Although a real estate agent might be keen to persuade you that you need a whole new property – a bigger property – when you are having a baby, that is not necessarily the case. If you love where you are right now or if your budget won’t currently stretch to a property move, then there are some easy and innovative ways to making a lovely nursery space for your baby, even if the room (or the house or apartment in general) is a tiny one. All it takes is a bit of planning and some clever uses of space and furniture for everyone to be happy.
Do You Need A Changing Table?
Something that every new parent seems to want is a changing table for their little one. It makes sense. After all, this is a great space for storing items such as diapers, lotions, and fresh wipes. It’s a good height so that you won’t hurt your back changing those diapers so often during the day (and night) too, and it can feel like a must-have purchase. If you have space, enjoy the change table. If space is tight, you really can do without it, however. As long as you thoroughly disinfect everything afterwards, a baby can be changed pretty much anywhere; on the floor, on a countertop, or even in a bathtub. All you really need is a change mat that can be rolled away and stored easily afterwards.
If you do want a changing table, then make sure you get one with plenty of storage underneath so that it can double up as a storage unit.
Use Shelving
If there isn’t much floor space in the nursery, then the walls are your answer. Install shelving so that you can store all the things you are going to need on a daily basis such as diapers, creams, washcloths, spare clothes and so on in an easy to reach space. That way you won’t suddenly realize that you need something halfway through a diaper change but be unable to reach it without disturbing your baby. Shelving will also give you more floor space for a crib, chest of drawers, or even a toy storage box.
Shoe Organizer
You may wonder why a shoe organizer is going to be useful for a newborn who, clearly, doesn’t wear shoes, but this handy tool can be used for other things apart from shoes. You can keep diapers and lotions in there, clean sets of clothes, washcloths and all sorts of useful baby items that you will need to have within easy reach. Hang it behind the door, and you’ve automatically created a lot more space.
Stick With The Bassinet
It can be tempting to put your baby in their own crib at an early stage, especially if they seem to be sleeping well and you want your own bedroom back for yourself. Don’t rush, though. A small bassinet or Moses basket is perfectly acceptable for your baby (and they often like the security of a smaller sleeping space until they are a little older anyway), and you can still move this into the nursery and out of your bedroom if you want to. Wait until you are sure that they are old enough and large enough for a crib before you buy one.
Buy A Small Crib
When it is time to move up to the next stage, you don’t have to buy a huge, fancy crib that takes up most of the room. It can be smaller and simple to maximize your tiny nursery space. The best option, no matter what size of crib you are buying, is to purchase one that has storage underneath, not one that goes all the way down to the floor. Giving yourself as much storage as possible when you don’t have a lot of room is always the best thing to do. If you don’t like being able to see everything stacked underneath, you can buy a lovely crib skirt from allysonbrookehome.com. This will hide all the items you have stored beneath the crib, and you can find a color that matches the theme of the room too.
Think About Crib Placement
If you have no nursery available and your baby has grown out of their bassinet, you will need to get creative. Is there room in the corner of your own bedroom? That may not be ideal, but it will make night feeds and diaper changes a lot easier. Or do you have a nook or closet that you could sacrifice for your baby’s sleeping area? Look around your home and, armed with the measurements of the small crib you are going to buy, see where it can fit in nicely.
Ditch The Rocking Chair
A rocking chair is a lovely thing to have and using one for feeding or lullabies does seem like a wonderful idea, but they are also large. The rockers stick out a long way, and in order to actually rock on them, you do need a lot of space. Therefore, if you don’t really need one and space is tight, don’t buy one. You can use a bed or comfortable chair in the living room for soothing and feeding your baby instead – they really won’t know the difference. If you have your heart set on a rocking chair, then place it in the living room rather than the bedroom to save space.
Use A Curtain Divider
If you don’t have a separate room that can be used as a nursery, then why not try using a curtain divider to make one room into two? This will create a separate space for parents and baby (or baby and older siblings), yet you won’t have to go to the expense of moving or renovating. A full height, ceiling to floor curtain, can easily delineate where one space ends and another begins. The bonus of this is that, if the new nursery is in the parents’ room, they will still be able to hear everything that is going on.
