Where to put the nursery?? Advice needed!

[skipperdoo]

DH and I expecting our first, due end of November. I know baby will be in our room for at least 6 months but I feel more comfortable getting organised and having everything decorated well before the arrival.

Right now my office is in our third bedroom (first being our master and second being guest bed) and we'd always planned for baby to go in box room. However, I've just marked out with tape the average size of a cot and a dresser (to double as changing table) and it's taking up all the space!! Ideally I'd wanted room for rocking chair and wall shelves but there's no way chair would fit and I'm wary of putting shelves above crib. I'm worried the space is much smaller than I imagined (reading some other posts on MN leads me to believe our box room is much smaller than most!!)

In a nutshell - dilemma now is whether to switch my office with baby room. My desk will fit in there comfortably and I don't mind having the smaller space. Just a few drawbacks to this (none of these the end of the world at all, just trying to give context!)

1. Box room is on the street side of house, we'd have no neighbors hearing crying through the wall. Walls in other room are very thin (though I believe it's a bathroom and not a bedroom but not 100% sure)
2. We paid for that desk to be custom fit to that exact wall insert in bedroom and now seems a waste.
3. Similarly the couch/pull out is not in the right colour scheme for what I was envisioning for nursery which also seems a waste to either sell for less money or reupholster.

I know baby would be just fine in the smaller room but we will probably be in house for at least 3 more years and I want a space they can grow into, we can have bedtime stories, etc. I also don't want to wait to switch because I only want to decorate once (and my office isn't fully done yet either despite points above). My gut says to switch, but DH says box room. Please help!!

Photos below

[url=<a class="break-all" href="https://postimg.cc/XXb2wXbH%5D%5Bimg%5Di.postimg.cc/XXb2wXbH/5-E8-E2-C17-BE57-4-DC4-A054-DFD129553-A9-F.jpg%5B/img%5D%5B/url" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://postimg.cc/XXb2wXbH][img]i.postimg.cc/XXb2wXbH/5-E8-E2-C17-BE57-4-DC4-A054-DFD129553-A9-F.jpg[/img][/url]

[quote skipperdoo]DH and I expecting our first, due end of November. I know baby will be in our room for at least 6 months but I feel more comfortable getting organised and having everything decorated well before the arrival.

Right now my office is in our third bedroom (first being our master and second being guest bed) and we'd always planned for baby to go in box room. However, I've just marked out with tape the average size of a cot and a dresser (to double as changing table) and it's taking up all the space!! Ideally I'd wanted room for rocking chair and wall shelves but there's no way chair would fit and I'm wary of putting shelves above crib. I'm worried the space is much smaller than I imagined (reading some other posts on MN leads me to believe our box room is much smaller than most!!)

In a nutshell - dilemma now is whether to switch my office with baby room. My desk will fit in there comfortably and I don't mind having the smaller space. Just a few drawbacks to this (none of these the end of the world at all, just trying to give context!)

1. Box room is on the street side of house, we'd have no neighbors hearing crying through the wall. Walls in other room are very thin (though I believe it's a bathroom and not a bedroom but not 100% sure)
2. We paid for that desk to be custom fit to that exact wall insert in bedroom and now seems a waste.
3. Similarly the couch/pull out is not in the right colour scheme for what I was envisioning for nursery which also seems a waste to either sell for less money or reupholster.

I know baby would be just fine in the smaller room but we will probably be in house for at least 3 more years and I want a space they can grow into, we can have bedtime stories, etc. I also don't want to wait to switch because I only want to decorate once (and my office isn't fully done yet either despite points above). My gut says to switch, but DH says box room. Please help!!

Photos below

[url=<a class="break-all" href="https://postimg.cc/XXb2wXbH%5D%5Bimg%5Di.postimg.cc/XXb2wXbH/5-E8-E2-C17-BE57-4-DC4-A054-DFD129553-A9-F.jpg%5B/img%5D%5B/url" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://postimg.cc/XXb2wXbH][img]i.postimg.cc/XXb2wXbH/5-E8-E2-C17-BE57-4-DC4-A054-DFD129553-A9-F.jpg[/img][/url][/quote]
Sorry, can't figure out how to attach photos here:

postimg.cc/XXb2wXbH

I think that you definitely need to be able to fit at least a comfortable chair into the babies room. My child has the box room, it fitted a Chest of drawers, cot bed and an armchair, with shelves above the drawers. I absolutely needed that armchair to slump on in the middle of many nights.

I don’t think colour scheme really matters! Just chuck a throw over it if it bothers you!

I think you need to swap them around from those photos. That is more a corridor than a box room. Your desk will fit along the wall ok in the box room. Could you fit the sofa under the window or next to the desk in the box room?

Ah yes that is a very narrow box room!

@ItsSnowJokes sofa definitely would not fit, way too narrow as you say and then would lose functionality of pulling out to guest double if needed with desk in the way.

We used to just have our rowing machine and yoga mat in here which was fine but I think we really over estimated how much space we’d have! Annoyingly the guest bedroom on other side of wall is massive, I’m not sure why the builders did the floor plan this way!

@Bimblybomeyelash throw is a good idea!

Could you not steal part of the guest room to make that room bigger? Are they plasterboard walls?

Also in all seriousness how often will you need 2 x guest rooms? You have a 4 bed house and 3 of you living there when baby comes and you are scrabbling about for space! Only having 1 guest room is perfectly normal, most people don't even have that. Think of the people who will live there full time before guests.

You will definitely want a chair jn the baby's room.

Sorry but that is more of a half box than a box room :o

I think I'd switch - where is the baby going to play once they are older? They won't have space especially with a bed in there, and you can't go to a high/mid-sleeper bed too early as it isn't safe.

But if you did want to make the box room work:

You don't need a changing table or a chest of drawers IME. Get a changing mat and change the baby on the floor, or put a towel down on a bed/sofa and use that. This also means you don't have to traipse upstairs constantly just to change nappies. We used our changing mat from the change bag on the sofa way more than we used the proper changing table in the bedroom. If you really desperately want something raised and in the bedroom, you can always get a cot-top changer. When you're not using it, it just tucks away between the cot and wall.

Baby will only need teeny tiny storage for their teeny tiny clothes for the first couple of years, so you can absolutely get away with something with a miniscule footprint, like this: www.argos.co.uk/product/7446162

I know it's not the most glam or cute item of furniture ever, but it's cheap, doesn't take up much space and you can always repurpose it later for toy storage or something in your office.

Or Ikea do some small footprint ones like this: www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/malm-chest-of-3-drawers-white-30429613/

Then once you get rid of the chair and swap to a single/toddler bed, you can put a bigger chest of drawers in.

Put the shelves on the opposite wall to the cot.

Two choices for cot / rocking chair:

1. Get a 120 x 60 cot so that it takes up as little space as possible, put it where your smaller rectangle is right now or between the two rectangles. Put the rocking chair next to the window. Once the baby is too big for that cot (normally about 2 years old) swap for Ikea Kura, which is a full sized single bed which is probably going to take up all of the room. I'd put it with feet facing the window, get the canopy to go over the top to make it a bit more cosy/"fun" and put a chest of drawers at the head of the bed, with bookends on top of it to hold a small selection of books for bedtime. You will have to ditch the rocking chair, but you can snuggle up with your child in the bed. Once they are about 4/5 years old and a bit more sensible, flip the bed into a mid sleeper, which will gain them back a bit of space to play. You might need to move the shelves up a bit at this point but they will be in a good, accessible place to serve as a kind of "bedside table" especially if placed more towards the foot end of the bed (no bumped heads).

1. Get a 140 x 70 cotbed. Place next to the window, about a foot away from the radiator (so there's a gap) and the comfy chair on the longer wall near the door. If you are worried about the window/radiator while your child is very little and don't find the gap enough, you can swap these around like in suggestion #1 (with the chair next to the window). When ready, change the cotbed into a toddler bed, place it next to the window. Ditch the comfy chair and get a low chair like a fold out futon, or a bean bag to put next to the toddler bed so you can snuggle in for storytime. This will give you space for things like chest of drawers, bookcase, toy storage. The cotbed should last in toddler mode until about 5-6 years old, at which point you can swap it for a proper mid-sleeper or even high sleeper if you think your child is sensible enough, gaining back loads of space for storage/play.

We have this same set up with rooms (first baby due next month) and I have given the baby the big spare room. So glad I did because it’s completely rammed with stuff before he’s even here and has a load of toys to add to that 🙈 We did put a single bed in it though so that does take up a lot of space but felt when it was the bigger room we would benefit from having somewhere to sleep in there if need be

That’s more a cupboard than a box room, I think you definitely need more room, a chair is a must I think.

I have spent an awful lot of time sleeping on the nursery floor (ill baby, teething etc).
Make the nursery a room you can comfortably set up camp in is my view!

So I started off putting our first born in the box room because we wanted to keep our guest room and realised fairly quickly that she’d need the bigger room, I think once she was about 2 we had to move her - they have so much stuff and toys (and our box room was bigger than the one you’ve shown). So honestly to save yourselves the hassle of having to change further down the line I’d make either your guest bedroom theirs seeing as they will be there all of the time and let guests stay over in your office (I’m assuming that’s a sofa bed in there). Or give them your office. I agree with a PP that said to prioritise those living there over guests- it will just make your practical day to day living that much easier.

To clarify it is just a 3 bed not 4, we do need to keep one guest bed and the other was my WFH office.

Thank you for all the replies I just needed some reassurance to tell DH "I told you so!" we will make the switch!

How is it 3bed?

You say:-
Our room
Spare room
Office
Box room

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

How is it 3bed?

You say:-
Our room
Spare room
Office
Box room

"Right now my office is in our third bedroom (first being our master and second being guest bed) and we'd always planned for baby to go in box room."

Just three... office IS the third bed right now. Trust me, if it was four I wouldn't be having this issue!

After having ds2 we moved ds1 into the guest /2nd bedroom. Re decorated it for him and left the sofa bed for the odd time guest stay it also has to have husbands clothes in ( bloodily new build with no storage) Husbands office is in the small room/nursery and he will use it until baby is 6 months maybe even longer. Think rooms just have to become multi functional. I think your best option is pop ur office in the small room and have the baby's bits and sofa bed in the 2nd bedroom. When people do stop and if ur not happy for them to share you can always put the baby in your room in a travel cot

I'm a bit confused by your room descriptions too! 🤦‍♀️ so the third bedroom is also the box room and the office?

But you also need a guest bed and the desk was custom made?

I couldn't access your photos sorry

Anyway here are my thoughts.....

Use the box room for the baby

You don't need A full dresser and changing table - I have twin babies and older child and never used a changing table. Get a slimline chest of drawers

You can buy cots which are smaller - IKEA do one where one whole side comes off so can be used until they are at least 3 - you don't need a cot bed

Don't need a rocking chair - also never used one with any of mine. Bit of a nice to have or put it in your room

You can get a smaller cot rather than full size and definitely don't need a full size chest of drawers with changing top. You can get changing tops for cots too. Or you can use the floor. Your box room is small (EA should never be allowed to call it a 3rd bed) but I think you just need to be clever with furniture. Where will you put the futon if you switch it around?

Is the box room in addition to the rooms you mention?

Oh dear sorry for the confusion!! It's clear in my mind as I live here every day

I wasn't classing "box room" as a bedroom. As most of you pointed out it's more of a "half" a box room or basically a large closet!

So we have: 1. Our bedroom; 2. Guest Bed; 3. Third Bed (was my office will now be nursery); 4. "Box Room" (will move my office here)

We purchased the sofa bed/futon for when friends or family with children come to visit so we don't have to stick them on air bed or the couch. I think we'll just keep it in the nursery and on the occasions we do have guests can move baby in with us for the night.

Thanks all for the advice!

Ok so you a four bedrooms house

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Ok so you a four bedrooms house

Ha yup definitely classed as a 4 bed even if you can only got a dog bed in it 🤣

I agree with OP, that's not a 4th bedroom but rather a 4th spare room. Legally I think minimum bedroom size is 6.5 m2 this looks much smaller.

I also agree you should switch rooms like you're now planning, they may not need much space at first but you do acquire things very quickly and will be easier over time.

An idea for your desk as well. We have recently swapped DS1 from a bigger room into a smaller one with a high sleeper so DS2 & 3 can share. We were planning to move this desk but DS1's bed ended up coming with a smaller one which fits better. So DH turned this into a changing area. When the younger two get bigger, we'll probably move the drawers and they can use it as an actual desk for drawing /homework etc.