Big Cities, Small Spaces

ebwhit · June 2012

Is anybody else living in a big expensive city and plans on bunking with DD or DS once they arrive? We live in DC---I believe we have the 5th highest cost of living in the country and our 650sq ft 1br is almost $1,900/month! We plan on carving out a corner for baby in the bedroom for at least 2 years until we can afford a bigger place or somebody convinces me to move to the way out there burbs which would only happen if we had some extreme circumstances. I'd rather live in a box....which is pretty much what we are doing : )

The br is disproportionately large in comparison to the rest of the apartment and we will have no problem making a separate baby nook. My goal is to have it sort of cordoned off using a large armoire we have so that we all have a little privacy and baby is able to still fall asleep "alone". I think I will also put some sheer curtains on a track to further make a tiny separate nursery area.

Thoughts? Anybody in a similar situation?

Suz+Mo · June 2012

That sounds like a good plan!! It could be a great choice for you. We aren't sure yet how we will arrange our home when baby comes...our lease doesn't end till may 2013 so we will have to be creative. Maybe Baby will sleep in a bassinet for a while in our room? Or in a pack & play? Gotta be creative!

Pinterest has a lot of ideas for little nurseries in little nooks or closets.

shipsshoessealingwax · June 2012

DH is a pilot who has been transferred across the country, so long story short we're movin in with his parents. We will have 2 11x13 bedrooms, a bathroom, & an entryway. We plan on sharing one bedroom with baby to keep sleeping spaces together & using the other as a mini living room / office / play room. It isn't ideal, but I have full confidence we can make it work!!

kelly321 · June 2012

DD co-slept in our room until she was 8 months old. We could have done longer if it had been necessary, but we were sick of being really quiet when we wanted to go to bed and having to have sexy time on the couch, so we moved her to her room. Like I said, though, it definitely would have been possible to keep her in our room for longer.

ebwhit · June 2012

DC2London:
We lived in an apartment when J was born. He had a small nursery but we never used it. We co-slept, and we wound up changing his diaper on the floor as often as on the changing table. You will be 100% fine until he becomes mobile--then you might wish you had more room.
And, FWIW, I don't live anywhere near the way-out burbs, I'm in Alexandria, and we have a lovely 3-level, 4br townhouse.

wow! We looked in Alexandria and found it to be pretty expensive. I'm sure your townhouse costs a pretty penny? It is my hope to move into a row house asap so we can have a bit of a yard etc. I know there are a lot of....'up and coming' neighborhoods that are getting safer and they are more affordable. We are actually halfway between Petworth and Columbia Heights at the moment. I am hearing good things about Bloomingdale..it has its incidents but there are lots of young families moving in.

buggirl72 · June 2012

We closed on a townhome the same week we found out about LO. It is 2 bedrooms, so definitely bigger than yours but one of the rooms is for my 14 yr old SS. LO will be in our room for awhile (DH thinks for the first 2 years or so) but I've already started introducing the idea to SS that they will be sharing the room - SS is only with us on weekends and, while I agree that he needs his on space, LO will also need a place too.

sdee211 · June 2012

My husband and I are in the same predicament (in Manhattan). I'm thinking we will do an 8 month stint with the baby in our bedroom (ours is also disproportionally larger). There are some cute ideas on how to section off a mini nursery within a bedroom.

PnkDingo · June 2012

I have an alcove that comfortably houses a king size bed and two nightstands, currently, and it opens into a much larger living room type area. I'm just pulling my bed out of the alcove, leaving my curtain barrier up, and turning the alcove into a nursery. It isn't very likely that we'll be here for an extended period after the baby is born because my SO had been planning for the past few months to start a job in Louisiana in February of next year with his BIL who is getting out of the military and going down to work an oil rig. My biological clock threw a wrench in that plan, apparently, lol, but I think I'll feel more comfortable with baby in the room with me/us anyway. Eventually we'll be looking to rent a house for SO, myself, baby, future MIL, and SO's handicapped aunt. Busy house!

pitterpatter129 · June 2012

We don't live in a big city (suburb of a big city), but we are going to room with baby because our house only has two bedrooms. DS1 has his room and the baby will probably bedshare with us. DS bedshared up until last week when I kicked him out. I'm sure we'll just do the same with baby #2. Hopefully we can sell our house and buy one with more than 2 bedrooms, but that might be far into the future.

aurorii · June 2012

sdee211:
My husband and I are in the same predicament (in Manhattan). I'm thinking we will do an 8 month stint with the baby in our bedroom (ours is also disproportionally larger). There are some cute ideas on how to section off a mini nursery within a bedroom.

Come move to Weehawken! We're right across the river!

sdee211 · June 2012

aurorii:
sdee211:
My husband and I are in the same predicament (in Manhattan). I'm thinking we will do an 8 month stint with the baby in our bedroom (ours is also disproportionally larger). There are some cute ideas on how to section off a mini nursery within a bedroom.

Come move to Weehawken! We're right across the river!

That's always a possibility aurorii!

tulipblossom · June 2012

We have been room shareing with DD for a year now and it has worked just fine. We are moving to a 2.bedroom place in July so she will be getting her own room and when this new LO arrives they will rooms share with us till both kids can share a room.

BlameItOnTheRain · June 2012

We live in a HCL area in southern california and pay an outrageous amount for a 2 bedroom. We'll have this LO in our room for a bit, then move her to DD's room if we haven't moved by then. We're all kind of sensitive sleepers so it makes me nervous.

I think making a closed off area for your LO, like you mentioned, is a good idea. You'll want sexy time without worrying a two year old will wake up.

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