Space Saving Ideas for the Nursery

To be so little, babies sure do come with lots of stuff! Because of their tiny size, babies are usually given the smallest bedroom in the home. Sometimes they only have a corner to call their own!

In these kinds of situations, parents need some space saving ideas for the baby's nursery! Whether your baby's crib is wedged into a walk-in closet in a tiny apartment, or she has her own bedroom, you will find plenty of suggestions to save space and keep all of the baby clutter under control.

When we brought our second daughter home, our toddler had to move over and make room for a big sister. The baby's room became a room for two girls, one still in a crib. Here are some of the ways I consolidated the baby's belongings to make room for our new child.

When space is at a premium, try getting rid of the dresser. It is one of the bulkiest pieces of furniture in the nursery, and you can save a lot of space by getting it out of the room.

Consider moving the dresser into the closet. Infant dresses are short. There is a lot of space let underneath them when they are hanging in the closet. Moving the dresser into the closet fills this formerly wasted space, and may make it possible to fit both the rocking chair and the changing table into your baby's small bedroom.

Look for ways to eliminate the dresser altogether. When my children were small, they shared a bedroom and had one dresser with three drawers between them. I moved the baby's clothes into plastic bins I stored under the crib. Three large plastic bins fit there perfectly. One held tops, one held bottoms and the third held pajamas and undershirts. A bedskirt on the crib hid the bins.

Another option for storing baby clothes might be a hanging sweater bag. These bags hang from the closet rod and typically have five or six shelves or cubbies. Since baby items are small, you may be able to manage with this amount of space, perhaps by assigning each slot a day of the week and stashing a few outfits into each one.

Save space in the nursery with these storage bins and organizers.

People love to give babies stuffed animals as gifts. These are dangerous toys for babies before age three or four. The solution is to store them up high, out of baby's reach and out of your way. Install a shelf about a foot and half below the ceiling and stash the stuffed animals up there.

Another option is the use of a chain to hang stuffed animals vertically, or a hammock that hangs in the corner near the ceiling.

Saving Space in the Nursery

Installing some shelves above the changing table will save you work as well as space. It is more efficient to reach up to retrieve a diaper than to bend over.

Narrow shelving units can be fit into small nooks and crannies. A vintage spice rack, painted and mounted on the wall by the changing table, can hold bottles of lotion and tubes of ointment, as well as decorative containers of cotton balls, swabs and extra diaper pins.

A shoe bag hanging over the back of the bedroom door can store pacifiers, rattles, hair accessories, small shoes and socks, and small stuffed animals. If you get the kind with clear pockets, you can easily find what you are looking for.

In a few years, the shoe bag can hold all the little dolls, toy cars and action figures that preschoolers seem to collect.

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Choose from a variety of designs to make use of vertical space in the nursery!

Gather all of the baby's lotions and ointments and put them in baskets you stash on the shelves under the changing table. This will make life easier, since the baby will tend to grab these items if left on top. Give the baby a special toy he can only play with during a diaper change to gain his cooperation with that activity.

Putting a mirror up over the changing table will entertain the baby also and make diaper changes a breeze. Consider a cabinet with a mirror on the front to add storage for extra packages of wipes.

There are all kinds of places babies can sleep, not only the traditional nursery. Tell us about the place where your baby lays his head.

How have you saved space in your baby's bedroom?