How Cubby’s Chief Content Officer Fit a Full-Size Crib, Dresser, and Rocking Chair into a 60-Square-Foot Nursery
The first time I walked into our apartment, I was pregnant with my first child and working from home full-time in the deep earlier Covid days. Everyone’s homes were working harder than ever, and we were bursting out of our one-bedroom a few blocks away. The thing that sold me? A 60ish-square-foot nook off the primary bedroom. Walls and doors were just what we needed — even in a relatively small apartment. We set up the room as a home office that my husband and I shared.
Fast forward a few years, though, and I was mostly back in the office here at Apartment Therapy and pregnant again. We figured we’d eventually need to move to a bigger space, but for now the nook was our saving grace. Our daughter was a fantastic sleeper in her own small bedroom (that didn’t have enough room to fit an extra full-size crib anyway), so we decided it was time to convert the “closet office” into a “closet nursery.”
The first step was to set up a new working station — a tiny IKEA desk next to our bed — and clear out the room. I sold the full-size desk on Facebook Marketplace, donated the chairs and rug, and pared down to only the most essential office supplies that could fit in a teensy desk drawer.
Conveniently, my daughter moved to a big kid bed three months or so before the baby was set to arrive, so we dragged her well-loved Nestig Wave Crib into the room to get started — and we gave her Newton crib mattress a serious scrub in the shower. And then we did … nothing for a while. It was hard for me to imagine what our son would be interested in, and what nursery theme would speak to me during those middle-of-the-night feedings. But after creating many, many mood boards with different themes, I settled on a loose New York City subway one. Our daughter loves our family adventures around the city on the weekends and holidays, and we were excited about our fourth family member joining us on those adventures soon.
The first thing I chose was a statement wallpaper from Spoonflower, a design called “Wallpaper in the Streets of New York City.” I safely needed five rolls to cover the wall, which came out to just over $340 with discounts and shipping. Installing it, I won’t lie, was a beast. The wallpaper itself was high-quality and easy to place, but our wall is a bit uneven and it was super tricky to get the panels lined up properly without bubbling (to be honest, two years later, if you look closely, there absolutely is bubbling but the pattern helps to camouflage it). When it comes to DIY, I’m what I like to call an “impatient perfectionist.” In other words, I want it to be perfect, but I don’t have the patience to be truly meticulous. Combine that with being in my second trimester and there were a lot of tears, but fortunately my husband powered through to a place where we felt good enough with the result.
Other than the crib, we needed two big pieces of furniture: a dresser and a rocking chair. I wanted to maximize every square inch of storage space, so I searched forever for a dresser that fit just right in the available space. I eventually landed on this midnight blue one from Wayfair that feels much more luxe than its price point. It’s heavy and has a safety feature where you can’t open more than one drawer at once — it’s held up well, even now that we’re in the toddler years. I plopped my daughter’s hand-me-down Keekaroo Peanut Changer on top. As far as a rocking chair, I believe I searched the entire internet for the smallest possible footprint (even a quarter of an inch made a difference) that still looked comfy. I chose this off-white rocker in a soft teddy fabric — while I’ll always dream about what it would have been like to hold an infant in a full-size chair with a recliner, charging station, and cup holder, this one was perfectly comfortable and functional.
For the floors, I only looked at Ruggable. As a second-time mom, I knew how important it was to have a rug you can throw in the washing machine (if you’ve ever had a 3 a.m. projectile vomit situation, you know). The gray shag complemented the rest of the decor. It’s been super soft, too — first for my bare feet, but now for an active toddler. I added the blackout shades (from Target) and tiebacks (from Amazon) after summer’s long days started to interrupt sleep.
Finally I worked on the wall decor and additional design details. I have loved my Tee Books floating shelves for multiple rooms and apartments now. I had my full set of five hanging in our office configuration — I moved three into our bedroom and left two in the nursery for books. They’re an amazing small-space solution, where you can really pack books in a tiny footprint. I opted for an asymmetrical mirror above the dresser, an NYC subway ABC print for next to the bookcases, and a custom subway street sign for above the crib (bonus: It’s SUPER light, so I don’t worry about my son knocking it now that he’s getting tall enough to reach up). I also added a few fun touches, like this subway train pillow on the rocking chair and some NYC-themed stuffies (a pretzel and hot dog, of course). The final element for me was an NYC mobile, which I found on Etsy (the shop isn’t there anymore, unfortunately!).
Originally I planned to remove the crib wall decals, which I had ordered from Samantha Santana in 2021 and installed on top of our desk. But in the end, they looked so great next to the wallpaper that I decided to leave them up. My baby loved looking at the contrast, but now my toddler does love trying to peel them off the wall. I haven’t totally given up yet, but I’m eventually going to lose that battle.
In the weeks after I “finished” the room, I would sit in it, heavily pregnant, and imagine all the ways our lives were about to change. I’d fold baby socks or arrange (and rearrange) sleepers by size or carefully roll up a onesie our first-born had worn. I’d look around the room and remember all of the different work conversations and projects that had happened within these walls. I’d wonder when it would feel less like “the office,” and more like “Teddy’s room.” But 18-plus months later, we’re there. Now it’s the space where we brought him home, rocked him to sleep, and watched him grow in so many ways. I can barely remember using this little nook any other way, and I feel so grateful to this room for transforming with our family.