Nursery Refresh: A Minimal Layout without the Sacrifice of Storage Space
It’s been almost eight months, and if there’s one thing I would advise parents to do, it is to honestly wait to finish the nursery because we’ve changed the layout at least three times since Niko’s birth. As a first-time mother, I designed the nursery based on looks more than functionality. Not that I didn’t have everything we needed, but I had more than what we ended up using, which meant we had many things just sitting there taking up space. We were constantly bumping into things, moving things around to get to other things, and the flow wasn’t there. Not to mention that for the first 3 months, he slept in our room (in his mini crib), so the nursery was used for playtime and changing him. By the 4th month, we had him transitioned to the full crib in his room, and that’s when we realized that we needed to adjust the layout.
For context, this was what the nursery looked like before our son arrived:
Our intention with the nursery from the beginning is to create a comfortable, safe, and welcoming space for our son, so each item we bring into the room is meant to carry out this intention. From the paint color to the furniture pieces, to the decor. After observing how we were utilizing the space and how Niko is growing, we decided to rearrange the layout based on one item - the Toki play mat. We love that this vegan leather mat is easy to clean, easy to move around, folds in half and most of all, gives Niko a safe and comfortable area to play. Yes, his rug is also plush but adding an extra layer helps a lot, especially for a boy on the move. We wanted to create enough room for the mat (when it’s unfolded) but also create a system that allows us to maintain the tidiness and organization in his room. It’s so easy for things to pile up, especially after a long day, but if you have a place for everything, then there is no excuse not to put things back where they belong before bedtime.
Things we decided on moving after the 4th month included the big cabinets on both sides of his crib because we were using them more as storage for random things rather than things for Niko. Sometimes having more storage space creates more clutter and allows for hoarding because you figure, “I have room for it” but then tuck it away and forget about it for months. After moving the cabinets out, which we eventually sold to our friends, we pushed back the rocking chair to the corner to give Niko more space to play. We then added the famous Ikea Kallax shelf unit, which many use for their kids’ room, but after a month we realized it looked messier and wasn’t the best way to organize. We had a deep dresser unit on the other side of the nursery that wasn’t being utilized to its fullest potential so we decided to swap out the Kallax shelf for the dresser, selling the Kallax, and surprisingly even with the dresser unit, we still have a whole drawer that is empty.
Before (with Kallax shelf unit):
After/Final Result:
I never did a full nursery reveal because I wasn’t satisfied with the look, until now. A full reveal can be found on my Instagram and links to everything we have in the room can be found here.
As ironic as it sounds, you can have too much, and sometimes less is more. Niko now has more space to play and roam around and we have our sanity back by having an organization system that works for us.
