Every new milestone that you manage to reach in life brings along a lot of excitement but it can sometimes require serious changes to be made as well. Getting ready to welcome your newborn into this world and become a full-time parent is no different. Aside from having to adopt some new habits and say goodbye to your old lifestyle, you will also need to make sure that you’ve prepared your home for the baby’s arrival.

Here, we will go through some of the essentials you’ll need to obtain beforehand to ensure that you create a cozy and welcoming environment for the newest member of your family.

Decide on the nursery

Putting together the baby’s nursery is the first – and arguably the most important – part of the entire checklist. Simply put, you want to make sure that you create a space for your newborn well ahead of time. That’s why you should think long and hard about which room in your home you want to dedicate to this purpose. If you choose well, you can even turn your baby’s nursery in their room later on. That’s why you should pick a room that the closest to your own bedroom so that you can reach your newborn quickly if they happen to wake up and start crying during the night.

Choose the right color scheme

Once you’ve decided on the room, it’s time to start decorating it. Many people make the mistake of going pretty neutral with the room, thinking that their baby is still too young to care. However, it’s actually a much better idea to design the room beautifully and create enough visual interest to keep your baby entertained and engaged. That being said, try not to overdo it as sometimes too stimulating environments can make your newborn nervous instead. Therefore, choose the colors wisely – pastels are always a good idea, and make sure you add some visual interest and décor but don’t go overboard.

Get the essential furniture

As far as the furniture is concerned, you don’t have to fully fill out the space, but you do need to obtain all of the essentials. A baby crib with a comfortable mattress is a must. Aside from that, you will also need a place to change your baby as well as a comfortable armchair where you can breastfeed and generally spend some time bonding with your newborn. As far as storage goes, you can simply get a spacious dresser that can double as a changing station and make it serve a dual purpose. Good lighting and a soft comfortable area rug will be the things that will complete the entire room. This way, once your baby becomes a toddler, you can easily get rid of baby furniture and equip the room with something more appropriate.

Obtain other necessities

Aside from the aforementioned furniture and other room essentials, you need to make sure you obtain other necessary baby equipment. If you haven’t quite thought of this before your baby was born and now you simply don’t have the time to go window shopping, do know that there are numerous online retailers where you can find anything you might need for your newborn. Brands like Bubba Blue can easily be found online and offer a variety of essential baby gear, such as the baby head rest pillows, crib blankets, sleeping bags, hooded towels and much, much more. This way, you can easily pinpoint a piece of baby equipment you might have initially missed or forgot to buy and get it with a simple click of the mouse.

Leave enough room to grow

As already mentioned, you should equip your baby’s nursery fully but you should also leave enough room to grow. What this means is that, when choosing a nursery, you need to also try and envision it years later, when your baby is no longer just a baby. See if there’s enough room for “toddler” furniture, or even “teenager” furniture because as much as you’d like, you need to be aware that your baby, unfortunately, won’t stay as small and innocent forever. Sooner than you think they’ll start expressing their opinions and preferences – both room-wise and in general – and you will have no other choice but to try and meet them at least half way. But that’s the beauty of becoming a parent.

If you want to ensure that you are entirely ready for your newborn baby’s arrival, it would be wise to start preparing for it in advance. You can start prepping the room before you get too big to be able to easily move around, and you can take care of the rest after. Basically, the sooner you start the better