I think the closet area in the bedroom is your best bet. Get an armoire or some other kind of furniture to serve as a closet for the bedroom, then use the closet space for baby. Or see about using that space marked "M"? I haven't a clue what that is, but if you could close off the exterior door and open it up from the bedroom, that might work.

That sliding door you linked to is very cool, but I'd worry about little fingers getting slammed in it, or a baby who's learning to pull up using the door to pull up and smashing it or knocking it off the track or something. Cool things and one-year-olds hardly ever mix well.

If you are not yet expecting a baby, I don't think you have to worry one bit about that June 2012 move date being too late for you. I think you could make this arrangement work until you had a one-year-old or so. Past that, it would be troublesome.

Do invest a little thought into your plan should you find yourself expecting twins or triplets, though! I doubt your space would work well for long with multiples, unless you took the closet area and let the babies have the bedroom.

I think that would be a great idea. And remember it takes 9 months to grow the baby not including the time it may take to get there! Then babies do have some baggage which takes up some space but they don't move around, and can be happy with minimal toys and such, so I don't think you would have to move for 2 or 3 years. We lived in a really small 2 bedroom house that looks like it has close to the same space, and after 2 years is when we wanted out. But my husband and I grew up in large houses so we aren't used to living in a smaller home. Many people don't mind the small quarters though.

The closet looks like a good option. Babies take up a lot of space, but contrary to popular belief their stuff doesn't have to. You can get a crib with storage underneath. See about taking the bi-fold doors off of one or both of the sides -- you can leave in some regular high shelving, and open up some of it with room to shelve books on a ledge or put in a small dresser. Remeber, baby clothes only hang a foot or so down -- a dresser would likely fit underneath. Or, you can treat one side of the closet as baby's (open) and one still as yours for off season things (closed). This would be such a fun nursery to design, in my opinion!

FYI -- I think "M" is mechanical.

You could also use an Expedit shelf or a divider of some kind to create a nook for the baby in your bedroom. I'd then put the changing table and the baby's clothes in the smaller closet.

do you own the condo? what about knocking out the wall from the M space that connects to the balcony and closing off that closet? seems like it'd be larger but I'm not sure what you use it for currently.

I think the closet is also the way to go. Look at mini cribs, do a change table/dresser, and squeeze every drop of storage. A curtain will be far better with little hands then a sliding door. In a one bedroom apt you are going to need to limit the baby stuff anyways (not a bouncer, swing, etc, etc all at once). Having the bath and laundry right there will be wonderful.
You should get at least a few years out of the arrangement.

Well.... I don't qualify as an urban mom (or even a suburban mom).... but I do have experience cramming 3 kids, 2 adults, 2 cats, 1 dog, a lot of gear and frequent overnight guests into a very poorly laid-out (all the sq footage is in the bathroom and laundry room) 1700 sq foot home.

I confess to having an 18-month-old child in a crib (earlier in a mini co-sleeper) right next to my bed. Not attractive, but it works. So that might help you with the time frame for how long you can make this work. After that, I'd consider some sort of toddler bed (with storage underneath) fit into the closet next to the linen closet and removing that set of doors.... a little sleeping alcove. Maybe a tension rod with ring clips/curtain if you want to make it cozy.

My 6-year-old sleeps in a Harry Potter style closet over the stairs and he loves it. I don't know if that is encouraging to you or just makes you feel sorry for me... or him..... :)

Skip the changing table... babies can't fall off the floor. And don't buy into the thinking that you have to buy every piece of baby gear out there.... you will do great.... I'd love to see photos of the solutions you figure out.

Are you even pregnant yet?
If not, that could take months! Then add 9 months of pregnancy, and really, the crib would only have to be near the bed for a few months until you can sell the condo, and move in to a baby appropriate home.

Look at Ariel's closet nursery on offbeat mama and Jordan Ferney's on oh happy day (googling both of those with closet nursery will show you what I mean - it's amazing what you can do!

I had a similar problem in our one bedroom open loft condo. We opted to split up the baby stuff and stash the furniture and gear around the house anywhere it fit instead of all together in a specific nursery. Because the bedroom is the only space with a closing door, we kept the crib in there. Though, raising the baby to nap amidst noise has worked well for us.

We looked into mini-cribs, but they don't last very long age/size wise. We selected the BabyMod Olivia crib which has a pretty small footprint, but no convenient undercrib storage.

Our changing table (an ikea cabinet full of baby clothes) is just outside the bedroom door. I'm not sure how you're using the two walls outside your bathroom or bedroom, but they could be changing areas.

Good luck! Send photos when you get it sorted out.

I don't really think you need to create a "nursery space" per se, just rearrange the furniture in your bedroom to make room for a crib. Skip the change table (or set one up in the living room if you must), and store baby's clothes in one of the bedroom closets.

I'd probably put the crib along the angled wall - the farthest possible from the washer/dryer, and then put your bed in the middle of the room with the headboard against the wall on the right-side of the florplan picture. Or, just set up the crib right beside your bed from day 1.

Like the others said, if you're not pregnant yet and you're moving June 2012 this is a pretty short term situation so not worth much effort - certainly not worth doing anything resembling a reno.

Why not just put a regular sized crib next to your own bed? This is what we did and our room is a bit smaller than yours.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10083423@N02/2194035984/in/set-72157622466287381/

We still have our daughter in a toddler bed next to our queen 3 years later and it serves us well. We will be moving soon but that is only because the toys are taking over our living room.

I think having our daughter in the room instead of in a closet or room away from us made it way easier in the middle of the night when she was still nursing. Plus, she is an awesome sleeper since she was in a room that i had to have access to when she was sleeping.

Thank you all for your suggestions!! I'm aware I'm over-planning and there are a million hiccups that could happen to my plan.
Part of my urge to uber-plan this is that we would like to stay where we are past June 2012 if it's manageable--we love the walkability and convenience of our urban location and would love to be able to stay put. Keep these great ideas coming! :)

I vote for a mini-crib and a fold-away changing table (IKEA has one that fold like a luggage stand and one that can be hung on the wall that might be good options) in the closet area.
Also, slick with the curtains, or at least sliding fabric panels instead of the door. It will be less expensive, easier to change when you move and you won't have to worry about the air flow.

Based on the timing of everything, and assuming you are not already pregnant, will you need more than a bassinet?? I used a bassinet for almost 5 months before we bought a crib. It will be so much fun decorating a separate room for your baby when you buy your first home. Good luck!

Besides that.. you wouldn't even have to get a changing table. You could use a changing pad and keep your supplies next to your bed. I never used a changing table and got a tall 6 drawer dresser instead which we shared for clothes storage. Save the money for your new home!

I second the idea of spreading things out. I originally planned to make a closet nursery, but this arrangement works better for us and makes me feel better:

We have our crib in our bedroom and turned our (very small) walk-in closet into a nook for a changing table and dresser. The closet situation provides plenty of storage and gave me at least a tiny space to decorate.

As the baby has gotten older (4 months now) we've added a toy bin and play mat in our living area, as well as a "bumper jumper" in our bedroom doorway, all of which can be put away in a snap.

I like this arrangement so much that I'm not ready to change it, even though we have an office/guest room we planned to give up.

We live in a one-bed with our 2.5 yr old since before he was born, and what we've done is just divide the bedroom. Thankfully our bedroom is pretty large so we don't feel completely crammed. We just moved him to a toddler bed, he's got his own dresser, a side table, and we actually have a changing table for him, which is now beeing used for storage. We keep toys to a minimum, but his play area is in the living room. One wall is his, basically, with a table, chalkboard, and two toy baskets. LR is same size as BR. They're both a few feet larger than your BR. It works for us and, again, we don't feel crammed. We have considered, though, leaving him the bedroom and us taking over the LR. We really wouldn't miss the bedroom. This is just so you can get an idea.

As far as your condo plan, I'd also go with using the bedroom closet as the nursery nook. Definately store things around the condo, you don't need everything right there. I'd even use a room divider at the bottom end of the BR, near the entrance to the closet, a few feet away, provided you feel you have the space, and create an additional nook there for the baby. You could use something like the Expedit, that way you'd have additional storage.

If you own your condo and you'd like to stay for awhile, I'd say to take that storage space off the deck, replace the door with a window (that could easily be re-replaced with a door when you want to move, something like a window panel that fits into the same amount of space as that door), finish the room and add a pocket door into your bedroom. Then you should be able to at least fit a crib and some sort of small dresser in there. Then you can have appropriate light and ventilation AND a room with a door you can close for when the child gets older. You could probably even describe it as an office when you go to sell your place and that might be an added bonus to a buyer.
This of course assumes you can afford those little renovations, but I don't think they would cost a ton of money AND then you'd still have your own closets, which you will absolutely miss if you turn them into a baby room.
We live in a very small space with two young boys and believe me, our closet space is what saves us. If we didn't have it, I don't know what I'd do.

Another idea is to just skip separate bedding altogether. We thought that our daughter would be in a crib after a bedside bassinette, but 2.5 years later she's still in our queen sized bed. We're expecting again this May, and have decided to just upgrade to a king rather than worry about moving either our daughter or this next child into a separate bed. It's space saving and actually really lovely sharing sleeping space with her!

We lived in a one-bedroom condo when we had our first. We did have an itty-bitty den as a nursery, but he just slept in our room. It's really quite do-able, whether you want them in your bed or just in a crib nearby. We now have two bedrooms, and our first child sleeps in his room. Our second rooms in with us in a crib next to our dresser. She's nine months now and I wouldn't have it any other way!

So I guess my advice is that every parent and child is different so it's hard to offer specific advice on how to set it up. Have a bassinette next to your bed or a co-sleeper and then go with the flow as to whether you want the baby in a crib, either in the room or the closet, or whether the baby will just sleep with you.

I would just slide a crib into the closet that looks out onto the bedroom. Take the bifold doors off and use a curtain on a spring rod for privacy. Pare down your own wardrobes and give baby part of one of the other two closets.

We were co-sleepers until very recently and even still on occasion. A bed, much less a bedroom, for the little dude was pointless anyway.

I vote for the closet makeover, but it all depends on how you sleep (and what kind of a sleeper the baby turns out to be). I was in a very small 1 bedroom apt when my son was born, and had considered co-sleeping but turns out my son wasn't into it and really needed his own space to fall asleep (and I'm a very light sleeper which meant that I got no sleep when he was with me), so after the first few months, I gave him the bedroom for his crib and moved into the main living space (with a divider). As sparklish says, every baby and parent is different, and while co-sleeping (either in same bed or in same room) may be great for some, for others it just really won't work.

But at the end of the day, I think there's enough space here for some flexibility because you could fit a crib and minimal other stuff into the closet if you wanted. You have enough space that the rest of the baby stuff can be in the living areas. Good luck!

Oh, and depending on how tall you are, I'd really consider putting a changing pad on top of a dresser -- although you don't *need* one, it can get really hard on your back bending down for all the changes to do it on a pad on the floor! And, it means you have more storage space.

What is M?

"M" is a mechanical room which houses the furnace/AC so it's not a usable space, unfortunately! That would have been a great solution. Thank you all for the comments/suggestions!

i was also wondering about M. thanks for the clarification.

if you really, really want to stay in the place and you really, really want a separate room for the baby, you could give your bedroom to the baby and move into the living room.

I vote for the curtain option to close off the closet area, and agree with the others as to not really needing a changing table specifically. You've got a great opportunity to be creative here - conside painting the inside of the closet to really make it feel like a room, and introduce fun fabric to really make it feel like its own little room. My DD only lasted one night in the pack n play in our bedroom - after that, we moved her to her own room and crib, and I credit that with the reason that she shtarted sleeping through the night (6 hour stretches) at about a month!

We moved to a 2 bedroom when our daughter was an infant, but not because of sleeping arrangements. Rather it became clear that we didn't have the living space to give her room to play. I'd think more about that. Once they become mobile things change a lot. I know many people with toddlers in a 1 bedroom. As long as the living space can provide a safe open space for roaming a roaming crawler and eventually walker I wouldn't stress too much.