How to make room for a baby in a small apartment

If you live in a small apartment and have a baby on the way, don’t panic. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to live in a large house in order to grow your family. 

Many young Australians and Australian families are no longer favouring oversized detached homes and making the move towards amenity-rich apartment living. Forward-thinking developers have recognised this shift, meaning there are many off-the-plan options to suit growing families. 

The nursery

First things first, you’ll need to work out where the nursery will go. It helps to think of your space as ‘zones’. Do you have a corner of your bedroom you can turn into a nursery nook with a crib, change table and a comfortable chair for when you feed the baby? Use room dividers to separate the space when in use, or leave it open when not.

Many off-the-plan apartments are affordable enough to allow buyers to purchase a home with multiple bedrooms, making them perfect for expanding families.  

Functional furniture

Make sure you invest in baby products and furniture which are versatile. Buy a soft changing pad like this simple yet stylish one from Leander instead of a change table, and simply place it on a chest of drawers or table when you need to change baby’s diaper.

This versatile cot has storage drawers beneath it, and one side of the cot can be removed so it turns into a small child’s bed.

Go vertical

Utilise wall space by installing floating shelves above your baby station. A well-placed shelf next to the cot can hold all the essentials like baby wipes, a spare water bottle, and a spare dummy while another above the changing station is perfect for additional nappies and burping cloths.

You can install wall racks for hanging baby clothes and hang a laundry bag on the back of the door using this door hanger from Ikea so you can free up even more space on the ground.

Use the space you have

Most apartments already come with an abundance of hidden storage but you can get even more out of your space by buying clever storage organisers. Baskets are a great idea — you can slot these onto shelves and place folded items in them instead of hanging everything up.

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