Tag: babyproofing your home

How to turn your guest room into a nursery – Ottawa edition

A nursery that's been remodeled from a guest room.

Becoming a family of three, although an incredible blessing, means having to give up some bits from your previous lifestyle. Luckily, these sacrifices aren’t that big and you’ll get used to them in no time. What’s more, you might even get to have some fun while executing them. Depending on the size of your home, a guest bedroom might be one of these luxuries that have got to go for the time being. Let’s go through some advice on how to turn your guest room into a nursery and enjoy the process.

Start by making a nursery nook

Seeing how new parents’ lives can be pretty hectic, a nursery could essentially be any room in your home. Before making a permanent decision, think about creating a nursery nook instead of turning a guest room into a full-blown nursery right away. Start by thinking about which room in your home would make the best candidate for something like this. For practicality’s sake, this might be a room that’s closest to your bedroom or the kitchen. Everyone’s homes are different which means that you need to restrain from objective advice at first and think about your individual case. This way, you’ll be able to see some solutions that you wouldn’t have come to otherwise.

A baby crib that you can set up before turning your guest room into a nursery.
Before you turn your guest room into a nursery, make a small nook that you’ll use as an alternative.

Having a clear vision on how to turn your guest room into a nursery is important

Take the time to sit with your thoughts or go through some examples of what you like. You’ll get the most inspiration by being surrounded with ideas that are in any way similar to what you’re looking for. Having a clear vision is key to successfully remodeling. Regardless of if you’ll change a couple of things later on or not, knowing what you want will get you to the finish line much more quickly.

Set a budget

Another part of making your guest room into a nursery that’s a must is knowing how far you’re willing to go when it comes to the financial side. You don’t have to have a strict sum. However, seeing how you’ll probably spend more than you’ve planned on, try to aim lower than that. Another thing that you should think about is investing in quality during this process. This means hiring the best contractors that you can find and purchasing items that are a bit more expensive but that’ll last you.

Make gradual adjustments to turn your guest room into a nursery

You don’t need to rush this at all. Having a kid ironically makes creating a nursery a lot harder. If you haven’t done this prior to becoming a parent, take your time. You can do one of these steps at a time. Take breaks whenever you feel overwhelmed.

  • Baby-proof the room
    Baby-proofing is the first thing that you should get to simply because it’s a safety issue. Without it, there’s no point in doing anything else.
  • Paint it
    Painting your guest room a lighter fun color will make it much more appropriate and it’ll take making your guest room into a nursery to another level.
  • Furnish it
    Getting all the baby essentials in and all the guest room items out might be the biggest thing you’ll do. Once you’re done with this, you know that you’re approaching the finish line.
  • Get the toys in
    Out of all the details, your kid’s toys will make this space come together and truly turn a guest room into a nursery
  • Make it practical
    Focusing on practicality instead of aesthetics is essential.
A nursery that was a guest room before.
You can turn a guest room into a nursery step-by-step without rushing the process.

Combine your guest room and nursery

If you’re not ready to give your guest room up completely and turn it into nursery, think about merging them. If you have a big enough space, why not have both? Of course, this will be a bit challenging. You can’t just have two rooms coexisting at all times. Find a balance between the two and make them come out when they’re needed.

When combining your guest room with a nursery, your kid’s room should always be a priority. However, take some time to think about adding universal elements. This will make cleaning up much easier. You’ll also avoid having to spend an unnecessary amount of money.

Since you’re merging the two rooms and not turning another room into a nursery, you need to think about keeping it as clean and as tidy as you can. This way, you’ll be able to alternate between the two much more smoothly.

How can local movers help with turning your guest room into nursery?

Aside from our contractors, your movers can also help you turn your guest room into a nursery. Although this isn’t the most conventional thing, why not try it? Having an experienced team by your side that you’ve grown a liking to and that you trust can only contribute to this experience. They can transport your household items safely to storage or any other location of your choosing. They can also advise you with anything else you might be wondering about.

Two people who've turned their guest room into a nursery DIY.
Using some DIY tricks to turn your guest room into a nursery is great for your budget.

Finding the best moving company

If you don’t yet have a moving company that you’ve had prior experience with, that’s okay. Seeing how you’re turning your guest room into a nursery in Ottawa, you have nothing to worry about. Teaming up with discountmovingottawa.com will help you with anything you need and for a great price as well. They have great discounts and plenty of storage options so that you don’t have to worry about space.

Turn your guest room into a nursery DIY

If you have some extra time on your hands, saving money when making another room into a nursery by DIY-ing some things is a great idea. Keep in mind that you don’t have to do DIY for woodwork or anything of that caliber if you don’t feel up to it. There are always some decorative details that make great contributions to a nursery.

Donate instead of throwing out

Once you turn your guest room into a nursery, you’ll probably have some stuff lying around. Although it’s more time consuming than throwing everything away, try to donate what you think might be of use to someone else. It’s not only a humane choice, it’s eco-friendly too.


Ideas for making your Owings Mills home toddler-friendly

Parents creating a roof from their arims above their children as you will do after making your home toddler-friendly

Living with a toddler isn’t as easy as one might think it is. That is when you realize how much normal things that we all have at home can be dangerous for a three-year-old. This is why you need to make sure that your home is toddler-friendly. This isn’t going to be a very hard thing to do. All you have to do is think about the things that could potentially lead your child to get hurt. For example, opening the highest drawer, going down the stairs by itself, reaching the cabinet with cleaning supplies, going outside without surveillance, etc. There are so many things to pay attention to when you have a toddler running around your home. And as Owing Mills is a great place for families to move to and a lot of families have moved to Owing Mills over the last few months, we decided to give you some ideas for making your Owings Mills home toddler-friendly.

These ideas can be applied to any home anywhere in the country. So, if you want to keep your child as safe as possible while at home, use some of our ideas in your home. We will also include some ideas that will make your home not only safer for your toddler but easier for you to maintain. Having a toddler doesn’t only mean that they can get hurt, they can also cause a lot of damage to your living space. Not intentionally of course. They are children and they don’t know much about keeping things clean and tidy.

Toddler playing on the floor after you have succeeded in making your Owings Mills home toddler-friendly.
Having a toddler running around isn’t as easy as one might think it is.

Semi-gloss paint

This first idea that we have is going to make your life easier. We all know how much toddlers love playing with colors of all sorts. Crayons, markers, colored pencils, pens, chalk, watercolors. And they shouldn’t refrain from using them because you are worried that they are going to take those things and use them on your walls. And most often, they do.

Instead, solve the problem before the problem even occurs. If you don’t want to end up having to paint your walls every once in a while, just use semi-gloss paint. This paint is oily and a bit glossy, just a tiny bit. This makes it very easy to clean. And this doesn’t just apply to cleaning color from the walls. This applies to anything. Coffee spills, food, dust, dirt from touching the walls if they are white. This will also save you a lot of money as painting a house costs a lot.

Carpet tiles

Having a carpet and a toddler isn’t the best idea if you aim at making your Owings Mills home toddler-friendly. Toddlers spill things all the time. This results in you having to do a lot of carpet-washing. And this isn’t an easy task. This is why you should consider using carpet tiles. These are basically pieces of carpet that are put all over your floors. This will also make your floors safe for running which will keep your child safe as there won’t be a lot of possibilities of slipping.

Kids on the carpet.
Kids can ruin a carpet faster than you think.

Cleaning carpet tiles is much easier than cleaning carpets. You can just take out the tile that is dirty, put it in the washer and it will be as good as new. And if the stain is unremovable, you can simply replace it with a new one. This is why we advise you to buy a couple of pieces more than you would actually need. This is a budget-friendly home improvement.

They come in all sorts of designs and materials which means that you will be able to maintain the aesthetic of your home all while also having a toddler-friendly home. One you don’t need to have the carpet tiles in your home and you can go back to regular carpets once your toddler becomes older, you can store away your tiles in the storage units of Allstate Moving and Storage. They won’t take up a lot of space as you can stack them on top of each other.

Drawer and cabinet locks

Although they don’t look eye-pleasing, drawer and cabinet locks are what you need to have in your home in order to make your home toddler-friendly. You don’t have to have them everywhere. But locking the cabinet with chemicals and cleaning supplies is a must. Either that or find a way to store them away from a child’s reach.

But unfortunately, this isn’t the only way your child can get hurt. It can also hit its head on the opened drawer or cabinet. And the edges of these things are very sharp. Plenty of children got serious injuries this way. You don’t want the same happening to your child. Put a lock until you are certain that your child won’t open the drawers and cabinets.

A cabinet.
A drawer might seem harmless, but it isn’t.

Rounded furniture for making your Owings Mills home toddler-friendly

Armrests are another very common cause when it comes to your child getting injured besides table corners. This is why you should consider having rounded furniture in your home. A round table will save your child from a lot of trouble. But so will padded chairs and sofas. As kids love climbing onto things, this will also make it so much easier for them to do so. And they will be doing it without you having to worry about getting hurt. This makes life with toddlers so much easier.

So, consider changing up your furniture. And if you are not very good with interior design, move into an already furnished home with such furniture. If living in Owings Mills you will be able to find plenty of homes like these. And if you do decide to move into another home in the area, turn to experts in the neighborhood to relocate you. Because moving with toddlers isn’t easy either. This is also the time when you need to dedicate a lot of attention to them.

Make them a toddler-friendly room

If your toddler has their own room, make it as good as possible. Making your toddler an amazing room that they will love will ensure that they keep playing there instead of everywhere in your home. Having a family house renovation isn’t something you might want to do but sometimes it is necessary.