Our Portable & Minimal Mountain Nursery

Just recently, my friend who lives in South Asia texted and said the macrame shelf in the nursery fell down. She graciously cleaned up the mess of a little baby cup shattering to pieces. Thankfully it was just a Hobby Lobby find and should be easy to replace. It brought me back to my husband and I setting up the nursery several months ago when we thought we would deliver in our host country. We pictured bringing this little human back to our flat tucked in the mountains. Now we are preparing to bring a baby (who we now know is a boy) home to a house tucked in a little neighborhood in the midwest.

The good news about all the transition that we’ve had and is still to come as we move is that our entire nursery is portable, packable, & minimal. It makes set up easy whether we are in the Himalayas or in one of the three homes we will probably be living in during this season in the States.

Here’s what our minimal nursery consists of:

1. handmade mountain mobile
2. simple handmade quilt (which we left in South Asia) + other swaddle blankets
3. handmade mini moses macramé basket with cushion and cover
4. handmade rainbow in honor of our first little one (symbolizing miscarriage)
5. handmade reversible baby play mat & rug
6. handmade baby gym
7. Guava Lotus Bassinet & Guava Lotus Travel Crib (uses same base)
8. basket or cart for diaper supplies
9. clothing + blankets + baby items + books
10. diaper changing mats: large one that someone recently gifted us & handmade small foldable one that can be easily transported

You might have noticed that there are many handmade items in our nursery list. I realize not everyone is as obsessed with crafts as I am nor does everyone have a friend who will join them in their craft endeavors– like my talented mother does with me. Many of these items can be purchased premade on Etsy or other shops.

1. Handmade Mountain Mobile

I saw something similar on Etsy and was inspired to make my own, with the help of my mom. We cut out felt shapes, sewed them together, and stuffed them with pillow stuffing. We rolled felt balls together (which was NOT as easy as the youtube videos said they were). Next time, I would just buy premade felt balls. The rainbow and pompom in the middle were made with yarn.

2. Simple Handmade Quilt + Other Swaddles

I saw the colorful bolt of fabric at a second hand store and absolutely loved it. We found navy blue flannel to back it and stitched it together. My mom then put a few simple hand-stitched lines in the pattern to keep it together and more secure throughout. It is currently in South Asia so I don’t have a close photo of it but you can see it draped over the bassinet in the video below.

Here are some other baby swaddle blankets we have from various places–second hand baby stores to friends hand-me-downs, and gifts.

3. Handmade Mini Moses Macramé Basket with Cushion and Cover

This was a total guess project that my mom and I took on. I found the inspiration here but there was no pattern or real directions to go with it. So we totally made it up and had to unstitch part of it one time due to incorrect sizing. We found a little help online here. Basically how it’s made is by sewing macrame rope together and then pulling it up to create tension in the rope which in turn makes it curve up.

I bought a slab of foam from Hobby Lobby, covered it with thick fabric much like that of a table cloth, which can be wiped off, and then picked out the grey and white outdoor patterned fabric as a cover for the cushion.

4. Handmade Rainbow

I made this last year before we knew we were expecting & now it is a sweet little addition to the nursery. Click here to read the blog I wrote about why and how I made it.

5. Handmade Reversible Play Mat and Rug

We made it off of this pattern and youtube video. I bought faux leather here on Amazon for $11 and the dark blue and white striped fabric is actually a curtain from Target.

6. Handmade Baby Gym

Here is the pattern my dad followed to build it (thanks, pops). I bought wooden rings online and got string, beads, yarn and the little wooden scene and animals from Hobby Lobby. We just drilled a hole in the top of each wooden piece to thread through it. Here is the video I followed to make the two little macramé yarn hangings.

7. Guava Lotus Bassinet & Guava Lotus Play Yard

We currently just have the bassinet set up but the travel crib uses the same base as this one and it super easy to set up too. Very travel friendly and the bassinet can even rock. We have several other expat friends who love the Guava products and travel all over the world with them. Here is the link.

8. Cart or Basket for Diaper Supplies

The IKEA three tier cart is super functional for any season of life–I’ve had this one for five years. We weren’t able to take this overseas but I totally would if I could. While we are here, we will be using the cart for diaper supplies and wipes but when we return to South Asia we plan on finding something similar or using baskets.

9. Clothing + Baby items + Books

Clothing, books, and other portable items such as a night light and sound machine are also in the nursery.

10. Diaper Changing Mats

We have a large diaper changing mat that someone recently gifted us. I found a cover for it on sale at Buy Buy Baby.

For travel ease, we also have a handmade small foldable diaper changing mat that can be easily stuffed into a bag or backpack. Here is the pattern we followed. You probably notice, we used the same fabric as the play mat/rug since we had some left over.

Here are a few other nursery pics as we wait for baby boy: