New Uses for an Old Closet — Baby Proof

Little bundles of joy sure seem to take up a lot of room in any home with all their attending necessities. Who knew a changing table and crib could take up so much room? In our week on “new uses for an old closet” we have some great ideas for for utilizing all the nooks and crannies of your home so your baby can have more room to crawl and you to walk.

Diapers, butt cream, and wipes—oh my! While a changing table holds everything a baby needs to stay fresh, dry, and happy it can sometimes be a bit large, or even worse, unwieldy. Keeping it out of sight and out of mind is much easier if it finds a home in a closet. With baskets below or shelving above there is still room for clothing and toys in your child’s closet and this will be sure to maximize space. While the changing table pictured here has curtains, you can just as easily keep the doors on. We like this solution for Classics and Funs who love to hide things away, but it could work easily well for a Smart or Organic who is short on room space. What’s great about babies clothes is that they are SMALL, and so there’s usually unused space on the bottom of their closets, perfect for that changing table.

Don’t have a nursery? Take those closet doors off and stick the whole crib in the closet. This does seem to be a rather New York City apartment solution, but it’s also very cozy and of course will appeal to Smarts and Organics because of it’s innovative nature. But it is a helpful solution for those who have small apartments or want to keep their babies in their room but simply don’t have the space. We also like the use of bright colors on the inside of the closet walls. This is something to keep in mind even if you’re just redoing your closet. A pop of color can make getting dressed all the more fun!

Originally published on September 7, 2011.