A New Nursery
Cobham, Surrey, NW8
Creating a practical and beautiful nursery for the baby to transition into sleeping in his own room
or call +44 (0)20 8673 1653
Our client had two small boys, in a beautiful house in Cobham, Surrey. Between caring for her energetic family and a sentimental love of all of their baby clothes, she’d never felt able to go through all of the outgrown items and hand-me-downs.
The baby of the family was now old enough to move into his own room, but it had become a storage space for all of the things that needed to be sorted out, and a bit of a daunting task. Our client wanted to create a clear, calm and functional nursery that she could transition her son into.
Clothes that her older son had worn, that were being passed on to his brother, were mixed in with clothes the baby had grown out of. Some she wanted to keep for sentimental reasons, but others she was happy to pass on and donate. The challenge was working out which was which.
A clear system for storing and managing clothes as the boys grew, plus a beautiful nursery room were the key goals for the day.
We decided to complete this project in two stages and editing was the first order of business.
There were a lot of clothes taking up valuable storage space that we knew were either going to be donated, or stored away for safekeeping – they were either sentimental, or wouldn’t be needed for a couple of years. And because of the volume of clothes involved, we knew the design of the nursery couldn’t be finalised until that sort out was done.
We spent the day with the client (with the nearly-toddler lending a hand!) going through absolutely every item of clothing, plus muslins, blankets and all of the other bits that come with new babies. Those sentimental newborn items were boxed and labelled for safekeeping in a loft room, whilst those items she knew she didn’t want to, or couldn’t, pass on from big to little brother were packed up for charity donations. What remained were the clothes that were to grow into.
By doing a thorough edit across the course of the first day we had a clear picture of what needed to stay, and could then design the layout of the lovely new nursery.
A few days later we revisited our client to finalise the room. We brought everything we needed from baskets and drawer inserts to tiny hangers, to create a beautifully functioning nursery.
A large chest of drawers was used to create a changing station, with changing supplies plus the baby’s current clothing. We grouped and labelled items into clear categories for easy access, so at a glance our client could grab a sleepsuit, or short-sleeved vest as she needed.
A wardrobe in the room gave us some really valuable extra space. We used it to store some of those less frequently used items, like spare winter coats, and blankets. We used deep baskets to make the shelves more functional (tiny clothes get lost at the back of a deep shelf!) and stored all of the next age group of clothes, so when she was ready for them, our client could just do an easy switch.
Creating a system for that simple rotation of clothes as the boys grew out of and grew into the clothes was really important. When they’re growing fast it’s too easy to lose control of what fits, and either end up with clothes that no longer fit taking up valuable space, or worse, re-buying clothes to replace sizes you can’t find. By having the hand-me-downs packed in clear categories by size, and storing them close by, we made it easy to to transition through each age group as the baby grew.
We also added a basket into the wardrobe for clothes that were too small – one of our favourite ways to manage this rotation! Our client can now just throw in any items as the baby grows out of them, and they’re all together and ready for donation whenever she’s ready.
