Nursery Decor

From the mobile over the crib to the rug on the tile:

the pieces age very differently, so it pays to know which kind you are looking at. A mobile can be a wind-up music box on an arm that clamps to the crib rail, a battery unit with a projector and a remote, or a handmade felt or crochet piece hung from the ceiling. The walls take vinyl decals, framed prints and MDF clouds, shelves and names painted to match. Light means a lamp, a night light or a star projector, plus blackout curtains for daytime naps. On the floor, a rug or a foam mat takes the chill off ceramic tile. A padded play gym sits with baby toys, and the quilt and bumper that match the walls with baby bedding.

Block walls, gypsum partitions and the ceiling a mobile hangs from:

know what the nursery is built of before you buy anything heavy. A concrete block wall takes frames or a shelf, but only with a masonry bit and plastic wall plugs. A gypsum partition, common in newer houses and condos, needs gypsum anchors or a screw into the metal stud. Adhesive strips and vinyl decals both let go of a textured repello finish and of paint that has barely dried, so a decal wants a smooth, cured wall. For a hanging mobile, a hook in a concrete slab holds, while a PVC or fibre-cement ceiling panel under a zinc roof will not, and the hook has to reach the frame above it. A mobile stays out of the baby’s reach and comes down once they push up on hands and knees, and nothing heavy goes on the wall over the crib. Starting from scratch, the nursery furniture decides which walls are left free.

What a painted name sign is worth once the name is not yours:

very little, and that sets the tone for the whole used market. A musical crib mobile costs around ₡25,000 to ₡30,000 new, whether it is a wind-up model or a handmade felt one, and a used one that plays through a full wind with every figure and its clamp keeps a good part of that, because the next baby needs the same thing. A name cut in MDF was made to order for one child and resells only to a family with the same name, or tucked into a bundle. Prints, lamps and rugs sit in between, and soft pastels and animals outlast a cartoon character gone out of fashion.

Mobile motors, decal sheets and faded prints:

each piece fails in its own way. Wind a music-box mobile all the way and let it run: it should turn and play to the end without dragging, and the clamp should tighten onto a rail without the thread slipping. On battery mobiles and projectors, open the battery cover and look for white crust on the contacts. Felt and crochet figures fade on the side that faced the window; pull gently on each to test the stitching. A vinyl decal that has been on a wall once rarely sticks again, so only unused sheets still on their backing are worth buying. Under the glass of a framed print, brown spots or a rippled sheet mean damp got in. Rug backing crumbles on tile, and blackout curtains show pinholes in the coating after too many washes. On blinds, check there is no loose loop cord.

Passing on a themed room as one lot:

photograph the room while everything is still up, because a buyer pictures a safari or clouds theme as a whole, then shoot each piece on its own in daylight. Give the width and drop of the curtains and the size of the rug, say which prints come framed and whether the hooks or screws come with them, and include the mobile’s clamp, remote and box if you still have them. Someone driving in from San Vito for a whole room will carry the frames home on the back seat, so wrap the glass ones and tape down the mobile’s arms before they arrive.