I've fallen in love with the Zanzibar (Kidsline) theme stuff for my nursery, and I was just looking to see who stocks this range at a good price (in Melbourne, or online). Also, there's a whole lot of things there, and to be honest, I'm not sure i'd need them all (plus i don't think I want to spend quite that much $$$!). Love to know people's thoughts.
Things I think I'd like to get (or be given ):
the bed linen (obviously), i.e. sheets, quilt, fleece blanket etc
the window valance
nappy stacker
hamper
picture thingos
height chart
music mobile
wall border? do these stick? or hang?
Things I think I'd be happy to skip:
the cot valance (would that really work on a cot with the sides up?)
the light - looks kinda "fiddly"
drawer knobs
full length curtains (just n/a for my nursery)
the toy chest (too specific if I changed the look in later years)
cot bumper - aren't they meant to be bad?
photo frame
IMO - the nursery is really for the parents to look at and show off LOL - Bubs just loves looking at mummy & daddy and don't really care what sheets or nappy stackers they have. So I think it is great that you are reeeaallly thinking about what you do and don't need - I think first time we all buy that bit extra and then in 6 months say - why did I buy that??? eg if you have a change table, why worry with a nappy stacker?
Only thing I have an opinion on is music mobile's - I personally don't like them over the cot for over stimulation - but each bub is different.
Happy Shopping
It's exciting, but can be expensive so do what you are doing and ask whether you will need/use/reuse it
Ohh, I love the kidsline stuff. I just put some of the Camelot bedding on Layby. I also had some for my DD.
Just check the size of the window valance. I thought it looked pretty small, but I couldn't find the exact measurements. Same with the wall border. I didn't get it because I would have needed to to finish the room making it a bit expensive. It goes on just like wall paper. Really easy to put on but I think it would be a pain to get off. But they do have wall hangings which I just put up with a little plastic hook.
I agree with Sami on the nappy stacker. If you have a change table you really wont need it. I loved the height chart, I just need to remember to use it, lol. It is really something just for the parents to start with, but I figured I spent so much time in the room that I may as well enjoy it!
ds's room is the zanzibar theme and i love it!
we have a chocolate brown wooden cot and it goes so nicely with the browns and greens in the zanzibar line. outside ds's room window is lots of greenery and ivy and ferns so it really carries on the jungle type theme. dp painted the walls a beautiful toasted honey colour that we matched up with a section from the zanzibar doona (dp was very embarassed walking into bunnings with this)
i actually bought a package from ebay which contained everything we needed. this included:
fitted cot sheet
doona
curtain valance
nappy stacker
cot bumper
flat sheet
the curtain valance is not something i would have bought but it came with the package so dp ended up putting it up on our venetian blinds and it looks absolutely fantastic. really sets of the room.
the nappy stacker has never been used and is hanging in the cupboard as i found it a PITA. i should actually sell it on ebay come to think of it
the cot bumper we have ended up hanging around the change table (sounds strange but it really works well)
i also ended up buying the floor mat one day from baby bunting and it looks great.
if you'd like me to show you any photos, just let me know and i'll put some in my gallery. good luck with it all, it's a gorgeous theme and we chose it as we didn't know the sex of ds and wanted a unisex theme that we could reuse for the next bubs. we have also complemented the room with lots of jungle type stuffed animals eg. panda, elephant, giraffe etc.
Sami, great point re the nappy stacker! And lol on the parents showing off bit - absolutely true! Interesting re the musical mobiles. And the other thing is that i don't want to buy too much as i know friends & family will give things along those lines (given half the world already knows I love it ).
Captain - good to know the brand is good... and hadn't even thought about the window size ha! I think mine is quite big... at the moment has a plain cream roman blind, so I'd love to dress it up a bit. And much keener on the wall hangings than wallpaper type stuff.
Gracie - I am drooling at your description of ds's room! I'd love to see pics if you have them up. LOL on DP in the Bunnings... i'm so tempted to do that to mine too muaha. Like the idea on the cot bumper, as my change table is a tiered shelf thingo YKWIM. And the nappy stacker is definitely OFF the list! Do you think the mat would look odd on carpet? Is that an odd question?
This might sound so odd for 20+ weeks, but I think it's really sinking in that i AM having a baby... and I've got a nursery to set up! So exciting
I have the 'Silver lining' theme from Kidsline for my nursery - the Noahs Ark one. All the things are lovely and look great. I too loved the zanzibar theme, but seeing we chose stained timber cot, change table, and have timber blinds i thought it would be a bit too dark IYKWIM. But i have the cot set, with sheets, doona etc, the lamp, nappys tacker and window valance (the last 3 items bought buy MIL). The window valance is fairly big, my window is a standrard size i think and looks great, it has random ruffles/excess but it looks fine.
I was thinking about getting the matching mat aswell, i think it would be good at the door of the nursery, or somewhere where you will be standing alot - like along side the cot or at a nursing chair.
Well, i share ur excitement about setting up a room, its is so fun and exciting. Enjoy it!
oh yeah, one more thing, sorry, the padded pictures you can get, does zanzibar have them? i was thinking of getting them and putting them in shadow box frames to make them look a bit better, rather than having them just straight on the wall.
Sorry about the rambling!! As you can see, I love my nursery theme 2!!!!
Hi Belfie
We have the Kidsline "Sealife" theme for Sage.
I was given alot of this theme for my baby shower.
I'll just let you know the I have the 5 piece cot set which has the doona,sheets, blanket and head board thingy.
The doona is just for show as I don't cover Sage up as he sleeps in a grobag.
We also have the lamp which was fantastic as we didn't need to turn on the bedroom light and wake him up completely to change nappy or to feed.
The floor rug is great as we have polished floor boards so this breaks it up iykwim.
The wall hangings are still in the packet as we haven't got around to puttung them up.
The mobile is on the cot but only gets used every now and then
Curtains and window valance are ok.Mum sewed some backing on the curtains as they were very light and we didn't have anything else on the windows.
Oh and our Toys R Us stock the Zanzibar theme as does babyco and babies galore.
i've put some photos in my gallery of some of the zanzibar stuff for you. we did have it all set up with the cot in there as well but we've moved the cot into our bedroom for the moment (co-sleeping- wasn't planned but has ended up being the way to go).
i forgot to tell you that we've also got the laundry hamper next to the change table which i absolutely love cos you can just chuck dirty clothes straight in there. i got the hamper from ebay.
best of luck with it, i think the zanzibar line is very gorgeous and earthy looking.
Thank you so much Gracie, just had a look at the pics, and I think it all looks fabulous. It's nice to see it in a real room (as opposed to the "theme" pic where it's all a bit packed in!). Re the hamper I think that's definitely on the "yes" list. DH even said "hmm maybe we should do some shopping this weekend...". YAY!
bugalug - Oh Silver LIning is fabulous too! And I love the fact I'm not the only one crazy about my nursery theme - loved the so-called "rambling"! Re the padded pics, yes I've seen them for Zanzibar. I've got a cream carpet, cream walls & cream blind, so Zanzibar should work well. I'm just going to make sure my furniture colour isn't too dark, maybe go a teak colour (or lighter). Think I'll leave things like the mat and the mobile, cos they could be pressies.
mako - I was admiring the sealife theme, it's gorgeous! Thanks for listing stockists too. And I have to say, love the name Sage, that's just lovely!
I'm thinking that to start with I'll just get the linen, the pics, the hamper & mebbe the window valance. That should be enough to give it the "feel". Then that leaves plenty of optional kinda things that ppl can give if they want. Gosh it sounds like I think I'm gonna be given a tonne!
Is anyone able to measure the width of their window valance? (sorry, I'm being a pain!) I'm assuming they're probably a standard width in the kidsline ranges. (do i mean width or length?? basically, what size window does it fit?)
Last edited by belfie; May 20th, 2008 at 09:51 PM.
: trying to explain the width/length bit... bad attack of baby brain
Belfie, I was just checking on the kidsline website. The window valance is 152cm x 36cm, so it's bigger than I thought. I might look at getting one too.
Oooh thanks Captain! I'm a duh-head, cos I was on their site & didn't check! My window is 190, so I'll stick to the other accessories - including the mat.
Ooh, we have the Zanzibar stuff for DS - I was originally going to get the 'construction' theme but once he was born, it just wasn't 'him'! LOL.
The curtain valance is actually quite big - we have a small window in his room and my mum had to cut it down so it would fit.
We got the quilt (still in the cupboard as you're not supposed to use them till 2 yrs I think? But his cot converts to a toddler bed so I got it with the rest of the stuff and put it away for later), the wall hangings, the curtain valance (didn't get the curtains, just got my mum to make some to match), the laundry hamper...ummm, think that's it? I actually don't like it when a nursery has every little thing, it's too much IMO. Thinking of getting the floor mat too at some stage.
I love the Z theme too. Just thought I would add that we have the mobile from the theme with the insects (name temporarily escapes me!) and to be honest I wouldn't recommend the mobiles from this brand, as you have to wind them up and they are really noisy to wind. My bub likes to stare at it going around and it would send her to sleep apart from a) it doesn't play for very long, even if fully wound and b) if I wind it to play some more the noise of the winding wakes her. On the other hand, it looks beautiful and she is completely fascinated by it. Oh, and it doesn't use batteries so is cost effective, but just thought I would say there are better mobiles out there.
Fallen in love with the Zanzibar theme!
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