Making Room For Baby

My hubby and I have a fairly small (even by UK standards) 2 bedroom house and we're trying to make room for baby.  My daughter has the single room so we'll have to make room for baby in our bedroom.  Our living room is fairly spacious so there will be plenty of room in there.  Our bedroom is another story.  We only have our double bed, a small night table, a small wardrobe and a fairly large dresser...but we will barely have room to squeeze the cot in, much less have a dresser for the baby and/or changing table.  Does anybody have any good ideas on how to maximize space when making room for baby?  Also wondering about decorating.  How do you have your own personal space...and also give the baby personal space in the same room?

I was thinking that there is enough room in our living room to put a dresser or changing table.  Is that tacky?  Honestly, we have to do what needs to be done, whether it's tacky or not...and I've seen some dressers and changing tables that looked pretty nice so I think I could swing it.

If all goes according to our grand plan, we'll be able to buy a bigger house and move by the time the baby is 6 months old or so...but in the meantime we've got to make due with what we've got.

My mom had an antique dresser that she'd refinished herself, and for years she used it in her living room as a tv stand.  She kept movies and CD's and cables and things in the drawers, but there's no reason a person couldn't do the same thing and use the drawers for clothing.  Who would know?

Plus, if you're really desperate for space, you can skip the cot and put the baby in a drawer.  It's a classic space-saving solution. :p

Seriously, though, I wouldn't worry about being somewhat creative in where you store things.  Use every inch of space you can find. 

No baby here, but I've had some tight squeeze apartments and having a dresser in the living room (and another in an entryway) was one of my solutions.     If we hadn't moved last summer, it was about to get done again in our last apartment.

I don't know if they have them here, but back in the US my brother had a dresser that had an attachment that made the top into a changing table.  The changing pad (and some sort of anti-roll cushion) strapped onto the dresser top, so they didn't need a dedicated changing table -- just a dresser.

I think people would totally understand you had bedroom furniture in your living room. I doubt many people would even notice, really.

A friend of mine has one of those Cosatto easipeasi changers in her living room. I've never thought anything of it. Surely that's just part of having a baby?

We've had to move things around in our house to make room for the cotbed in our room. We have a nursery for them but they'll sleep in our room for the first few months.The cotbed is huge (thankfully they'll be small enough to sleep in the same one for awhile) and we've had to shuffle a few things.

You might want to try a moses basket to start with. Some babies can stay in those for several months and they are much smaller than cots. We did have a changing table but honestly, I ended up doing most of the changes on the floor, sofa, bed, etc. The table ended up being used primarily for storage!

Even though we're in a large house in the US now, I still keep stacks of diapers, wipes, and even PJs on a shelf in our living room. Just makes life easier.

Ours all slept in a Moses basket for about 6 months (and you can always use it for storage afterwards!).

I never had a changing table...didn't see the point or have the space for one. I just made use of the changing mat that came with the changing bag and used the floor or the sofa or the bed.

We live in a 1 bed flat and fit in a moses basket into our bedroom quite easily and DD was able to stay in that until she was about 5 months. The cot just fits in as well.

So baby in a small space can be done. Good luck!

Moses baskets ARE good, but I wouldn't rely on LO being in one until 5-6 months.  Finn is 3 months old at the end of the week and we moved him into his cot last week as he was very very close to being too big for the basket.

I know lots of people who don't bother with changing tables - just have a mat or two to use on the bed/sofa/floor.  Even an old towel is fine.

I have decided to skip the changing table.  I never had one for my daughter and I doubt I would use the changing aspect of the table...I just need something to store the baby's clothes and changing equipment in.  So...instead of a traditional dresser or changing table, I opted for a tall, skinny shelving unit that is made for living rooms.  It fits in good with our existing furniture and it has enough room for baby supplies and some clothing.  We have a small chest of drawers in our hallway that will hold the rest of his clothes (and can shove of them in our wardrobe if we end up with that much). 

We have decided to stick with the cot for our bedroom.  Our cousin donated one to us and it will be easier to set it up and use it than to try to find a place to store it.  I will probably buy a moses basket also to use in other rooms of the house or to take outside.  I love them!!

Now I just have to figure out where we are going to store the pram!!  I'm glad I have 4 months left to sort all this.