Dresser Fit For A Prince

In big apartment buildings here in the Netherlands, there's often a dumpster/castoff room in the basement where people take their trash or unwanted stuff. Other people can take things, or the trash gets picked up later. 

Yesterday while babysitting I just HAPPENED to go down to the basement to recycle paper, and found an adorable baby changing table/dresser. I'm not normally a big furniture person, or fancy person at all. D and I are both really down-to-earth and frugal - we tend to save our money, or use it on plane tickets for family and experiences and not on stuff. And we have honestly just been planning to use mostly multipurpose stuff when possible for the baby, because why would we spend thousands of euros for baby cribs etc. when we can borrow them or buy them second-hand....

 All that to say, our whole (tiny) apartment is very simple and pretty but not expensive, and we like it that way, plus the baby won't care  We don't even have a second bedroom, and while the baby would be sleeping near us the first few months for feedings anyway, I still feel kind of sheepish when people ask, "Have you fixed up a nursery all cute?" And we will probably move in the next year or so and have a baby/kid bedroom then. But right now, no, we haven't painted an adorable bedroom and filled it with stenciled walls and stuffed animals. And sometimes I feel like I'm just the tiniest bit not going to be a good mom because I'm not putting all that work and time and money into a too-cute baby room. 

And then I found this dresser yesterday, and totally fell in love with it (and I told that to my sister and she kind of laughed at me- "I've never heard you say you fell in love with furniture before. Pregnancy makes you interesting." Which is totally true - I do get more easily emotional about stuff these days.) And at first I messaged D that I thought we could take this dresser, and was all excited. And then I realized how big it was and that it was just impractical to try to lug up all the flights of stairs to our apartment, especially since I'm not supposed to lift heavy things. Plus we have a PERFECTLY FINE dresser that we were going to use. So I messaged D, "Never mind, it wouldn't work. No big deal," and tried not to be disappointed. Because it's not a big deal, right? And I hadn't even thought of putting 'cute baby furniture' on my to-buy (or dreaming about) list, because I knew we'd find or inherit something practical. No need to get all emotional.

And then D messaged back that he was willing to come in the car and we could pick the dresser up... no frills in his simple message, just a "sure, not a problem. we'll bring the car and get it." So we came back and got it, just like that. And it took a lot of wrestling because we also have a tiny car, and narrow stairways, but D made sure I was only helping lightly and not straining... and now it's sitting in our bedroom and looks oh so beautiful. I couldn't sleep before I wiped any dust out and put some newborn clothes in one of the drawers, just to see how it looked. And I only felt slightly silly, but super grateful for the God-smile of giving us something so luxurious that we didn't NEED, at all... but is so adorable. 

I feel like it says, "Welcome, little baby  We are so excited about you coming, even if we don't spend a ton of money on all the fancy modern baby bedrooms and toys and clothes." Which may be totally silly, and I know that the baby and D and I would still be just as happy if we were one of those cool trekking families that lives out of backpacks and travels across China or Africa. But for now, I'm just really really really excited about this dresser, which matches our room well and smells like fresh wood and is way cuter than anything I was counting on getting....