Make Room for Baby With These 13 Small Space Living Tips | Extra Space Storage (2024)

Expecting a baby soon? With a little organization and rearranging, you and your little one can have a smooth transition home. Whether you’re looking to design a cute baby room or find nursery storage solutions, here’s how you can make room for your new baby.

Get Rid of Clutter at Home

Before bringing your baby home, it’s a good idea to declutter your space. Rooms like your home office, guest room, and living room are great nursery-adjacent spaces to declutter, so you can make a small nursery with ease. Once you’ve donated decluttered belongings, you’ll have the space to move baby furniture and other newborn items like clothes, diapers, and toys to appropriate places.

Keep Your Baby Registry Simple

Whether you’re hosting or someone else has decided to host a baby shower for you, it’s important to remember that you’ll need to put those items somewhere after the party. For new parents in small homes, it’s a good idea to limit your baby registry to the essentials— and let family and friends know you’re trying to keep things simple. Ditch the big baby shower altogether and throw a diaper shower, instead. Try not to feel guilty if a friend or family member gives you a baby gift that takes up too much space in your small home. Simply return, sell, or donate any items that won’t work in your space.

Wait to Buy Nonessential Baby Gear

Avoid buying any newborn items that you don’t need right away. While being proactive might seem like a good idea, baby supplies that you won’t need for months can take up room in your small home—like a food processor or interactive baby walker toy. Wait until your newborn has an actual need for these items before buying them! This will help you save money for items better suited for the next several stages of your child’s development.

Turn a Closet into a Nursery

If you’re short on nursery space, try creatinga nursery in a closet! Your infant won’t need a lot of space for the first year, so you can take an under-utilized closet in your home and transform it into a cute closet nursery. Simply remove the closet doors, add a crib or bassinet, and incorporate shelves or rolling carts for diaper-changing supplies and clothes! You can also try incorporating a compact diaper-changing table to help open up more floor space for other items in your small nursery layout.

Make a Baby Corner in the Master Bedroom

A newborn requires a lot of attention, so consider having them sleep in your shared space to make sure you can address their needs right away. This amazing baby room idea is a common solution for new parents—not just for families raising babies in a small home. Start by placing a portable bassinet or small crib in the corner of your bedroom. Use floating shelves for baby supplies and add cute wall decor to show this little corner of your room belongs to your little one.

Create a Shared Kids Room

A shared kids bedroom is a great way to save space in your home while also helping your older child bond with their new sibling! Design their shared space to revolve around a mutual interest, like stocking a nursery library full of books catered to their age ranges. Make sure to give each child their own space, and decorate with room decor that both children can grow into!

Avoid Oversized Baby Furniture

If your infant will sleep in your room or share a room with their sibling, it’s a good idea to use compact baby furniture. Bulky cribs, changing stations, and other large newborn baby items can easily clutter your small home living space. Stick to small bassinets, high chairs that attach to counters or tables, or multi-purpose cribs with built-in changing stations and extra storage. Utilizing modular furniture like collapsable cribs or changing stations is a great space-saving idea for your home.

Opt for Multi-Purpose Furniture

Having multi-use furniture is key when you’re making room for a baby in tight living quarters. Try to find a baby stroller that can be used as a bassinet, car seat, or swing that converts into a high chair. Another small space nursery idea is to have a dresser with a changing pad on top—it gives you a convenient diaper-changing spot, plus additional storage for diapers, clothes, wipes, and more!

Use DIY Storage Solutions

You don’t need to buy expensive baby items from the store to help you raise a baby in a one-bedroom apartment. In fact, parents can use items they may already have to create space-saving DIY nursery storage solutions—like using shoe boxes to keep onesies folded separately from other clothes. Mount customizable pegboards on the wall to store baby items. Or creatively hang hooks for a budget-friendly baby room storage idea.

Try Floor-to-Ceiling Storage

On the lookout for small nursery storage ideas? Take advantage of vertical storage! Whencreating a nursery in a small home, utilizing wall space through vertical storage ideas is must! Baby storage items like nursery storage cubes, ladder shelving, and built-in shelving units are all great options to make use of vertical storage space. Store diapers, wipes, clothes, toys and books, blankets, and bath towels up and out of the way—which not only frees up precious floor space, but also provides cute baby decor, too!

Incorporate Hidden Storage

Have room under your bed, baby crib, or in a spare pantry? Consider using hidden storage! That way, items that are prone to causing clutter are kept organized in one spot and out of sight. Hide a few wicker baskets or colorful storage bins under your furniture and fill them with baby supplies like diapers, clothes, books, or bath towels.

Opt for Over-the-Door Storage

There are a ton of nursery closet ideas at your fingertips to help you create more space in your home. To better use the space you already have, try utilizing over-the-door storage to neatly organize baby items and have more room to move around the nursery area. This will help free up more room in a studio apartment nursery and other small spaces where items like toys, clothes, diapers, and other baby essentials might otherwise clutter.

Install an Additional Closet Rod

Have additional space at the bottom of a master bedroom closet? Add a second closet rod! Baby clothes are very short, so hanging them underneath your own clothes or with other kids clothes will help you take advantage of valuable empty space in your small home.

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Need to make room for your new baby? Move extra furniture and seasonal items to an Extra Space Storage facility! We have convenient self storage locations throughout the nation, and we can help you get the space you need at home. Find a self storage unit near you now!