In lieu of New Year’s Resolutions (Who keeps those anyways?!) I created a list of numerous personal, financial, and home-related goals. This year I have some very big plans for making more significant strides in personalizing this home. I am in the beginning stages of some of these goals and others I won’t start until later this year. I am very determined to not let my modest income keep me from having the life I want. Aside from gathering ideas from Apartment Therapy, IKEA, Houzz, and basically anything else I can find, I take a realistic look at how this house doesn’t fit my lifestyle and try to configure the space to meet my current and future needs.
The idea of adopting or having a second child is not necessarily a new one for me. I knew after having my daughter I was not going to be one of those women who has back-to-back children. I researched a year before I made the decision to have my daughter and currently, I am researching adoption. I’ve chosen academic and non-academic books to aid me in my decision. One of those non-academic books, Instant Mom, makes me realize how much more apprehensive I am in considering adding a second child to my family. There are certainly no guarantees that having a biological or adopted child in our future will happen but now I have an additional person, my daughter, to consider in this decision.
A newborn child is too young to share a room with a sibling and therefore, one of the things I’ve considered is how to minimize bringing in too much baby gear. I know we don’t need a playpen, a glider, a baby changing station, and even a crib is potentially unnecessary. Before you let your jaw drop, I am not saying a safe sleeping space is unnecessary.
Some time ago, I learned about the popularity of baby boxes. Actually, I am pretty certain this item came up after news talked about a Finnish baby box being sent to Prince William and Duchess Catherine. I thought it was kind of interesting but at the time, without an immediate desire to have an additional child, I just let the idea rest there. Now that I am researching the possibility of another child in the family, I know my budget must intersect with available home space.
One of the most important things I recognized about having a child in the U.S. is how much baby crap you are expected to buy when you are expecting. There is so much gear that honestly is not really needed. My daughter suffered from acid reflux and for many nights she would fall asleep on my chest than in her own crib. The only reason the crib wasn’t a waste of money is that my sister-in-law, my husband, and my sister-in-law’s two older girls used it before we used it for my daughter and then it went back to my sister-in-law when her last child was due.
Thankfully, there are smaller sleeping arrangements to start with than a crib. We could pick a baby box from The Baby Box Co. this cute Summer Infant brand infant travel bed or a cute Moses basket. During the night, these small accommodations would work well in our bedroom and during nap time, the baby could sleep in our spare bedroom. This room could balance our office needs, exercise equipment, and a little one. I feel silly sharing my beliefs that I really would take up a more minimalist approach for a second child. A sleeping arrangement and an IKEA storage cart (for diaper storage items) would make up “the nursery” part of this multi purpose room.
Here are some space layouts that might be possible. I think my only concern is if we moved the desks (we currently only have one IKEA Alex Desk) I don’t know how much it would cost to install an outlet in the floor. Even then, I don’t know if I’d want to put an outlet in the floor until we remove the carpet and replace it with cork floors or a wood grain tile.
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
Option 5
Option 6
I still need to create a floor-to-ceiling layout. We currently have a large Crate & Barrel wooden bookcases, a bistro table and two stools, and a rolling kitchen cart we use for our printer that will not go back into the room once it is redesigned. Our storage needs will be better met as well once we redesign the closet in this room but I have more planning to determine what IKEA closet system works best. I am a big fan of the Elvari collection. For now though, here are some images of what will eventually go into the space.
We already have two of these awesome carts in blue.
I love these float frames from Artifact Uprising.
I am thinking a combination of three of these frames in 12″ by 14″ together would be a suitable arrangement. With the amount of modern touches and deep colors in the furniture my desire would be to pick some very brightly colored photographs from our collection to have framed. In particular, one of my favorite choices is from our attendance at a hot ballon festival in Cody, Wyoming.
Another Wyoming favorite would be this one below; my family friends in Wyoming own Cowtown Candy and the beautiful pops of colors in these lollipops would be a beautiful touch in our home but also a wonderful memory to share down the road that you just can’t get with store-bought art.
Pottery Barn has a selection of shelves and ledges I enjoy but I still need to decide what combination of shelves (12″ deep) and ledges (6″ deep) will help us provide ample wall storage so we can replace our bookcase.
The last piece if a Little Bit #2 comes along down the road would be this baby box below (or one of the other options I mentioned earlier) but I am getting kind of fond of the idea of something simple that can serve a separate purpose after a child outgrows it for sleeping. I love the owl pattern. It’s my favorite pattern.
