This next post isn’t sponsored, it’s just a super awesome time suck thing I stumbled on and had to share!
I happened upon Carousel Designs (a.k.a. babybedding.com) when I was doing my zillionth google image search for crib bedding. When my son was born, I bought him his own crib bedding set, and I wanted the same for this baby. I know many will say it’s a waste of money but hey, everyone is allowed a small indulgence that makes them happy, right?
Anyhoo, I knew pretty much what I was looking for, and as is always my luck, it didn’t seem to exist. I started clicking on images that looked even sort of close, to get a better look. When I clicked on one, it took me to the listing on babybedding.com. I almost clicked off, but then I saw the custom tab at the top.
Nursery bedding designer? Uhm, yes please?! Luckily, I found this after my kids were in bed, but I am not going to tell you how much time I spent playing around with it! I will tell you that it was punctuated by a lot of “OMG, this is so awesome!” and “holy cow this rocks!” I may or may not have told my hubby at one point that I wanted a divorce so I could marry the bedding designer, ha ha.
No really, maybe I’m weird but this was so.much.fun. You can choose a fabric category (by color, or pattern like animal, dot, gingham etc.) and once you select one you like, you can elect to only see fabrics that match! It will even warn you if say, the brown you selected for your bed skirt may not match the brown you selected for your comforter.
You can customize like crazy, down to the length, style and trim on your bed skirt.
You can even customize the color of the crib, color/type of flooring and wall/trim paint, so you can really get a good idea of what the bedding would look like in your room.
Additionally awesome is that most fabrics are available by the yard, so if you are crafty, you’re pretty much free to make anything your little heart desires to match your custom bedding set. (They do have nursery decor available, but it may not necessarily be just what you’re looking for!)
Also super awesome? They have fabric swatches available for 50 cents each. Why is that awesome? Well, not only can you see and touch the fabrics, look for things that match, see if they match things you already have etc., but Carousel Designs will send you a coupon code to use on your next order of $75 or more, equal to the cost of your swatch order!
OK, so I haven’t actually ordered one of their custom products. But I will say, they have a ton of available fabrics, including organic fabrics, and the quality of the fabric samples I bought was excellent.
Price? Yeah, it’s not cheap, but I didn’t expect it to be. Pricing depends on the options and fabrics you choose, but my creations were around $99-$139 for a comforter, $99-$114 for a bed skirt and $19-$37 (high price is for sateen fabric) for a sheet. The MSRP of the crib set I bought for my son was $265.99 (granted, I paid around $50 on Ebay since I’m cheap frugal!) but all I actually used from the set was the bed skirt and comforter (and when DH lowered the mattress all the way down, he said the skirt no longer worked.) Not just that but man, that stuff was/is cheap with a capital c. The Carousel Designs fabric isn’t even in the same neighborhood, it’s like comparing Wal Mart to Saks Fifth Avenue. I was really flabbergasted when I saw how expensive most crib sets really were!
So anyway, we really haven’t had to buy much for the new baby, so this is going to be my one and only splurge. A bed skirt and comforter (and maybe a sheet.) I thought I knew what I wanted, but once I started playing around, we decided to wait to order until after the baby is born, so we can get something gender specific!
Here are some of the designs I put together (I know some of them are icky, but it’s really easy to save & work on them later!)
If you’re not into the custom designing, they have tons of crib bedding in stock. You can even browse those and use them for inspiration/find things to tweak in the designer! Best of all, they have individual pieces available a la carte, so you’re not stuck with a huge set if all you want is a bed skirt or something!
I can’t wait to order ours and I will definitely post an update/pics when I do!
FTC compliance: I did not receive product or any other compensation for this post, and all opinions are my own.
[…] In October, I posted about the Carousel Designs Custom Baby Bedding Designer. […]
Oh my gosh thanks for sharing! I’m headed over to check it out right now. I need to figure something out for this new LO here soon!
So how much time did you spend designing bedding? 😉