After being a mother for two and a half years I'm finally getting around to working on the 'nursery'. We live in a small two bedroom bungalow with a very small second bedroom. We co-slept with our first until 15 months, and have been co-sleeping with our second for 6 months but we're now working on transitioning her to the crib. Right now our girls are 2 and a half and 6 months old. Desana is in a toddler bed and Freya is in a crib. Since the room is so small it's really hard to get good pictures of the four walls, but here's a vague idea of what I've got to work with and you can see what everything looks like right now.
This is basically the first thing you see coming into the room. I'd like to paint the room a nice bright purple, currently it's the same color it was when we moved in. The dresser was a freebie from Matt's Aunt & Uncle. I want to paint it a white or cream and replace the handles. I have three boxes on top that I bought at a yard sale a few years ago, I use them to store socks and hair things. I'm contemplating painting them as well!
The window is very tiny so there's not great natural lighting in the room except in the late afternoon. I'd like to get a new shorter blackout curtain, probably white or cream in color. I've considered painting the crib as well to match the toddler bed but I'm not sure how safe that is as far as a teething baby potentially munching on it - something to look into!
I'm generally not a fan of commercialised stuff but Desana loves the Disney princesses right now and I found this table with two stools and the rug for $35 on kijiji. Desana loves taking the stools from room to room which is why you don't see them in this picture! Although it's a tiny space I'm planning on purchasing a reclining chair in the next couple of days so I have somewhere in the room to nurse Freya when she wakes up for night time feedings. I'm hoping that will help with the transition from co-sleeping so I won't have to bring her into bed to nurse anymore. I know this will seriously restrict the amount of space in the room, but I think it's worth it for now.
Desana's toddler bed and mattress were both kijiji purchases as well, I think I paid about $80 for them.
Just inside the bedroom door I have a little bookcase with all of Desana's books and her coloring things, also the makeshift toybox (rubbermaid) for most of her stuffed toys. I have serious issues with toys and clutter so this is one solution. I would like to cut back on how much she has but she goes through stages of playing with all of her toys. The solution might be to get a couple of different containers to divide the toys up in and bring them out on different days.
Right now I have a 'chalkdot' up on the wall which is a reuseable sticky chalkboard that I got from one of the bargains at greenbabybargains.com. I also have a matching one on the front of the fridge to track leftovers or the meal of the day. I have a couple of http://uppercaseliving.com/ quotes that I plan to put in this room, one will replace the chalkdot.
A few days ago I spent a couple of hours sorting through the girls closet to make it more functional, putting aside the items I can sell and store. It has a very interesting design that has potential but is also quite awkward. It is very deep and tall. I'd like to put some kind of shelving system in it that can be pulled out to access the items at the back. But for now I have two rubbermaids with Freya's next two stages of clothes stored in the very back, the four drawer storage for socks and bibs and other baby things, and all the linen and blankets folded up on the side.
The closet is over the staircase for our part basement, so it has this odd little rise in it. My friend suggested installing small strips of wood across it that can be used to hold the kids shoes... so that's the plan!
On the otherside there's a little amount of space just inside the closet. I'd like to add a couple of low shelves in there to take advantage of having a little bit more storage space for kid stuff, books or toys.
The only change I've really made in the room so far has been to hang these lovely curtains up in the closet. I was exploring in our basement (long story that deserves another post!) and found some curtain rods the previous owners had left behind, also with some brackets to hang them. My Mum who lives back in Australia had sent me these lovely curtains, so basically I got the curtain rod, brackets and curtains for free.
Right now that's the only real finished element of the room, but it's nice to be able to walk in there and see that. The rest is all still just being visualised. :)
What are your storage solutions for small spaces?
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