Carousel Designs Blog

Years ago, I remember someone telling me that babies were cheap.  As in, “You might as well have a slew, ‘cause babies don’t cost nothin’.”

Well, I don’t know what they were talking about (or why on earth I was listening to someone who talks like that) because having a baby is an expensive venture!

There’s all the gear, furniture, and gotta-have paraphernalia, not to mention baby-proofing your house and decorating your nursery!  And the diapers…don’t forget the diapers!!

And if you fall prey to the notion that you’ve got to have the hottest stroller, the most expensive diaper bag, or the latest and greatest high chair…you’re in trouble.

But we can help! We’ve made it so incredibly easy to create a registry here at Carousel Designs and even easier to let all of your friends and family know exactly what you want in your babies crib!  It’s a great way to get a little help decorating your nursery from people who really want to help (think grandparents, aunts & uncles, your non-parent friends who have no idea what to get you).

We’ve made it blissfully fast for registrants to register…just enter your first and last name, an email address, pick a password and you’re in!

You’ll then decide whether you want your registry to be public, invitation-only or private.

• Public registries are searchable and viewable by anyone.
• Invitation-Only registries are not searchable and only viewable with a direct link which we’ll provide to you.
• Private registries are not searchable and only viewable by the registrant (a great way to create a wish list for yourself).

You’ll also enter an event date (i.e. when you expect the baby to make his/her first appearance) or as I like to put it, a deadline.

Anybody can set up a gift registry for an expectant parent and we have many that are managed by soon-to-be grandparents or even a friend.  And if you include the name of a co-registrant (i.e. baby daddy), gift buyers will be able to search for your registry by this name as well.

Though we require an address, it will not be shown to anyone…even gift buyers.  This address is the location where your registry gifts will be sent unless your gift buyers choose to send to alternate addresses (which they have the option to do).

And it’s super easy to share your registry information with friends and family.  With a simple click, you can share it:

1. On Facebook;
2. With a direct link we provide to you for emails, Twitter, or chats; or
3. With a snippet of code that you can embed into websites like a blog.

And then all you do is click the “Add to Registry” button just below “Add to Cart” when you’re browsing our crib bedding collections.

How much fun is that?

All that’s left for you to do is to sit back and wait for your baby’s bedding to roll in.

Or…start regrouting the tiles in your bathroom (a little nesting never hurt anyone).

I thought about naming this post, “The secret to picking the perfect Crib Bedding online (without pulling your hair out)”, but the title was too long and I’m a stickler for one-line blog post titles.  But, that would’ve been a fairly accurate assessment about how difficult it can be to choose the perfect baby bedding for your nursery, eh?

Ordering online can be a bit daunting regardless, but factor in the emotional nature of something like baby bedding and it can become even more challenging. Without being able to see and feel the fabrics, it’s tough to get a good sense of the bedding’s feel and quality.  And we all know how important your baby’s bedding is in the overall design of your nursery.  (It’s kind of like picking out your wedding dress…am I right?)

Fortunately, the zoom and pan features on babybedding.com will help alleviate some of those problems by allowing you to get a close-up view of even the smallest details of our crib bedding collections.

Even with the best of technology, though, colors of fabrics may differ from how you see them on your monitor. Until modern technology invents some way for you to feel the fabric through your computer screen, fabric swatches can be an online-orderer’s best friend.

At Carousel Designs, we want our customers to be over-the moon happy and satisfied with their purchase, because we know how important your baby’s first room is.  To ensure an exact match for your nursery, and satisfaction with fabric texture and quality, we recommend ordering swatches before placing your bedding order.  They’re only 50 cents each, and the cost of your swatches will be refunded to you when you place an order.  So it’s a win-win!

And while you’re shopping our crib bedding collections, don’t forget about our Design-Your-Own-Baby-Bedding interactive tool.  You can customize any of our collections by simply clicking “customize this collection” and adding your personal touch.  I’ve said before (but I’ll say it again), it’s baby couture!

And, as always, Customer Service is just a phone call away to help address any concerns or answer any questions.  If you’ve run into a challenging design issue or just can’t decide between toile and floral, give us a holler…we’d love to hear from you and get a real kick out of making our customers happy!

Talk to you soon!

I just spoke with a customer that was trying to decide on some different fabrics.  For her, seeing the fabric made all the difference.

Our website is very helpful and you can many times place your order without seeing the actual fabric/product beforehand.  However, so many times being able to see the actual fabric ultimately drives your purchasing decision.

For that reason, we highly recommend you order fabric swatches from us prior to placing your order.  You’ll see the area to order fabric swatches on every single product page on our website.  So, if it is a page where you can add a bumper, sheet, or some other product to your shopping cart–you can also order the swatches.

Jonathan

In this video we demonstrate some of the features of babybedding.com that will better help you choose the perfect bedding for your nursery – primarily using the zoom imaging feature and ordering fabric swatches.

Let’s say you are designing a girl’s nursery. Clicking the baby girl bedding link quickly takes you to the section of our website dedicated to the girl’s nursery.

As you can see, there are also filters available for boys and gender neutral collections as well.

Maybe you like the Pink and chocolate damask collection and you’re interested in the four piece bedding set. To get a closer look at the bedding, simply click on the image and you will see a new zoom window appear. You can click and drag the mouse to view any section you would like to see better.

But because all monitors are different, we encourage you to have a fabric swatch sample sent to you. That way you can actually feel the fabric and make sure that the colors match your design requirements.

We usually mail swatches out within 24 hours so you can make your design decisions quickly.
And if you have any questions, just give us a call toll-free, (800) 600-5190, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

Thanks for shopping with us!

John

We’re pretty excited about what has been going on over at the outlet store .  After a bit of brainstorming, there were several efforts made to “sharpen our pencils”, become more efficient and be better able to offer a wider array of discount baby bedding.

Here are a couple of good points from today’s press release:

“Our designer collections are composed of specific fabrics that have been detailed by our design team,” added Allan Sicat, President of Carousel Designs. “Sometimes a fabric vendor will unexpectedly discontinue a fabric that we use as a part of a designed baby bedding collection. When that happens, we must find ways to optimize and utilize those specific fabrics. We salvage the situation by creating new, limited, high-quality products at deeply discounted prices.”

And to add to this point:

The multitude of steps involved in designing a new collection can take many iterations of testing before producing the end product that is offered on babybedding.com. “When we design a new collection we might make several versions of a crib skirt, for instance, to see which one best aligns with the overall designed collection,” stated Rose Grove, Carousel Designs’ lead designer. “Even though a particular crib skirt or comforter creation doesn’t make it into a designed collection, it still remains well made, beautifully crafted and unique.”

The bottom line?  We just opened the door to greater savings on our website.  If you haven’t dropped by the outlet store lately, check it out.  We have made it even easier to buy unique, high-quality, American-made baby bedding on a budget.

John

Today we are launching our newest damask collection of baby bedding and decor – Sage Damask.  Featuring earth tones paired with the elegance of a damask print, this collection cleverly combines sophistication and simplicity.  The earthy color combinations in this collection are just in time to celebrate Earth Day.

Our Sage Damask Four Piece Crib Bedding Set features a luxurious crib comforter with our sage damask print on the front balanced by sage stripes on the reverse.  Chocolate brown piping adds the finishing touches to this unique and versatile crib comforter.  The crib bumper echoes the design of the comforter featuring sage stripes on the inside with sage damask on the outside and chocolate brown ties and trim.  The box pleat crib skirt is made with our sage stripes print and trimmed with chocolate brown.  The four piece bundle comes with a chocolate brown crib sheet yet easily coordinates with sage stripe crib sheets.

To complete the nursery with coordinating pieces of decor, we offer Sage Damask Drapes in 84 and 96 inches.  Featuring sage damask fabric backed by a poly-cotton liner, our coordinating drapes have a solid chocolate brown bottom trim and tie-tops.  Other coordinating options include our Sage Damask window valances in either tab top or rod pocket style.  Other accessories include diaper stackers, changing pad covers, high chair pads and many other items that can be found on our Sage Damask Nursery Decor page.

John

We recently updated our dots and stripes baby bedding section and I’m really liking the new collections.  Here are the latest and greatest color combinations with contrasting dots.  Click the image to see the entire collection which includes crib bedding, toddler bedding, portable crib bedding, cradle bedding and nursery decor.

Black and White Dots and Stripes

Black and White Dots and Stripes offer a crisp contrast for the developing eyesight of newborns.  This collection features white dots on a black background and the reverse black dots on a white background.  Black and white stripes are added in the trim and ties.

Blue and Chocolate Dots and Stripes

The blue and chocolate dots and stripes collection features a soothing blue contrasted with brown – great for a baby boy nursery.

Pink and Chocolate Dots and Stripes

The pink and chocolate dots and stripes collection is an instant favorite with the fresh combination of pink and brown dots.

Brown and Natural Dots and Stripes

The natural and brown dots collection features a dark brown contrasted with natural, “raw-sugar” color to create a beautiful, earthy combination.  The crib sheet in this collection is made with organic cotton.

Green and Brown Dots and Stripes

The Green and Brown Dots and Stripes collection features another earthy combination of green apple and dark brown.

Red and White Dots and Stripes

This bold combination of red and white make the Red and White Dots and Stripes collection a real stand out.

Lime and White Dots and Stripes

The Lime and White Dots and Stripes Collection is perfect for a gender neutral nursery.

John

Previously available only through better baby retail stores,  the Spa and Chocolate Gumball Collection is now available on the babybedding.com website.

This collection contains tranquil earth tones and features blue and brown colors perfect for a baby boy nursery.  The Spa and Chocolate Fabric has branches of brown that bloom with blue and green gumballs.  Paired with Robin’s Egg Blue and Chocolate Brown, this collection combines charm with elegance.

The crib comforter front features the Spa and Gumball fabric and is backed in solid Robin’s Egg Blue and is trimmed in Chocolate Suede.  The crib bumper also shares this configuration with the outside in Spa and Gumball, the inside in Robin’s Egg Blue.  The bumper trim is in Chocolate Suede fabric.

The crib skirt combines blue and brown by utilizing the Robin’s Egg Blue fabric for the skirt body and the Chocolate Suede fabric for a 4″ trim.  The four piece crib set comes with a Solid Chocolate crib sheet but a Robin’s Egg Blue crib sheet matches perfectly as well.

This beautiful collection has been a staff favorite for some time and we are pleased to make it more widely available online.

We had another great month for custom baby bedding creations from customers using our custom design studio.  There were some really creative designs put together and I plan to highlight some of our favorites on a regular basis.  After looking through all of our orders for February, we have a few staff favorites to highlight. 

My personal favorite is the black minky combined with latte curly minky set.  The bumper features alternating panels of black minky and latte minky with black ties.  The crib skirt uses latte minky for the body with trim in black and the comforter has latte minky on one side and black minky on the reverse with black trim.  The picture doesn’t really do the comforter justice – that is going to be one ultra-soft comforter!  The nice twist to this set is the white minky chenille crib sheet.  I really like the subtle contrast this adds to the collection. 

The next custom crib set that got our vote is the giraffe minky print combined with solid celery green and sable.  The bumper and comforter in this custom set are created with the minky giraffe print and trimmed with solid celery.  The crib skirt features a solid sable brown and trimmed with solid celery.  And the crib sheet balances out the collection with solid celery.  This is a great design for an animal/jungle themed nursery.

The third of our favorite custom collections from February is a pink and black dot combination.  The inside of the bumper in this collection is created with solid pink minky and the outside features pink and black dot fabric and is trimmed in solid black.  The skirt matches the pink and black dot design with black trim.  The crib sheet balances these two parts with a black and pink dot fabric.  The comforter will definitely be a super soft delight for one special baby girl as it features solid pink minky on one side and black and pink dot minky on the other.

These are just a few samples of the custom collections that have been created with our custom design studio.  If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out!  But be ready to spend some time as it can be addictive

John

We are happy to announce that we have just launched our first certified organic crib bedding collection.  Certified to be grown without the use of petroleum based fertilizers or harsh chemicals, our natural organic collection is down to earth and comes in the sweet earthy shade of “raw sugar”.

The organic crib sheets are offered at the nice price of $24 and have been integrated into our new Modern Fern collection.  The organic changing pad cover is offered at $29.00.

Whether you are wishing to ensure that only the highest quality fabrics touch your baby’s skin or you want to have a completely green household, we now have a comprehensive offering of organic crib bedding, portable crib bedding, toddler bedding and nursery decor to complete your nursery.

Stay tuned for the introduction of new organic colors in the future.

John