How to Organize A Nursery

Whether this is your first rodeo or not, learning new tips to organize a baby’s nursery is always helpful. They’re one of our favorite things to organize for clients. How can you beat folding itty bitty clothes and sorting those little toys?

Sort by size:

One of the first things to do when organizing a nursery is to sort your baby’s clothes by size. When working with older children or adults, we always suggest to keep your clothing categories together, however, having them sorted by size makes things a whole lot easier when you’re sleep deprived and have to grab a newborn-sized onesie in the middle of the night. Once you have your clothes divided by size, add in drawer dividers or rod dividers depending on if your clothes are hanging or folded. Label your rod dividers by size to make things even easier.

Hangers:

Use non-slip hangers for anything hanging. Since baby’s clothes are so tiny, they’ll be easier to maneuver clothes on and off the hanger. The velvet material will also stop the clothing from falling off. 

Changing Station:

Keep in mind that every changing station needs storage to contain your extra diapers, creams, etc. Sometimes there’s drawer space within the changing table that you have, but your go-to’s should be exposed and easily accessed since you’ll have a squirming baby in front of you. Here’s a storage tote that you can stick on top of the changing table for these other accessories. The one linked is portable which makes it handy if you need to grab your diaper changing accessories outside of the bedroom. 

Over-the-Door Shoe Organizer:

If you’re lacking storage space, one trick is to use an over-the-door shoe organizer to store extra burp cloths, creams, socks, dolls, etc. They’re an affordable way to give you extra storage in an underutilized space.

Cubes:

I try to find systems that can be used throughout the child’s life rather than for when they’re just a baby. This cube system is great to corral books and toy bins for kids and teens. You can start with these adorable cubes which can be transitioned out as the child gets older and prefers a more “adult” look.  

Shallow Bins:

If you’ve collected a bunch of swaddles or blankets, a shallow bin like this is perfect to roll them up and store them vertically. That way you can grab and go when you need one. Storing them vertically also allows you to see what’s in front of you and which one you’re grabbing. 

Tall Bins:

Similarly to blankets, a tall canvas bin is great to use for stuffed animal storage. Using a lightweight bin makes them easily transportable if you’re toting the animals into another room or need to just scoot it from one corner to another.

Give Away:

As soon as your child grows out of certain outfits, decide which outfits you’re going to keep versus give away. Any clothing that you’re planning on keeping should go into a labeled storage bin for future reference by size. I always prefer using clear totes so you can see what’s inside. 

Rather than sticking the outfit that’s too small back in the drawer, keep a small bin inside of their closet/bedroom so you can toss it in once it’s outgrown. Once the bin fills up you can then sort the small clothing by size and put it into the storage/giveaway bin.

Label, label, label!:

One of the most important parts of organizing a nursery is to label as much as possible. Whether you’re exhausted and forgetful of where things belong, or expect to have a lot of help around the house, it’s important to make sure everyone knows where everything belongs. If you have a lot of bins throughout the nursery, you can use these bin clips to label what belongs inside of them. 

Elfa:

When possible, we love using Elfa to create a custom closet for the nursery. What’s great about Elfa is that it’s super modular and all of the components can be easily adjusted as the child grows. What’s important when starting out is to provide us with measurements and how much you plan to hang versus fold into drawers. From there we will assess how many drawers and how much hanging space you need. 

Having a baby can be overwhelming and we are here to help make the transition as seamless as possible. Start by sorting what you have before you put the systems and products in place so everything is accounted for!