Ask 10 parents about nursery organization and you’ll probably get 10 different answers! That’s because choosing furniture and arranging your baby’s room is a personal decision that depends on how much you use the nursery throughout the day.
For some families, the nursery is just a place to store clothes and spend the night — baby plays, and maybe even naps, in the living room or common space.
For other families, the nursery is the place where their little one spends the most time — sleeping, playing, nursing, napping, having their diaper changed.
So how you choose to use your nursery will determine how much energy you need to put into keeping it organized.
In this post, we give you tips for a cute, clutter-free nursery so you can spend less time worrying about cleaning and tidying, and more time playing and cuddling with your precious newborn.
Nursery Organization: Start Simple
When picking out furnishings for your baby’s nursery, it’s always a good idea to start simple.
A sturdy crib with a safe, breathable mattress (like Newton Baby’s Crib Mattress), a diaper-changing station or dresser, and a comfy chair for feedings is pretty much all you’ll need for the first few months after your little one is born.
You can always add furniture and a more advanced nursery organization system later on as your baby grows.
One family we know went the opposite direction and packed their nursery with everything they could possibly think of — crib, dresser, changing table, rocking chair, bureau, shelving — until there wasn’t a bit of free space left.
Then, to their surprise, after their newborn came home from the hospital, they found that they hardly used the nursery at all. Mom and baby spent most of their time in the living room.
It wasn’t until their little one started sleeping in a crib at night that they used the nursery for more than storage.
With that said, there’s no right or wrong way to furnish and organize your newborn’s nursery. But if you start simple and build from there, you can customize the organization scheme to your and your baby’s needs.
Nursery Organization Tips For a Clutter-Free Space
1) Choose Minimalism
Minimalism is all about the idea that you don’t need a lot of “things” — really just you and your baby — to have a happy family.
Minimalism also means that you don’t have to let your house get cluttered with baby stuff. That’s good news for those who want to keep their living space organized and clutter-free!
Embrace your inner minimalist and only outfit your nursery with furniture and supplies you and your little one will use.
2) Keep The Crib Clear
One simple way to keep your nursery organized and clutter-free is to keep the crib clear at all times. That means no stuffed animals, no blankets, no pillows, and definitely no bumpers.
Maintaining an empty crib up to around 18 months also protects your little one! It means there is zero risk that your newborn will wiggle themselves into a bad spot and not be able to breathe.
Couple that with a 100% breathable mattress from Newton Baby and you and your little one will sleep easy all night long!
If you’re worried about keeping your precious newborn warm without a blanket while they sleep, learn how to swaddle your baby or purchase a sleep sack for those extra chilly nights.
3) Pick Furniture That Does Double Duty
At Newton Baby, we love items that do double duty. That’s why we designed our standard-sized Crib Mattress, covers, and breathable organic cotton sheets to fit both cribs and toddler beds.
With Newton Baby, you can use the same mattress for the first three or four years of your little one’s life. From crib to big-boy or big-girl bed, Newton Baby is right there with you providing the safest, most comfortable night’s sleep possible!
To further improve your nursery organization, we suggest also using this idea of double duty when picking out furniture for your baby’s room.
For example, instead of separate items for changing your baby’s diapers and storing their clothes, choose a three-foot-high dresser with a flat top that you can use as two items in one: changing table and clothing storage!
4) Utilize Space Under The Crib
Nursery organization is all about finding unused space. And one of the most little-utilized spaces is underneath the crib.
Keep your baby’s room free of clutter by storing items you don’t need to access on a regular basis in soft baskets, bins, or plastic containers under the crib.
If you don’t like the look of the baskets, bins, and containers under your newborn’s crib, simply attach a crib skirt below the mattress line to hide this storage area from view. Cute and clutter-free!
5) Invest In Drawer Organizers
Baby clothes are tiny, so you can fit a lot of them in a single drawer. But all those socks and onesies and Newton Baby Swaddles tend to get moved around and make a jumbled mess inside your nursery dresser.
The solution to that problem is to invest in drawer organizers!
Drawer organizers come in all shapes, sizes, and colors so you can arrange them in multiple ways to fit your needs and corral all your little one’s clothes.
If you’re short on funds, you can go the DIY route and make your own drawer organizers out of cereal boxes, packing cardboard, or empty shoe boxes. Remove one side (what will be the top of the organizer), trim to size, and arrange inside the dresser drawer.
Presto! A fun, easy, and affordable way to add a bit of flair to your nursery organization.
6) Install Shelves In The Closet
For the first few years of your little one’s life, they’re not going to need a lot of hanging space in their closet. Most of the things they wear and use daily will fit nicely in the drawers of a dresser.
That leaves much of the closet as unused space that is just ripe for organization!
We suggest installing shelves from top to bottom to hold toys, unused clothes, extra diapers, and anything else that doesn’t have a place in the nursery proper.
If your little one has some hanging clothes (dresses, pants, costumes, etc.), you can install shelves only at the top and bottom of the closet for an added bit of storage space that will improve nursery organization by leaps and bounds.
7) Use Storage Bins To Corral The Clutter
Like your little one’s clothes, their toys, books, and stuffed animals end up in all corners of the room, making it feel cluttered and crowded.
Storage bins are an excellent solution to this nursery organization dilemma.
For bins within your baby’s reach, use soft, collapsible fabric storage boxes for toys, stuffed animals, and anything they’ll want to get on their own. Designate a play area in an unused corner of the room and line up these soft bins along the wall.
You can use the same concept — soft bins within your baby’s reach — to organize items on the newly installed shelves in the closet, too!
For shelves higher up, opt instead for stackable hard-side bins for extra clothes and supplies that you might not need for several months or years.
8) Organize Diaper-Changing Supplies
It takes a lot of different supplies to change your baby’s diaper:
- Clean diapers
- Wipes
- Rash cream
- Changing pad
- Onesies
- Hand sanitizer (for you)
If you’re not careful to maintain a bit of nursery organization, those items will end up scattered across your changing station, around the room, and even in other parts of the house.
Plus, you should never turn your attention away from your baby to reach for or retrieve a diaper-changing supply! It’s not safe.
Instead, keep your provisions organized and within arm’s reach by storing them in a basket or soft storage bin (a drawer organizer works well here).
When your baby is clean and back in your arms, take a moment to restock your supplies so they’re ready and waiting for the next dirty diaper.
Safety First
However you choose to furnish and organize your nursery, be sure to always put safety first!
Anchor heavy furniture to the wall (into a stud). This prevents the furniture from tipping over should your little one find a way to climb up the outside. And make sure everything from the floor to about three feet up the wall in your nursery is baby-safe and baby-proof.
Finally, always outfit your crib with a 100% breathable mattress, like Newton Baby’s Original and Waterproof options.
Our mattresses are constructed with Wovenaire® and Breathe-Thru technology. So even if your newborn rolls over onto their stomach, they’ll still be able to breathe straight through the mattress.
That’s peace of mind you can’t get anywhere else!
For more information on how to give your baby safer, healthier, better sleep and to check out everything Newton Baby has to offer, visit NewtonBaby.com today.