How I’m Organizing Space for a Newborn in a Small Apartment (in Tokyo)
How big is our apartment, exactly?
It’s hard to say whether or not our apartment is “small” since it’s all relative, but we live in a 70 square meter space in central Tokyo that has 2-3 bedrooms (one of the rooms has a sliding door that we leave open to make the living area feel more spacious, though it can be closed and used as a 3rd private space).
Some Japanese families may live in a 60 square meter apartment in central Tokyo with 3-4 people, whereas expats who live in central Tokyo may live in a place that’s at least 90 square meters for the same number of family members.
I met one guy who has a family of 4 in a 40 square meter apartment (!!!) and I’ve also met a woman who lives with her husband in a 220 square meter apartment (my first apartment could have entirely fit into her dining room!).
So, what I’ll share with you is based on decisions for a 70 square meter apartment that is all on one floor. I’m defining “efficiency” as “minimalism”, but if you live in a 2-3 story house then “efficiency” may mean having multiples of the same item to save you time and hassle of carrying items between floors.
Where is the baby going to go?
My husband has been using the spare side room as his office space and eventually, we plan to make that the baby’s room.
Technically, the baby doesn’t need her own room just yet - if anything, we anticipate that she’ll be sleeping in our room in a bassinet and we can move her into her own room once we get a fixed crib.
So, given that my husband still has his office furniture in the side room…and given that the baby will sort of be in our room but there isn’t enough space to store all of her stuff in there…we are planning on creating a little corner for her in the living room that’ll be like a “baby station”.
Our 4 “Baby Station” Essentials
-Bassinet - the one we got here is a great size for a small apartment; plus, it has wheels and also a rocking feature. I also like that you can adjust the height so if you’re standing you don’t have to bend down so much to reach the baby, and if you’re sitting you can adjust the baby to your height. This bassinet comes with a tray underneath which is where we will store her clothes, as well as an attachable 2-compartment caddy which I haven’t decided how I’d like to use yet (I’m thinking of lining each compartment to make them a mini trash can for diapers as well as a laundry basket).
-Diaper Bag - we decided to place a diaper bag next to the bassinet with all of the essentials. This makes it easy for us to simply pick up the bag and put it on the stroller when we need to head out (instead of taking the time to transfer essentials into the diaper bag when we need it. The one I got is from LeSportsac, and I decided to purchase a bag insert so that we have compartments inside the bag to organize all of the items.
-Basket full of (gauze) blankets - The gauze fabric is the kind that is multi-functional as a swaddle blanket, regular blanket, or towel. Right now I also have some mini stuffed animals in there, too.
-Bouncer - Not sure how soon we’ll use the bouncer but it’s nice that we have something for her to be in during the day other than just the bassinet, and it’s a lot more functional to move around.
That’s it! Any other knick-knacks can go into the diaper bag or basket. For what it’s worth, we also got a caddy that we have in the bathroom for her bath essentials (mini towels, baby soap, Qtips, nail clippers, etc.).
Baby items we decided to avoid purchasing:
Some of these items we decided against purely because of space, whereas others we decided against to maximize efficiency (aka minimalism).
-Changing table (takes up too much space)
-Diaper changing pad (I realized that since we don’t have a dedicated area to change the baby, this would wind up being one extra cushion we’d need a place to store. For diaper changing, I decided to get three items: an absorbent cloth changing mat, a foldable portable waterproof changing mat, and also paper linings to catch accidents (these are usually what people would use for pets and we can put it as a catch-all under wherever she’s resting) We can simply change her directly on our bed, on the sofa, in the bassinet or on the carpet (since we live semi Japanese-style).
-Diaper caddy (I spent way too much time contemplating whether or not to get a diaper caddy. I love the idea of being able to transport the caddy around the apartment, but then it occurred to me that I could simply use the diaper bag instead. If anything, I can easily just pick up the diaper bag and zip it when we need to go places instead of trying to transfer items from the diaper caddy to the diaper bag (or buying two of everything to put into the caddy and into the bag). If I do wind up getting a diaper caddy, I think I’ll park it on my nightstand in my bedroom and leave the diaper bag as the main item in the living room…we’ll see how this works).
-Diaper trash bin (I was SO enthusiastic about getting this because the trash bin looks so cool (you can create a twist in the trashbag between diapers which minimizes smell) but then I realized that it’ll just take up more space…also, we take the trash out regularly so it’s not like smell will accumulate over days until the trash gets taken out, so I think it’s safe for us to forego this).
-Wet wipe warmer (I decided not to go with this since I’m not 100% sure we’ll need it and it’ll take up more space)
-Rocking chair (yeah, no space for this)
-Crib (we’ll start with a bassinet since that’ll be smaller and on wheels, and then change to a crib later)
-Dresser (we’re planning on using the tray underneath the bassinet for her clothes)
The goal: store as much as we can on or around the bassinet; wherever she goes, her necessities go with her.
How’s your nursery plan panning out?