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Closet for the baby's room

4 replies

Growingyou · 02/12/2020 18:52

I've name changed for this in case I get seriously berated for considering this...

My DH live in a nice light-filled 1 bedroom apartment. Ideally we'd like to stay here for a few more years as rental costs in the city we live in are in the top 5 most expensive in the world. We are pondering whether the walk in closet next to our bedroom could be redesigned as the nursery. Is this an outrageous idea? There is no window in the closet but plenty of airflow.

As you can probably tell, we're first time parents. We're very excited about our baby's arrival and have plenty of living room and kitchen space for baby to play/grow/eat/enjoy but wondered for sleeping whether a smaller space is acceptable?

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LouiseTrees · 02/12/2020 23:51

Well baby is meant to be in your bedroom for as much of their first year as possible anyway. How long would they be in “ the closet” and how big is it?

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happymummy12345 · 03/12/2020 00:54

While on the first to admit I hate nurseries and I think a baby should be in the parents room for as long as possible. And that those who say they don't have room for a cot could and should simply move furniture out the room so the cot can fit. Which is what we would have done if we didn't have enough room for the cot in our room anyway.
I don't think that's a realistic long term solution. We put our son into his own room at 16 months, as he was going into a toddler bed at 17 months and we wanted him to get used to his own room first.
You say you want to stay where you are for a few years? Would there be enough space when your baby becomes a toddler? And you may want them in their own room? What would you do then? And what about in summer if it's hot? With no actual window how would you cool the room down? (And is it actually legal to have a bedroom without a window? I'd guess not).
Personally I wouldn't even consider it as an option at all

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soughsigh · 07/12/2020 21:03

Having spent a lot of time blacking out my son's window with all sorts of methods, I would say no windows is ideal 😂.

I'm sure children have lived in smaller things. A 140cm cot that turns into a bed should do them for a long time, mine is over 2 and still in a cot.

I take it you are already pregnant from your post? So your choices are move or try it, I would probably go for try it. Although you wouldn't believe how much stuff such a small human being has and you might want a bigger place.

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Growingyou · 08/12/2020 08:15

Thank you for your replies. The closest is walk in - has a door to the entry hall and a door to our bedroom, allowing for ventilation/cross flow of air. The size is 2.5m x 1.75m (so 4.3m2).

We have a living room and a dining room, so down the track, think the dining room would become the 2nd bedroom. But at the moment, it just seems such a big room to place a child alone.

We've heard from a friend with a 10 month older that it was very helpful for them to have clearly separate "play time/living areas" vs "night time/sleeping areas". Which made us think, maybe it would be hard to transition the baby from playing in the same room as sleeping there. I.e. could the dining room be the day time nap/play/enjoy area, and the walk in wardrobe be the quiet, designated sleep area (until DC is 2 and then will definitely need the bigger space).

We definitely plan to have the baby in our bedroom for the first 6 months or so, maybe longer if it's working well.

We are not opposed at all to making the dining room the baby's room earlier, we just thought maybe the wardrobe would be a cosy space. Tell me if we're totally insane!