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Your Decorating and Organizing Tips for the Nursery
Wondertime's readers share their ingenious decorating and organizing ideas for the nursery.
"My husband is over 6 feet tall, so most standard changing tables were just too low for him. Our solution was a non-rolling kitchen island (for less than $100), which we topped with a non-skid mat and a foam changing pad. The unit has drawers and a large storage area with doors, so there was plenty of room to stash diaper-changing gear. And once my son was out of diapers, we moved the island into my craft room where it has become a very versatile work surface."
"To help keep diaper products organized and out of my baby's reach, I attached a spice rack to the wall next to the changing area. Creams, lotions, and powders are easy to see and grab and the whole thing looks attractive too."
"I hung a cloth shoe organizer near the changing table. There are plenty of pockets for wipes, diapers, powders, creams, small toys to keep little hands busy, and even clean Onesies and socks for unexpected blowouts and kicking feet."
"I repurposed a dowel-style CD rack as a quilt rack. It holds quite a few baby blankets, and it's the perfect scale for the nursery."
"It was completely worth it to get a high-quality radio/CD player for the nursery. While I was nursing, I could listen to music I liked, or play her lullabies, or catch up on NPR news."
"My husband loves cars and wanted to share his passion with his new son, so we went with a sort of slick "garage" aesthetic in the nursery. Instead of traditional dressers or cabinets, we bought wooden garage cabinets at Target. We use a tall, shallow cabinet to store toys — much easier than digging through a low, deep toy chest; a short three-drawer cabinet topped with a changing pad fills in for the changing table; and we put up a carpenter's Peg-Board to hold changing accessories."
"We stuck an extra twin bed in our nursery, initially for lack of storage space, and it turned out to be hugely useful. It gave us a place to sleep with the baby during an illness, or for when mom is nursing all night and dad needs his sleep. It also provided a flat space for folding clothes, and makes a great reading nook where older siblings can all sit together with the baby so they don't feel excluded. The final bonus is that when the baby is old enough to begin napping or sleeping out of the crib, the bed is a logical and familiar place to go."
"I use tree branches as curtain rods for the tab curtains in my baby's room."
"We bought a rolling, under-the-bed wooden storage drawer instead of a changing table. Loaded up with all the diaper essentials, including a changing pad, we just roll it out when changing our daughter on the floor and tuck it back under the crib — where it's hidden by the bed skirt — when we're done. Plus, we never worry about her falling off a changing table!"
"When my boys were infants I kept their diapers, already opened and flat, stacked in a wide basket. It made it easy to just grab one and slip it under their bottoms instead of fumbling to open one while keeping one hand on them too."
