We finally have the baby’s nursery put together and thought we’d give a tour! And share how we made space for both baby and Jake’s office in our second bedroom.

We’re pretty fortunate to have moved into this bigger space a year ago. We probably could have made it work in our old apartment, but it would have been a bit cramped. It is nice that the second bedroom in our current place is larger and has plenty of room for both a nursery and home office. When we moved in, we made a conscious effort to not fill up the second bedroom with furniture because we didn’t want to deal with rearranging it all and/or making space. It did feel a little awkward and empty at first to have a mostly empty bedroom, with just Jake’s desk in the corner. And because we didn’t really want a lot of people to know we were trying, it was also a little awkward dodging questions about why the bedroom was so empty lol.

Now that we’ve filled the room in with the nursery furniture, we kind of miss the big open space.

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One of the first things we did when we started on the nursery was get one of those office dividers to split the room in half. We think it helps to physically divide the space, so it feels like two separate spaces. It also allows Jake a little more privacy when he’s working. The office divider is probably the most expensive piece of furniture in that room. We got the divider from Wayfair. Since everything has been on Zoom, a lot of people think Jake is in an actual office! That’s been an added bonus!

After we divided the room in half, we realized that we didn’t really have that much space to work with. When we were looking at furniture, we wanted pieces that were multi-functional. Instead of a changing table, we opted for a dresser to increase storage space. Cindy got an ad for the pink dresser and knew she had to have it. (we may have gone a bit overboard on the pink lol). The dresser is also from Wayfair.

And instead of a nursing chair, we chose to have a small couch or love seat. We initially wanted to find a pull-out couch or futon for guests, but decided there just wasn’t enough space. We’re really loving the love seat though. Cindy has always wanted a napping couch and is really happy to finally have one, at least until the baby arrives. The couch does take up more space than a nursing chair, but it’s nice that the both of us have a place to sit on that side of the room. We got the love seat from Living Spaces. The last thing we added to the room was the small end table, which we got from Amazon. We like the extra storage basket at the bottom– perfect for future storage needs.

The pink and grey panels on the wall are sound absorbing tiles. We’re not sure if they actually work, but thought we’d try to do our neighbors a favor and spare them from baby cries as much as we can.

We also divided the closet in that room into 3 parts. 1/3 is for Jake’s clothes & stuff. 1/3 is for our board games, luggage, and other miscellaneous items. And 1/3 is for the baby. We actually have quite a lot of space in the closet, which has been very helpful.

We do miss the open-ness a bit, but it’s nice that we were able to pull off a nursery office combo.

One thing we still need to figure out, before the baby starts crawling, is how to block off Jake’s office so the baby can’t get into that space. We’re considering baby gates, another divider, or a tall slim shelf. We’re open to any suggestions!

Overall, we really love the space we’ve created and hope it is functional!