Cozy Up to Nesting.com

Courtesy Nesting.com

As a mother of four young girls, entrepreneur Wendy Bellissimo was constantly challenged to balance her schedule with those of her children. As her husband Joe Bellissimo watched her deal with the craziness of daily life, he decided he wanted to make things easier on her. So together, the couple created Nesting.com, a new, free website that combines social networking with news, personal calendars, photo sharing and more.

Wendy recently spoke to CBB about some features of the new site, and shared information on her interior decorating business and her line at Babies"R"Us, Wendy Bellissimo Babies and Kids.

What was the idea behind Nesting.com?
My goal was to make sure it was beautiful, practical and useful. It’s not only for social benefit, but a place where mothers and fathers can centralize the real world and their daily life: Their family, their photos, their friends, their kids’ activities. It all flows into one homepage where you can see it at a glance. Additionally, you’re not necessarily connecting with people you don’t know, like on other such sites, so you’re in your own real world with your friends, and the people you need to communicate with on a daily or weekly basis. It’s up to you how private or public you make your profile.

For the rest of the interview, click "More."

What are some major features of the site?
When you sign up as a member of Nesting.com, you can pick and choose what you want on your homepage, and tailor the site to the needs of you and your family. It’s extremely user-friendly — many of the features are accessible with just one click. On the site, you can:

• Invite friends. My whole circle of friends was invited, then they in turn invited other friends that make up our "group" on the site.
• Photo share. It’s probably the most popular feature on the site, because with just one click, you can upload photos and share them with other friends on the site. The same goes for sharing jokes and stories — it used to be that I’d get email forwards with jokes, and think, "Who has time to keep sending these around?" But on the site, it’s so simple to log on, click the people in your group that you think a joke or story pertains to, and share something.
• Journal. Here, parents are able to write about things happening in their lives, and share if they choose, or make their journal entries private.
• Check news, weather and sports and entertainment headlines.

Any other features you’re particularly excited about?
The calendar is not up quite yet, but it’s going to be phenomenal. You can arrange your entire family’s schedule on it, so you or your husband can access it from home or from work, and anyone you allow to see it can try and set up playdates, dinners or other get-togethers by looking at your calendar to check your schedule. You can make things private on here, so other people don’t have to know where you are — for instance, birthday parties or doctor appointments. You can also make "open plans" on any given day, writing something like, "We’re going to the beach, does anyone want to join us?" It eliminates the back-and-forth of emails and phone calls.

Do you have any celebrity fans?
Yes! Greg Grunberg of Heroes uses the site, as do Angie Harmon and her husband, Jason Sehorn.

Wendy Bellissimo

You design a line for Babies"R"Us — what does it include?
I create everything from strollers, carriers and diaper bags to clothing and entire nurseries. I have fun doing it all, because doing anything for babies is a joy!

You’ve created nurseries for celebrities such as Kelly Ripa and Cedric the Entertainer. Any tips for our readers on nursery design?
Matching a nursery to the style of the home is very important — you don’t want to walk into the baby’s room and think, "Where did this come from?" It needs to feel like an extension of the home, rather than a day-care center — a sophisticated, clean spot that feels like it’s for a baby or child and retains a certain coziness. Eco-friendly items are really big right now — safe paints, recycled materials. Above all, though, do your research before making any big decisions! When you’re nesting, it’s hard not to run out and buy things before conceptualizing the room in its entirety. Go through magazines and websites first to find what you connect with and what you can use, then make your moves from there.