Nursery for Baby & Office for Mom

Posted by Donna on July 8, 2013 · 1 Comment 

With the house in full baby count-down mode, I realized I had better blog about our nursery/office/guest room before I’m fully submerged in the world of new mommyhood!

Not surprisingly, the theme behind this tri-purpose room is storage and organization. Efficient storage is simply a coerced way of life in a small living space. I knew I had to fit my office space into a self-contained small area, and a large wall based unit inspired by I Heart Organizing served as a starting point.

The “office” is essentially three IKEA Expedit units arranged to create a single entity. I have already blogged about how much I love the versatility of the Expedit series. In fact, the top pink horizontal unit pictured here is just our old window seat, painted to match the nursery color scheme and refitted with cabinet inserts. The two vertical units are outfitted with drawer inserts (from the old window seat, oh how I love recycling!) and IKEA Nasum baskets.

Adding a shelf between the two vertical units provided some additional storage for pens, pencils, and an IKEA Dokument letter tray to keep track of incoming and outgoing household documents/mail. The desk itself is an extremely affordable combination of the IKEA Linnmon table top with Adils table legs (about $20 for the combination).

The fabric covered magnetic board behind the unit is a testament of my husband’s genius and handiness. Somehow, he was able to create my vision for a fabric covered magnetic board using two extra large oil drip pans and some thin plywood for reinforcement, and mount it to the two vertical Expedit units. I was extremely excited to find the perfect use for the Marimekko Ginkgo fabric I purchased while in Helsinki last summer. Below is a close up shot. You can see how we used the IKEA Ekby Riset brackets (meant for mounting things to a sloping wall) to mount the floating shelf to the two vertical Expedit units.

Other items featured in the photo here include IKEA Spontan magnets in pink to match the nursery, IKEA Rationell LED strip light (there’s no room on this small desk for a lamp!), and magnetic IKEA Grundtal containers (meant for spices) that organizes push pins, file clips, paper clips, rubber bands, etc.

Next to the office wall is baby’s reading corner.

Baby’s grandparents have a tradition of giving each new grandbaby a giant stuffed animal to complete the nursery decor. In our case, the giant panda is perfect for our nursery color scheme and double duties as a floor chair for reading time! The reading corner is complete with IKEA Ribba ledges (meant for photo frames, but I’ve also used them previously to hold spice jars) to hold children’s books and a Tvis door mat (used here as a small area rug).

Once the initial excitement of the pregnancy news subsided, I was crib shopping with one thing in mind, storage maximization. Enter the Baby Mod Park Lane 3-in-1 convertible crib from… Wal-Mart!

Though I’m not normally a Wal-Mart shopper, the affordable price tag ($80 less than its competitor) and hundreds of good reviews made it an easy decision. Now I have a place to store all the extra crib bedding, baby blankets, nursing pillow covers, and other baby linens. Inspired by J Rox Designs, we painted the storage drawer a hot pink with non-toxic, low VOC Mythic paint.

Other items pictured here include (from bottom to top):

1) IKEA Ullgump rug in black and white polka dot. At $19.99, this was definitely the most affordable black and white area rug I ran across while shopping.

2) Land of Nod crib sheet in Marine Gold Dot.

3) Pythagoras Loves You organic cotton blanket from Etsy seller electricboogalo. This is one of our most beloved baby shower gifts!

4) The “walk, bike, and explore the world!” wall of decor, featuring 3 pairs of my own baby shoes handmade by my grandmother, multi-colored bicycle prints on wood found on Zulily, an embroidered panda from China from baby’s aunt, and a postcard that came with a purchase from Kate Spade that says “She is quick and curious and playful and strong.”

To the right of the crib area is baby feeding and changing central. What goes in must come out!

I was getting a bit nervous about how to organize diapers, wipes, baby creams and lotions, pacifiers, breast pump accessories and parts, the endless breastfeeding accessories, etc. Thanks to IKEA, the changing process has been made more organized by a painted Trofast wall mount unit with 6 coordinating white bins for diapers, wipes, baby creams and lotions, baby medical supplies, and pacifiers.

Below the Trofast unit is the Hemnes 3-drawer dresser/changing table, organized with the top drawer dedicated to baby feeding (breast pump accessories, nursing covers/pads/accessories, burp clothes, bibs), the middle drawer dedicated to baby bathing/sleeping (towels, wash clothes, and all sorts of swaddle blankets, sleep sacks, and sleep gowns), and the bottom drawer dedicated to baby on the go (baby carriers, slings, out of season car seat accessories, etc.) The changing table is complete with the matching Land of Nod changing pad cover in marine gold dot. For decor (and more storage!), we placed some IKEA Lidan woven baskets up top for storage of baby toys.

To the right of the baby changing central is our old futon, covered with the Aaron fleece throw blanket by Valentina Ramos to match the color scheme of the nursery/office. This full size futon can serve as a guest space for visiting grandmas or just a nap spot for me to catch some Z’s when baby is resting. We also spray painted an old 3-light tree floor lamp in the matching hot pink Mythic paint to tie it all together.

And there it is! A space-efficient room for baby and mommy (and maybe a guest!).

Filed under Nursery, Office, Organization, Storage Solutions