Does anyone have a multi-purpose nursery? City living means very little space... We're on moving into a 2 bedroom apartment next year and plan on making the 2nd bedroom into a nursery slash office. I don't know what that will mean for decorating since we have a lot of office-type sports things with no where to hang them.
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Is the room big enough where you can delineate the room via paint on the wall so that there's a clear division?
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@regberadaisy - Not sure but I'm guessing it won't be. We're aiming to look for apartments where the 2nd bedroom is smaller or somehow not ideal for a roommate situation (and hopefully a little cheaper then). We'd have a small desk - one of those leaning ladder styles likely to take up less space.
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We have a 2 bed/2 bath house, so our 2nd bedroom is an office/nursery. It isn't super cute and all that like I'd want it to be, but at least the nursery 1/2 is cute. The office 1/2 is a MESS. We just have no storage space or place to put the other stuff.
We're working on buying a house, so hopefully it won't last long.
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This has always been our plan when we have a baby, to combine our office with the nursery. I don't feel like our baby would need a whole room to themselves until they're a little older.
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@LindsayInNYC: Can you turn the idea on it's head and make the master into the multipurpose room? Mr. Jacks' office is part of our room, but our room is 400 sq ft or so.
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We are in a 2 bed condo and are making the 2nd room into a nursery/office. We took out the closet doors and replaced with curtains, built a desktop inside and are going to build cabinets and shelves underneath to store all the office equipment. We will also add shelves above the desktop for either baby or additional office supplies. The only problem is figuring out what to do if we need to hang clothes.
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Is the office going to be used during the day? I would be worried about needing to be in there during the baby's nap time. I would also be worried about things with wires when the baby starts crawling and standing, like the computer, printer, etc. My LO LOVES to grab wires.
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@Mrs.Jacks - That's an option, if the bedroom's big enough. We have friends who have their desk in the master bedroom (and had the daughter in there at one point too!). It'll be very hit or miss if the bedroom will be big enough. We have it in the living room now but want something different.
@Skipra - That's a good idea with the closet! I know some flex/convertible apartments (aka 1 bedroom layout that are made into 2 bedrooms) don't have a closet but assuming there is one, that's a thought initially.
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I forgot to mention we rent too, so we can't paint and have to be careful about putting holes in the walls. 1/2 the room is desk/computer/printer and some of my husbands stuff. He also has the closet in that room because I have the whole closet in the master
So, I put the crib in the middle, got a neat vintage wire rack and it a diapering station, and I folded blankets and other stuff I need quick access for. The dresser has a couple drawers of baby stuff, like socks and hats-I got a great organizer from Target to keep it all neat. When I get the glider/ottoman it'll go in another corner.It's kind of a bummer to see all my friends' do a cute nursery for their babies, but...we just had to work with what we had.
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@Artbee - Possibly but unlikely. I will likely have to work in there at night time though (once baby is in bed).
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@lydg - Is the crib just in the middle of the room? I'm trying to picture it
@meaganceleste - That's our idea... Very few clothes have to be hung at that age and really, how much space can they need?!
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@LindsayInNYC: I think it might just depend on your baby then. My LO is a light sleeper so that would never work for us. I agree with others that you might want to try moving the office to the master bedroom or find another place for it.
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@lindsayinnyc maybe this helps? this is the "nursery" side. The opposite side is the office. as you can see, nothing special! I still have quite a bit of cleaning up to do...mainly on the other side.
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@LindsayInNYC: Just a quick note about those leaning bookcase/desks-- they are not terribly sturdy. We have the bookcase ones from Crate and Barrel, and I love them, but after a weekend with my recently walking nephew, I realized that he could definitely pull them down on top of him if he tried! You can screw them into the wall, but if you are renting, that might make a large hole.
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@foodnerd81 - Never thought about that! Good call... Yikes.
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Yup! We don't have kids yet, but we bought a small 2 bedroom co-op and the 2nd bedroom doubles as an office and will continue to do so when it is a nursery. So when we have a baby it will actually be a nursery/office/guest room. There is a murphy bed built into the wall and we bought a desk on Craigslist that can also be used as a changing table and it stores a ton of stuff.
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@ModernDaisy - You just described us! We're looking to eventually buy in NYC so we'll be limited to a 2 bedroom. I'd love to make it a guest room too - never thought of a murphy bed! We have a sleeper sofa so that works for now.
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I like Mrs. Jacks idea of trying to look for a master that can accomodate an office. The room that we are making the nursery is currently an office. We will be moving all of the office stuff into our guest room. I know that's not an option for you, but maybe the master will be. I share @artbee: concern over baby being in a room with lots of wires and equiptment. I just don't think it would be safe for baby, and I don't think it would be convenient for us to be able to use the office space.
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@LindsayInNYC: Yup! We wanted to live in a great neighborhood (UWS) so the main sacrifice we made was space. The murphy bed was built in by the previous owners and it's perfect since we never have to move furnture around no matter what the arrangement is. It's 9X9 so the perfect size for a nursery - but when we have guests a pack and play (or crib) can fit in our bedroom. I feel like it's the minimum amount of space we would need to survive semi-comfortably for the next 5ish years!
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Oh and as far as the wires concern - the desk/changing table we bought holds and hides all the wires and it's right up against the main outlet so a baby wouldn't be able to access any of them.
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I hadn't thought about wires... Our printer is wireless. And I think other computer cords (mouse, speakers, external harddrive) could all be hidden.
@ModernDaisy - You lucked out! I might have to keep that in mind and look into installing one (one day...)
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Dupe.
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We did this in he beginning, but eventually moved the office outof the nursery. The printer would randomly turn on in the night and the computer made too much noise. Plus, when my son became mobile, the wires were too tempting to him. It was also difficult to use the officedurung naps or bedtime, which was our only quiet time.
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@Looch - Thanks for the input. Not sure the "dupe" comment was really necessary though. I searched the boards for related posts and didn't come across any.
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@LindsayInNYC: I think she accidentally made a duplicate post and wanted to delete her comment that posted twice
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@Mrs.Jacks - Oops, sorry!! I thought she was telling me there was another post already out there like this!
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@LindsayInNYC: I posted the same thing twice...my service is spotty right now. Usually I note it dupe post.
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We might have nursery/guest room. The baby won't come until January after we move to our new place in August. We'll keep all the baby stuff in the guest room, but the crib will be in our bedroom for the first several months. We figure after that the visits will slow down and we'll probably only be in this place for a year.
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We don't even own a printer since they break constantly and the ink is so expensive and we have a laptop that can easily be moved into the living room during naptime. We use the ipad for the most part anyway!
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If it makes you feel better, we live in a 1 bedroom condo we can't sell and aren't going to make any changes until next summer. I'm due in November and the baby will sleep in our room until he sleeps through the night and then we'll move him to the random hallway that we have that houses our laundry and one entrance to our bathroom. I'm thinking we'll get a curtain to block out any light. At least that's the plan for now. . .
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The crib is in the living room--it actually touches the couch.
We have a mini crib+ changer combo between the crib and the porch window. The tiny space between the porch window and crib has diaper stuff. The swing is just kind of "out there" in the middle of the living room, and then I reorganized my shelves (the 9 cube ones from Target--two side by side) so the top row is all the baby stuff (clothes: too big, next size, current size, sleep/hats/shoes/robe, burp clothes/swaddling blankets, and a miscellaneous one). On top of the shelves is a basket with blankets and a basket with toys and toiletries.Best part? Our living room is actually a combo living/dining room, and the door to enter our place opens into that room.
So...it is totally doable. Like everyone said--be careful of wires. Do not worry about noise. Our kitchen is 1/2 open to the dining/living/nursery room, and I run the disposable during naptime--no big deal. Just make sure you don't "be quiet so you don't wake the baby" and your LO will learn to sleep through anything. If you act quiet around baby all the time, then baby starts to need it to fall asleep. All my friends with kids warned me about this before LO was born. We can now hang out/chat/play music while LO sleeps. We do not watch TV in the living room though.
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Haha, looks like I was just as crazy pre-TTC a year ago!!
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I love how you thought I was giving you 'tude with my dupe post, lol!
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@looch: Yikes! I'm going to pretend I was PMSing when I wrote that
Holy b!tch comment from me, LOL! Whoops!
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No worries, lol!
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We use our closet in our spare room for an office space. I bought a small desk from Ikea that fits in perfectly and put a small set of 2 drawers + filing cabinet in there. Makes it nice and easy to close the closet doors and hide any insanity.
So, I put the crib in the middle, got a neat vintage wire rack and it a diapering station, and I folded blankets and other stuff I need quick access for. The dresser has a couple drawers of baby stuff, like socks and hats-I got a great organizer from Target to keep it all neat. When I get the glider/ottoman it'll go in another corner.
Holy b!tch comment from me, LOL! Whoops!
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