Bungalow - I was thinking that too about the crib. My original reason for having it out from the wall was so not everything was flat against the walls and you could still see it before entering the room but it might not work. The current bookcase fits on the wall beside the window/behind the chair. I may have to put one there depending on how big the crib actually is in the room. Natal - My mind's already made up about the dresser. The curvy lines and clove cut outs scream girly to me. Looking at what I wrote I realized I wasn't very clear about the recliner. It would be a rocker recliner and the main reason we were considering one was to drag it out to the LR then. I still want something for the nursery, preferably a glider, so we may end up purchasing two chairs when it's all said and done. Ttodd - Thank you! Cyn - Thanks! I agree about the higher up things on bookshelf. We could keep the stuff more interesting to him or her on the bottom ones but we'll have a separate play room for most toys.

Even if I was willing to have knives on the counter and count on the baby not climbing up their, a knife block or magnetic strip wouldn't be very feasible for us. We keep kosher so we have separate knives for meat, dairy and parve (neither meat nor dairy). On top of that my favorite knife is a chinese chef's knife (shaped like a cleaver but lighter). I don't have enough available backsplash to put all those on a magnetic strip. mkitchen, I did find a listing for a baby proofer around here. I'm a little concerned that if we get one out, he will want to over-do it. Did you find the suggestions reasonable? And how much did it cost? lightlystarched, what kind of latches did your parents put in that got misshapen and useless after a month? We used latches on a few doors and drawers when our kids were little and they lasted for years. We have put latches on the low doors and drawers in the entertainment center because that is where we have her play area set up and we didn't want to be saying "No" all the time there. My DH and DDIL prefer that we say "only look" or "only touch" if it is something that she can touch but shouldn't put in her mouth to tell her what she can do instead of "no". I prefer to leave "no" or "only look" for the things that she might damage like the vertical blinds and secure the things that could quickly damage her badly.

Since I live with more than 10K books, I vote for bookshelves on both ends, but I expect you might end up with them down the hall, as well. (At least, that's what I have.) If you are considering painting them, may I suggest a using a dark green, not kelly of course, but a leafy, pine-y, well-stepped-on, green? It's a very restful color to combine with the spines of books, which often have a decided reddish-brownish bias among all the colors possible. It tones down bright whites, as well. And few books are kelly green, so it doesn't clash with blues or greens, either. And being a dark color it serves to help make the mass of spine colors into a more coherent design feature. I think white (or light grey/white shelves) make the grid-effect more prominent and natural-finished brown shelves play up highly diverse colors of of book covers, making the shelves seem more chaotic. I expect that certain very dark greys (almost black) or deep coal-y navy blues may also work in somewhat the same way as dark green. Whatever the shade, it should be a highly complex color, with plenty of complimentary pigments in it to make it really hang together with all the colors of the books. My late Mother had a wonderfully sunny sitting room with BM China white walls, red oak strip flooring (w/natural finish) and 40 linear feet of floor-to-ceiling, built-in bookshelves along the back wall. They were painted one of the BM dark greens and l can dig about and come up with the BM color number as I repainted them in the same shade before I sold her house. If you do paint your shelves with oil paint (preferable to latex which will always have the risk of remaining uncured and attaching itself to the books), please plan on having the shelves cure after painting at least 4 weeks before shelving the books. Even then you might wish to slip a layer of the type of plastic used for covering dust jackets (you can buy it in rolls from library supply places like Demco, it's like the proprietary material in "Brodart" dj covers ) under any particularly valuable books. It's invisible and you will then be absolutely certain that nothing in the paint is damaging the covers as oil paint (and latex, too) takes months to fully out-gas. Also consider having the shelves, if not the verticals, made with 5/4 lumber in order to handle the weight of the books. Look forward to seeing your room. L.

I love reading all the replies. Thanks!!!!! We are definitely going with the twin. My Mom reminded me that she has one; it's cute. So, we are using it. We will have to purchase the mattress and bedding but it won't be as much as an investment as originally. PBK has bedding that I really like but I hear that the quality is not as good. Any thoughts on other brands I should check out?