When David and I decided to purchase a solid maple crib for Hayden instead of using a hand-me-down made from MDF, we set ourselves on a decidedly organic (and oh-so-expensive!) path for her nursery. I'd always planned to do things for her like using natural skincare products and feeding her organic foods—decisions I was already making for myself—but I hadn't given much thought to how I wanted to set up her bedroom. Now, David and I were committed to pursuing as many of our organic options as possible, though admittedly more out of concern for Hayden than for the environment.

Our landlord offered to rip up the decade-old carpet in Hayden's room and put down new, but his budget only allowed for the standard fare that would offput the very gases we were trying to avoid. So our enthusiasm about putting down a brand-new, dust-free carpet was quickly offset by the realization that if we wanted to go organic and fume-free, we'd need to do so on our dime. Since we didn't plan to stay in our rental for more than another year or two, this just didn't make financial sense. Sadly, we had to scratch that off the to do list.

But our landlord was willing to hire a professional painter to redo the walls with whichever paint we wanted, so we happily took full advantage. We high-tailed it to ABC Carpet & Home to pick out some colors from Anna Sova's line of organic, milk-based paints. Not only did they end up looking great, but they smelled fantastic: For weeks afterward, the room smelled like a milkshake!

Our final choice was to go with an organic mattress, since our goal was still to reduce her exposure to harmful gases as much as possible. To that end, since we planned to co-sleep with her for her first four months, we bought a new, organic mattress for our bedroom as well. We went completely over budget with these purchases—we put an end to our mission after that—but since we'd be using them both for years to come they seemed like wise investments. I may have been one of David's naysayers at first, but he's since made a true believer out of me!