Organizing Your Small Home for a New Baby in the Family

A new baby on the way is among the most joyous moments in your life, but it’s also a time of mixed feelings – as excited as you can be, you can’t stop worrying about making all the necessary arrangements. This is particularly so if you live in a small home and you’ve already bought and received lots of new baby stuff that is camping up your living space.

This is only a sign that you need to reorganize your living situation and all it takes are several useful tricks to transform your small place to make it comfortable for the baby and you. 

Declutter

As research shows, Australians are slowly becoming a nation of hoarders piling up clutter in their homes that serve no one. However, when the new baby is about to arrive, it’s the perfect time to clear out your home. Before the baby comes home, go through your rooms and closets and get rid of anything that’s not essential or hasn’t been used in a while but is taking up valuable space. Baby furniture, diapers, clothes, and toys can take up a lot of space, so once you clear everything out, you’ll have a better picture of the other changes you can make to transform your home into a baby-friendly place.

Set up a baby corner in your bedroom

You shouldn’t fret about not having a spare room to turn into a nursery. It’s perfectly fine to share your bedroom with your baby and it’s even heartily recommended by many Australian pediatricians. All you need to do is to designate a spot for the baby’s crib or bassinet and adorn the corner with some adorable wall décor. The fact that your baby will be so near you will be very helpful during long nights when you need to get up to feed the baby, change its diapers and go back to sleep.

Rethink your storage

When you’re designing a nursery in a limited space, you need to be as creative as possible so utilizing wall space is a must! The wall above the crib is a perfect place to mount shelving and pegboards where you can store diapers, wipes, towels, clothes, toys and books, so they’ll be within easy reach but up and out of the way.

Another aspect to consider is to rethink your storage and that’s where your wardrobe comes in. Whether you have a built-in or freestanding, consider getting an expert for hinged wardrobe doors in Sydney to install them instead of sliders. Hinged doors have lots of benefits over others – they’re more visually pleasing with their timeless and classic look, are easily opened, and give you a full view of the insides and with a soft close system, you don’t have to worry about any fingers getting closed on. If you opt for integrated lights, all the contents will be lit the moment you open your hinged wardrobe.

Using multi-purpose furniture is also instrumental when you’re making room for a baby in a tight space. So, think about getting a dresser that can serve as a changing station – it’s a convenient diaper-changing spot, but it also offers ample storage for diapers, clothes, and wipes in its drawers.

Finally, pick a crib that either has built-in drawers for storage under it or is raised enough so you can slide under a few wicker baskets or colorful storage bins that you can fill with baby stuff.

It’s all about the bins and baskets!

As mentioned above, baskets and bins are life-savers when it comes to storage in small homes so use them whenever and wherever you can. Storage bins with handles are great both for you and the little one later as they’re easy to hold onto and pull out when needed. Whether you use them for clothes or toys, the great thing is once you’re done, everything is put back in and slid back into its place so no additional cleaning is necessary!

It’s not just the nursery that needs organization– other places in your house could use some of that as well. Use baskets to store toys around the house. Keep a stocked baby basket in your living room with a changing pad, diapers, and wipes so you’re never caught off-guard when there’s a diaper emergency.

Being organized with a new baby in the house is wonderful but, don’t become obsessed with a perfectly tidy and organized house so you miss out on the early days with your baby.As time goes by, try new organizational systems and make changes to suit your routine. A consistently organized house shouldn’t become your prison.