, the parents, in mind (only thinking about those early months) and not our child. For this nursery, we made sure that everything was chosen for our baby’s needs.
Our Montessori nursery for E is simple, clutter-free, and so peaceful. This truly is a space she will be able to grow into with very little change necessary.
In this post, I’m going to take you through a tour of our new Montessori Nursery and will try and answer the common questions we’ve received about it (if you have a question we didn’t cover feel free to use the comment section at the bottom of this page.)
Baby Floor Bed
This is easily the biggest difference with the Montessori approach compared to a traditional nursery – we chose to go with a floor bed instead of a crib from birth (she will be in our room until around 5-6 months depending on how things go).
Around 4 months we will start with naps in her room prior to her transitioning her in here for night sleep. This will help her to become more comfortable sleeping in her space. We will see how she adjusts to the bed and may decide to start with just the mattress on the floor.
The decision for the floor bed wasn’t an easy one, and it isn’t for everyone but after doing our research we became more comfortable with this decision. We like the freedom and independence that this bed will provide her from a young age.
Our floor bed of choice was from our favorite Montessori furniture company Sprout.
They offer three sizes of their Montessori Floor Bed (Twin, Crib and Full) – we went with the crib size so we could reuse which should last us two or three years before E will need a bigger sized bed.
SAVE 10%! – We’ve partnered with Sprout and they set us up with a 10% OFF Coupon Code “OMJ”! If you are interested in purchasing the floor bed you can find it here and remember to use the code OMJ on checkout.
Like with all of their furniture, set up was extremely easy with no tools required. We couldn’t have been happier with this floor bed.
Infant Shelf
With a Montessori Nursery, it’s important to have everything at the child’s height and this floor shelf is perfect for that.
This is again by Sprout and is their Infant Shelf (short) that matches the floor bed beautifully.
With your shelf in a Montessori nursery, you will want something that is at a low height (designed for a little one who will most likely be crawling around for a few months before being able to pull up onto things) and is open with the activities on display that are easily accessible.
The Birch Montessori Infant Shelf is a traditional Montessori shelf that works perfectly in a nursery (we liked it so much we bought another for our playroom).
Activity Gym and Mirror
The Activity Gym pictured is a beautiful piece from our favorite Montessori toy company Monti Kids and can be found in their level 1 box. We love that this also made of birch wood and matches the rest of the furniture in E’s nursery.
There are 4 different visual mobile attachments that come in this box, 4 interactive reaching toys, and two 2 rattles. We added a mirror to this spot so E can see her reflection.
We will move the Activity Gym between the playroom on our main level (where we’ve created her own little space) and her bedroom.
Save $60! We’ve also partnered up with MontiKids and you can receive a $60 discount on their Montessori Toys by using this link and the coupon code JOURNEY on checkout!
The mirror at her height in her room is such an important piece to this nursery and something we hadn’t thought of for K. It is a shatterproof acrylic mirror found on Amazon.
Art Work
One of Baby K’s favorite things to do in her nursery was to look at the artwork and family photos on her wall. But she could only see them when we had her in our arms, as they were hung up high above her dresser.
This time around, we hung up some frames and a rainbow decal at a much lower level so that Baby E will be able to look at them when she’s crawling around her room – a much more Montessori friendly approach!
The frames pictured are from HomeSense and the prints are off Etsy. The beautiful wall decals are from My Hidden Forest.
Bookshelf
We wanted her books to be on display and at her level and went with the IKEA Flisat Wall Storage Shelf for the wall-mounted bookshelf.
We placed this at a height that she will be able to reach when she can pull herself up, and until then we will keep books on her shelf or in a small basket on the floor.
Closet, Changing Station, Chair
When E is older we will most likely be getting her the same Sprout Wardrobe we purchased for K, but for now, we have all of her clothes stored in her closet.
Our Christmas gift to each other was a custom built-in closet that turned out better than we could have imagined.
At the bottom of the closet you can see the Keekaroo Peanut Changer that we will use for changing diapers on the floor in front of the mirror. This will help promote body awareness from a young age.
We’ve also moved the glider chair and side table from K’s nursery into this baby room for the time being. These will have to be removed for safety when E starts crawling around.
We often get asked about the chair, and unfortunately, it was from a local furniture store and since it’s been discontinued.
On the pink night table you will see her Hatch sound machine and a lamp from Homesense.
In the closet you can see some of my favorite baby care products:
- Organic Shampoo and Body wash
- Organic Moisturizer
- Water Wipes
- Pampers Pure Diapers
- Organic Healing Balm
- Bottom Wash
- Diaper Rash Cream
Nursery Video Tour
Montessori Nursery Wrap Up
We hope you enjoyed the look into our new Montessori Nursery.
If you are interested in any of the furniture or products mentioned above click on the links within the article, as we tried to link to every product mentioned.
And if you have any questions about our nursery feel free to leave a comment below!
With Baby E just 8 weeks old, we haven’t gotten much use out of our first Montessori inspired baby room just yet, but we are excited to start spending more time in there soon 🙂
12 comments
Such a great post! I have a small question about curtains, we have a little girl 6 weeks old for her Montessori room I wanted to sew nice curtains, I can see you have them too, do you think baby can pull themselves on it? Or how do you think could it be dangerous? Thank you.
Thanks Kristina! When she is crawling we may take them down for a period of time until we feel it’s safe to have them. From looking into it, the safety concern is more around cords with windows but they can also pull the curtains down which could cause an injury. We will have to look into a bit more when the time comes.
Thank you for your reply very appreciate it. Maybe I won’t put them at all. Will see. Thanks. Love every bit of your instagram and blog.
Has the montessori style bedroom impacted the way you sooth your baby to sleep? Unfortunately I couldn’t nurse to sleep as long as I wanted, so I’ve typically rocked our child then laid him down. Since you had to remove the glider for safety, have you typically laid down with your kiddos to sooth them to sleep?
Hey! This is a lovely blog, thank you for all the information you have shared! As a new mom in love with the Montessori method, I am so interested in learning more about your experiences, whether the floor bed for your newest little one is something you are enjoying, or if you needed to modify the experience a bit! Is there an update to this post upcoming? Thank you again!
Hi Dacotah, I just posted an update here: https://montessorimethod.com/floor-bed/
Hi! This is such a beautiful room inspiration! I was wondering if you could share a good source/shop for the soft sheep rug?? Thanks!
Hello! We purchased this rug from Homesense in Canada. 🙂
Hi Ashley,
Do you do diaper changes on the. bed or floor?
Wondering where to store clothes/ change diapers without a dresser.
Thanks!
Hi Alisha, when we were doing diaper changes on the floor we did them on her Keekaroo Peanut Changer. We use her closet with baskets for storage. 🙂
Did you mount the mirror to the wall?
Hey Lauren… Yup, using 3M picture hanging strips!