A Well Organized Space

New moms know how important it is to be well organized with a baby coming, it will save you precious time. This article is for my niece Ava, my friend daughter Valeria and my little cousin Hugo welcome to the world!

There are two very important areas in a nursery, the closet and the changing table.

So let’s talk about “The Closet”

The real challenge with newborns is that they grow so fast that it’s difficult to keep the closet from overflowing.  Before baby arrives, sort all gifts that you have received and the clothes you bought by size. My advice is to hang everything that can be hung and use drawers for smaller items.   It’s always easier to visualize what you need when you can see it in front of you.  Use color hangers or tie colored ribbons around hangers to separated sizes.  I hear too often: ” I didn’t even know we had this cute outfit and now it’s too small” .  Use double adjustable rods to expand your closet (especially if you have to share your closet with baby!) Adjustable rods are an easy and inexpensive way to create more space in your closet.  Make good use of all the space in your closet to store everything related to baby. Use baskets and place them on closet shelves to store small items like socks, hats, washclothes or little toys. Have a sealed plastic container with baby  medicine, a thermometer, nail clippers etc… right there available when you need them. Believe me that will save you a lot of time and aggravation when baby is not feeling well.

At the bottom of the closet place a clothes hamper for clothes that are too small. You can also use a extra basket or bin if you preferred.  Label it “To Sort” and then when the time comes you will have everything ready to sort to donate or to put into long-term storage in a vacuum sealed bag.  Here again you will be so happy to have a dedicated space for all the outfits that your baby has outgrown.

Now let’s talk about ” Changing Table”

Use colorful boxes or baskets to store one week’s worth of diapers, not more. The rest should be stored away in the closet. Buy diapers in bulk to save money. Use these same boxes to keep baby lotion and everything you need for changing baby without leaving the room.  Get in the habit of putting some diapers back at the end of the day so you don’t end up without diapers at the worse possible time.

A lot of my clients and friends use the top of a dresser as a changing table, allowing them to plan for the future and also have extra storage.  Have a little bag dispenser attached to the side of the changing table to dispose of dirty diapers right away (no sticky diapers in the nursery!) and have a clothes hamper near the changing table that will allowed you to avoid clutter. If you don’t have space for a clothes hamper just use a cloth bag on the side of the changing table.  Baby clothes should be washed  by themselves for the first few months so having a dedicated hamper for baby will save you a lot of laundry sorting time.

Finally, for toys and books, have a little basket right next to the crib, or even better a cloth bag, to have easy access and to collect them at the end of the day.  Don’t overdo it with toys and books (but that’s another room we have to talk about later!)

Remember that having everything labeled will make it easier to return the items where they belong and will allow other members of the family or friends to help without disturbing your well organized closet.

Organizing your nursery will give you so much satisfaction, is very rewarding and will help you in the long run to save a lot of time and enjoy baby.