Setting up a nursery for the first time is one of those tasks that feels simultaneously exciting and completely overwhelming. There are so many decisions to make, so many products to research, and so much conflicting advice about what you actually need versus what's just nice to have. My husband and I spent about three months going back and forth on the furniture before we finally committed to anything.
The wardrobe was the piece we agonised over most. We wanted something that looked good — we'd spent time and effort on the nursery and didn't want to fill it with furniture that looked purely functional. But we also wanted something that would last beyond the baby years, because the idea of buying nursery furniture that becomes redundant at age two felt wasteful. And we wanted soft-close doors, because we'd heard enough stories from friends about waking sleeping babies with a carelessly closed wardrobe door to know that was non-negotiable.
The Tutti Bambini Modena Wardrobe in White/Oak ticked every box.
Why the Modena
Tutti Bambini is a brand with a solid reputation in the nursery furniture space — they've been making children's furniture for years and their pieces are known for quality construction and longevity. The Modena range specifically appealed because of its clean, contemporary aesthetic: the White/Oak combination is Scandinavian in feel, understated rather than overtly baby-themed, which meant it would look at home in the room as our daughter grew older rather than looking like nursery furniture that had outstayed its welcome.
The practical specifications were equally compelling. At W85 x D50 x H170cm, it's a proper full-height wardrobe — not a scaled-down nursery version that runs out of space the moment you start accumulating clothes. The interior has a hanging rail for dresses, coats, and longer garments, plus adjustable shelves for folded items, shoes, and storage boxes. The adjustable shelves were important to us because a baby's storage needs are very different from a toddler's, which are different again from a four-year-old's — we wanted to be able to reconfigure as she grew.
Assembly and First Impressions
I ordered through Altoe and it arrived flat-packed, which I'd expected for something this size. My husband assembled it over a Saturday afternoon — about three hours in total, which felt reasonable for a 75kg piece of furniture. The instructions were clear, all the fittings were included and labelled, and nothing was missing from the box, which sounds like a low bar but isn't always the case with flat-pack furniture at this scale.
In person, the quality is immediately apparent. The engineered wood panels are solid and heavy — this doesn't feel like furniture that will wobble or flex under use. The surfaces are smooth and the finish is consistent across all panels. The soft-close mechanism on the doors is genuinely good — the doors slow and close silently in the last few centimetres of travel, which is exactly what you want at 2am when you're trying not to wake a sleeping baby. The non-toxic coating gave us peace of mind from a safety perspective, which matters when you're putting furniture in a room where a small child will spend a lot of time.
Four Years of Daily Use
Our daughter Freya is now four. The Modena wardrobe has been in her room since before she was born. In four years it has been opened and closed thousands of times, reorganised multiple times as her storage needs changed, and subjected to the general proximity of a small child who has gone through phases of treating furniture as a climbing frame.
The structure is completely solid. No wobble, no loosening of joints, no damage to the finish beyond a small scuff on one door panel that happened during a particularly enthusiastic phase with a toy car. The soft-close mechanism still works perfectly on both doors. The adjustable shelves have been repositioned three times as Freya's wardrobe contents have evolved from tiny babygrows to school uniforms and dresses she can reach herself.
It no longer looks like nursery furniture because it never really did — it looks like a proper wardrobe that happens to be in a child's room. That was exactly what we wanted when we bought it, and it's exactly what we got.
What I'd Tell Any Parent Setting Up a Nursery
Invest in the wardrobe. It's the piece of nursery furniture that will get the most daily use for the longest period of time, and it's worth buying something that will last beyond the baby years rather than something you'll need to replace when your child turns two. The Tutti Bambini Modena Wardrobe in White/Oak is well-made, genuinely practical, and designed to grow with your child in a way that most nursery furniture isn't.
- Full-height design (H170cm) — proper wardrobe capacity, not a scaled-down nursery version
- Soft-close door mechanism — silent closure that protects little fingers and sleeping babies
- Adjustable shelves — reconfigure as your child's storage needs change
- Hanging rail included — practical space for dresses, coats, and longer garments
- Non-toxic coating — safe for use in a child's room from birth
- Durable engineered wood — solid, heavy construction built for long-term use
- White/Oak finish — contemporary aesthetic that grows with the room
- All fittings and instructions included — straightforward home assembly
Get yours here: Tutti Bambini Modena Wardrobe – White/Oak
And if you're furnishing a nursery or children's room, these collections are worth exploring:
Beth Carmichael is a part-time accountant and mum of one based in Cambridge. She writes about the home and nursery products that have genuinely stood the test of time in her family — no gifted items, no brand relationships, just honest experience from someone who researches every purchase carefully.
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