Bored of plain white, pink or blue nursery bedding?  We were so we went on a mission to find something more exciting and colourful and here’s what we found:

You may have noticed that we’re quite keen on elephants so naturally we were excited when we found these elephant fleece blankets.  They come from Sweden (the blankets, not the elephants) and the range also includes kids bed sheets and cushions.  The blankets are 100% cotton, measure 70x90cms and cost £18 at www.scandiliving.com.

Quick brown fox of Dulwich – a quirky name for a shop with quirky, fun, bright bedding.   There’s nothing boring and plain here, thats for sure.  They’ve got cot sheets, sheets for popular cots like boori and stokke and even sheets for the bugaboo chameleon.  The sheets start from around £13 and you’ll find them at quickbrownfoxof dulwich.co.uk

I really struggled to find a cot bumper I liked for ebabee no. 1.  I was about to give up when I happened to make a trip to Ikea.   In the mayhem that Ikea is  I somehow spotted these ‘Lusy’ crochet decorative flowers and grabbed them like a woman possessed.  It was suddenly obvious… buy a plain white cot bumper which Ikea do for a tenner, sew these flowers on and voila! I have a cot bumper thats unique, bright and best of all didn’t cost very much at all.  Of course I sewed the flowers on the outside so ebabee no .1 couldn’t tear, chew, pull, bite them off!  For the grand price tag of £2.99 you get 5 flowers and  they even throw in the matching thread. Good ol’ Ikea!

Modern, graphic and fresh are the words that best describe the textiles that come out of Dwell Studio.  American born but now widely available here in blighty their baby bed linen will add a dash of modern to any baby’s room.  Pictured here are the ‘Owls’ and ‘Paper Dolls’ ranges which are now available at Mothercare. The flat cot sheets cost £19.99 and measure 120x155cms.  There are also many other pieces including quilts, cot bumpers and more.

If you’re a minimalist at heart and fear losing your white world to a haze of bright colours when your ebabee arrives, fear not.  Keep your cot white with white sheets but team with one of these blankets and cushions from ella & otto.  They’re perfect for adding a splash of colour without taking over.  The blankets cost £25 and the cushions are £9 for the small and £15 for the big, all at ellaandotto.com. (And before you ask, yes we love the elephant!).