Dad gives forgotten nursery item a heartfelt facelift and changed his family's lives

“Why isn’t that space personal too?”

Jim Walsh was like any other new dad in Bondi. Only with one unexpected difference: a sudden obsession with plywood.

As he and his wife Megan prepared for the arrival of their first daughter, Betty, in 2009, one thing stuck with Jim.

“I just didn't know what nesting was, you know,” he told Kidspot.

 “As soon as Megs was pregnant, she just got into this kind of mother bird phase.”

Betty with her cot before and after Jim personalised it. Image: Supplied

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The second-hand cot that started it all

He watched as Megan cleared out rooms, raided IKEA, and lovingly transformed a space just for their baby.

Then came Jim’s job: the cot. Which opened up its own can of nursery worms. 

“Why is the cot just the same for everybody?” he said.

 “They're going to spend most of their early life in it. Why isn’t that space personal too?”

So, he set out to make it just that.

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They were gifted a second-hand cot from a friend whose family had passed it down since the '80s.

However, it needed some TLC. 

“The ends of the cot were like a chipboard or something,” Jim said. 

“So I went down to Bunnings and grabbed two bits of plywood. Brought them back and kind of just did up the whole cot.”

He didn’t stop there. 

Jim doesn’t claim to be an illustrator by any means, but he took a brush and paint and created more than a sleep space. 

Little scenes of clouds and trees on one end, stars and night skies on the other. 

“It was just this kind of a cute little environment for Betty.”

Jim's finished creation. Image: Supplied

"I just want them to be confident women"

As Betty grew, her adoration for the space did too. 

“She loved it, you know, she absolutely loved it. She was pointing at it, and she's touching it, and she's, you know, kicking it and slamming it and she loved it,” Jim recalled. 

The cot continued to provide rest and safety for her two sisters, May and Rosie, encouraging the same sense of creativity and individuality that Jim instilled in Betty from such a young age.

Now, it’s one of the most poignant lessons they instil in their children who are all approaching or are in their teen years. 

“We are big fans of supporting creativity in our house, and we see how creative expression is just so important,” he explained. 

In their home, creativity isn’t just encouraged — it’s expected. And for Jim, it’s all part of raising girls who feel free to be themselves.

“I just want them to be confident women,” he said. 

He doesn’t picture a particular path for Betty, May, or Rosie. What matters most to him is that whatever they choose, they choose it boldly. 

“If they have that foundation to be accepting of others, to have humility and understanding I think everything else will work out.”

Jim wants his daughters to be "bold" and "confident." Image: Supplied

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It’s an idea that’s been bubbling beneath the surface since he first picked up that paintbrush and took it to the cot. 

Something that has stretched its wings beyond the four walls of his daughter’s nursery. 

The family has now relocated to New Zealand, but Jim keeps his Australian ties running a business, fittingly named 'Bold Baby', to provide other parents with the chance to personalise their children’s cot. 

“I just got myself in too deep really. I just kept going. And now I’ve got a bloody cot company,” he laughed. 

“Creating a product that allows parents to make something theirs is great... it’s fun, right? It’s just fun.”

Not bad for a dad who just wanted to fix up a second-hand cot. 

Originally published as Dad gives forgotten nursery item a heartfelt facelift and changed his family's lives