No spare room for a nursery? How to maximize a small nook or cranny

Emily Motayed Lancaster knows personally and professionally how important maximizing nursery space is.“The minute you get pregnant, the temptation to start buying ‘stuff’ kicks in,” said Lancaster, a mother of two and co-founder of Nurture&.But, “the reality is that babies start out very small and don’t need very much.”The essentials are a crib, chair and dresser.

“Resist the urge to clutter your space with bouncers, baskets and ancillary items…[wait] until you really understand your family’s needs.”Alanna Murray, interior designer with Murray Craft Builders, based in Larchmont, NY, and serving NYC and Westchester, got creative for a project in Sunnyside, Queens, carving out a corner of the living room for the nursery and installing wall-to-wall closets to hide all the necessary baby things.Along with some custom corner shelving and a larger corner cabinet, the space had just enough room to comfortably fit a regular sized crib (convertible to a toddler bed) and a standard dresser with a changing table on top, said Murray.Two key features for making this all work? Space-saving sliding barn doors and a stained-glass transom window from an architectural salvage shop in Brooklyn, which allowed more light in.Plus, “because of the flex design, it can easily be transformed into a functional office at resale,” said Murray.Ahead, pros share their best pointers for maximizing precious space.“Especially in a consolidated space, it’s important to incorporate multifunctional furnishings for plenty of extra storage,” said Gideon Mendelson, founder of Mendelson Group in New York City.

A storage ottoman serves as a seat, he said, but can slide under the desk when more space is needed.Similarly, Olma Fuentes, founder of Deni + Dove Interiors in West Caldwell, NJ, points out that toy storage benches come with a lot of benefits and are a great solution for keeping nurseries organized and a mess at bay.“They provide ample storage to hold larger ...