Design Happens

Preparing for parenthood seems like a daunting task. I’m not a parent yet, so I can only speculate, but I’ve seen kids and I know people with kids. And I feel for hopeful new parents-to-be, with all the questions that must come along. Do we have what it takes to raise a healthy, happy little person who will someday contribute meaningfully to society? What’s a great name that won’t come back to haunt us 15 years from now? Will we surrender to the chicken nuggets-for-dinner-every-night debate? But in urban areas another more pressing question comes up quickly: where will we put this new little friend? Such is the topic in the House & Home section of today’s New York Times. Case in point:

For four years [Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan and husband Maxwell] shared a 265-square-foot, one-bedroom rental on Bedford Street in the West Village, an apartment so preposterously miniature it could fit neatly inside the foyer of many apartments uptown. They made it work for the two of them in part by jettisoning clothes, a television and a home office. “It never felt too small,” said Ms. Gillingham-Ryan, 31, a food writer. “It helps to keep your life well edited.”

No amount of editing, it seemed, would create enough room for a baby. But after looking at more than a dozen apartments, and weighing the benefits of more square footage against the burden of debt, they decided to stay on Bedford Street, where they pay $780 a month for rent. And they would renovate to accomplish the seemingly impossible: accommodate a baby.

So is this conundrum limited to downtown walk-ups or is making room for baby getting trickier in general? Or is the transition to parenthood easier in other areas of the country? (And I do mean from a decorating perspective only.) Let’s hear it.

In the meantime:

Before-and-Afters: Nursery Makeovers (HGTV)
Comparison Shop for Nursery Furniture and Accessories (Shopzilla)