Before and After: An $800 Closet-Turned-Nursery Proves the Powerful Potential of Small Spaces
Closets-turned-offices have become somewhat commonplace in the past two years, but how about closets-turned-nurseries? They’re certainly a space-saving solution for growing families with no more square footage to grow, and Apartment Therapy has seen some incredibly stylish examples.
For instance, one San Francisco studio’s closet with built-in drawers was the perfect size for a crib, and another New York couple found a way to make a nursery match the existing decor in their primary bedroom. Recently, DIYer and blogger Hana Sethi (@hanashappyhome) stripped the wire shelves from her walk-in closet to create an adorable pattern-filled sleep space for her newborn.
Hana says that all of her babies have slept in the closet (with the door open and a fan going for proper ventilation, of course) during the newborn stage “for easy access during the night” but with her third kiddo, she wanted to make the space a bit more stylish and personalized.
“Before, it was just used as a closet on half the side and a crib on the other half,” she says. “It did not look like a nursery at all.”
Hana started the transformation by removing the wire clothes racks and patching the holes in the wall. Then she added the whimsical forest patterned wallpaper, an Etsy find. She opted for peel-and-stick wallpaper because someday she’ll convert the space back into a closet, she says — but for now, she loves the pink, purple, green, blue, and taupe shades she added.
On the two side walls, Hana installed MDF bead board and shaker pegs to hang decor and baby outfits. She painted the MDF a warm tan shade (Sherwin-Williams’ Touch of Sand). “Painting it was a little bit of a pain as you have to paint the grooves first and then roll onto a flat surface,” she remembers.
Other DIYs in the space include using two brass IKEA rods to hang headbands and gluing decorative flowers onto a small cabinet to create a dresser for more baby clothes storage. (Read more about that DIY process here.) “The dresser turned out much better than I thought,” Hana says. “It’s such a beautiful statement piece in the small nursery.”
Because the rest of the space is small (about 42 square feet), the crib, chandelier, string lights, spice racks to store books, and rug were enough to fill it. Not to mention “all the decor added in the space is very functional,” Hana says.
Best yet, because so much of the space relied on hacks and DIYs, the total cost for the transformation was about $800. It’s a personalized, space-maximizing, budget-friendly transformation that feels special for Hana’s new bundle of joy.
“I’m really proud that I thought outside the box to use the space for her nursery,” Hana says. “It’s beautiful and whimsical and exactly what I envisioned.”
Inspired? Submit your own project here.