How to organize a nursery: : A definitive guide

If you are looking to work out how to organize a nursery before your little one gets here, then we have just the advice for you. We have ideas for everything from how to theme the baby’s room to what kinds of storage solutions you will need across the room. This is the comprehensive guide for your baby’s nursery that you didn’t know you needed until you saw it.

The main piece of advice for organising the baby’s nursery is to see if you can set it up so there are specific spaces, and themes for different parts of the room, to help both your child as they grow, and you as you utilise the room. What do we mean by this? Well….

Area for the changing table and nappies

You will NEED a space for changing diapers, and nappies that is simple and has everything to hand. You don’t want to be desperately searching for either the nappies, the diaper cream or the changing pad after you are in mid change. That is clearly not going to go well….

Opting for a changing table that has plenty of storage space is a great idea for any nursery, and changers with drawer organizers are even better.

Why not use a changing table that effectively is also a chest of drawers: this might be a perfect solution. You will have somewhere to put the extra diapers / nappies without having to rush across the room to get them. It is tough enough with a new baby without having to scrabble about in the dark trying to locate the nappies with one hand on baby’s bottom, and the other frantically rummaging through storage units to find what you need.

The other advantage of a good storage solution for your changing station is that you will be able to keep muslins, and burp cloths near to hand, which you are also bound to need when you least expect it. 🤣

A wonderful option for a spot of space saving is actually an over the cot baby change, so this is worth considering if you have a smaller nursery.

Create a calm space for sleeping

Your new baby will spend an awful lot of time sleeping, so you need to make sure that where they sleep is both practical and calming, for them, and for you (!). The baby’s room will be a space for them to sleep, and for you to feed too over many of those initial nights. If you can, try not to give yourself a small space for this, allow a reasonable amount of room around the crib, so that you can easily transition to a toddler bed, and potentially use the space for extra storage.

For example, why not get a crib skirt to hide away some of those extra baby blankets that you might need as the season’s change?

The first time baby sleeps here is going to be important for you all, so make sure its a calming welcoming place, that gives you and them a lot of space to relax and chill in the night. There will be times, as this is inevitable, that things don’t go as planned. It always helps to have somewhere that makes you feel a little calmer when baby just doesn’t quite do what you expect….

Feeding is important too

Feeding your baby will be done in so many different places, but you are most likely to be feeding them the most in your nursery. This space needs to be functional, and well organised, to help make it as pleasant as possible for you and baby. What about adding a feeding or a rocking chair to the space? Don’t forget to get ones with practical wipe-clean upholstery though, as there WILL be accidents that have you reaching for the storage bins for your muslins!

Think about the wall art

You might think that wall art isn’t that important within a nursery – but you’d be wrong! You and baby will be staring at the walls in your nursery for a very long time. We’ve talked about the feeding and the sleeping zones, there isn’t much else that newborns do, so that’s a lot of time spent in the baby room looking at walls.

We have found that neutral colors for the walls, will help you to pick some wall art with modern design that’ll go with whatever theme you have picked for the nursery. You may want to go for the traditional boy / girl themes too of course, so make sure you pick wall art that works for you. Just because we liked the neutral tones for nurseries, doesn’t mean that you have to do so too.

For an added touch, you can even use picture ledges to vary the wall art that you have in the room; to give it a personal touch, and make a newborn’s nursery just that little more welcoming.

You might even decide to pick something that’ll make you smile, and delight your baby as they grow older? 🤣

Give yourself a play zone when thinking about how to organize a nursery

Play is absolutely critical for your baby, and in amongst the organization system for the sleep and feeding, you mustn’t forget the playtime space! The best way of organizing the play area is to have strong closet space for the toys, or even a good sets of wire baskets that are easy to just throw in the toys once they have been played with.

If you do go for closets for the toys, make sure the closet door is baby safe though, as you don’t want any little fingers to get trapped after playtime is over.

It might be worth investing in a toy box too – these are a lovely additional to any nursery, and can just add that little extra something to the decor. There are some stunning options out there for personalisation too.

Always allow plenty of space for baby’s clothes

You will be amazed at just how many baby clothes your little ones will go through! If there is room in the nursery, allow a generous space for baby’s closet, so it is easy to organise their clothes within the room, and make it simple to grab them when you are dressing in the morning. You don’t want to have to leave clothes out on the top of the dresser, as they are so easy to lose. You also might not be able to find anything when you need to pack for those trips out with other parents.

Do consider storage within the closet for smaller items that your new baby will need, anything from dummies to shoes, and hair, as well as everything else in between.

Make sure you raise a little reader

We all know how important reading is to help our little ones learn and grow, so why not encourage it with the space that you have created within the nursery too? Thinking ahead is a really important part of working out how to organize a nursery. There is no harm starting to encourage reading as soon as you bring baby home. You can collect books for as they grow, and set it up as a relaxed space for your child to explore as they get more mobile. To start with, it’ll be a space for your baby to play too, but it can grow with them into a place they will love to go to chill out.

Never ever forget you’ll need loads of storage

We’ve said it already – wherever there is a storage opportunity within the nursery, it is well worth taking it. Everything from plastic bins, perhaps for dirty clothes, to storage baskets. You will be surprised how small people can accumulate so much stuff. Baby’s things get everywhere, and the best thing to do is that if you start off with the ideal place for all those bits and bobs, you’ll be able to keep more organised from day one.

We found that shelves with storage boxes on were a god send, as they are easy to access, and cheap too – but you can get so many storage solutions for nurseries now, you are bound to find one that works for you.

We do have you like this article on how to organise a nursery, feel free to check out some of the other nursery content that we have on the site.

There are some lovely printables here from the site for baby. Here are some others for you as well:

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Thanks so much for taking to time to read this and we do hope that you will be back on site again soon.

Take care

Helen

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