Congratulations on your bundle of joy! You're excited for your new baby, but your nursery is too small, and you're starting to realize just how much you need to have on hand to care for your baby. Maybe you've had a baby before, but you're working on getting a small room set up, and you need some ideas. Don't worry; we're here to help with these Small Nursery Storage Ideas.

1) Boxy Bookshelf

Boxy shapes are your friend when you're trying to organize a small room since they don't waste space the way round or unusually shaped things od. You might like the idea of cute shapes, but you're better off using boxy shapes for furniture and creative shapes for wall decals and murals. We liked this bookshelf from Amazon because it has a square shape so that it doesn't take much room, but it's still designed so that the books face forward and your baby can choose the book they want from the cover pictures. After all, most babies can't read.

2) Light Colors

Light colors are a must for small spaces because they make the area seem bigger and more open. Ideally, you'll want to use light colors but not white, and a lot of people prefer off whites because they're versatile. You can see how changing the room from purple and green to an off-white made Joshua Rief's nursery look better, and the white paneling he shows in this catz in the kitchen post only makes it better.

3) Cart

If you have almost no room in the nursery, you'll need to condense everything as much as possible, and a dedicated nursery cart could be the best thing to do. They're compact, and you can put them together easily with all the storage and baby care items you could need. Since your changing cart is the most important thing in the nursery besides a crib, we found you this tutorial video on putting one together properly.

4) Over-The-Door Hangers

One space you don't want to overlook when planning your storage in a small room is the door. It seems like the door takes up a lot of room since you have to make sure it has somewhere to swing when you open it, but it can actually be a good storage location. You can get over-the-door storage racks, and they even make ones like this that are designed for holding tiny baby things in the most efficient way possible.

5) DIY Recessed Shelves

You can actually increase your overall nursery space if you're willing to do a little carpentry work, though this is easiest in a non-load-bearing wall. One way to increase your actual space is to build recessed shelves for storage. We found this tutorial for you, but you can also make some minor modifications so that the shelves or cubbies are a perfect size and shape for your baby essentials. Having large shelf spaces can make it harder to store tiny things efficiently, so try to make the smallest spaces that work, then adjust them as your child ages.

6) One Day At a Time

If you have extremely limited space, you don't have to store everything your baby needs in the nursery. All you really need is what they need for that day, or maybe that week if you work during the day and use weekends to rest and reset. You can get a storage and organization system like this from Amazon, where you can set up what you need for each day of the week and then store everything else in another room.

7) Crib Hanging Diaper Caddy

A hanging caddy that fits on a crib can be a lifesaver if you don't have a changing table since that probably means you have a board for changing your baby right over the crib. You'll want everything you need on hand during this process so that you don't have to hunt for wipes while you're trying to restrain a squirming infant who's determined to fall off the changing table. A caddy like this one from Amazon will hang on the side of the crib and always be there when you need it without taking up any usable space.

8) DIY Custom Changing Table

Your changing table is the most important place to have storage since it's the time when you'll need to have a lot of things on hand, and changing a baby is, quite frankly, a difficult task. Having everything you need right there will be easier, and since you need some sort of changing table anyway, you might as well use it for a lot of your storage, too. You can build a customized changing table to make the most of your space using this video or even repurpose an old dresser into a changing table with storage.

9) Baby-Sized Storage

Adult-sized storage containers don't work well in a nursery, particularly if you're trying to conserve space. A few large drawers or containers means that you'll be rifling through them to find the many baby-sized things you need to get to, and tiny clothes don't stack well in a large drawer. It can be beneficial to get a closet organizer like this one from Amazon that's designed to hold baby-sized things so that you can stay organized and avoid wasting space or creating hassle for yourself.

10) Under-Crib Storage

In a small nursery, you have to get creative when it comes to finding new storage nooks and crannies, and underneath the crib is one of the most convenient spaces that people often forget to use. You can set up storage by building or buying an under-crib drawer like the one in this Oleander and Palm bedroom. It's a convenient storage space if you use the crib as a changing table or if you need a place to store extra blankets.

11) Stuffed Animal Hammock

A smaller room won't necessarily stop you from storing things in creative and cool ways. We found this stuffed animal hammock on Amazon, and we think it would be an excellent way to keep everything neat and tidy. Since it doesn't take floor space, you can probably find a corner or a space that nothing else will fit in to put it in. Think about hanging it higher up above some other furniture where it won't get in the way at all.

12) DIY Under-Crib Drawer

Under-crib storage is an excellent way to use every inch of space without making the nursery feel crowded, but if the storage you buy isn't designed for your crib, you might still be wasting space, or it might not look quite right. You can use this set of plans to build your own under-crib drawer that's customized for your crib so that you end up with a beautiful and fitting design. You can even paint it so that it looks like part of the original crib.

13) Drawer Organizers

It's important to divide up large spaces to fit baby items better so that you're not wasting space in an already small room, but it could be a lot of work to build or buy specialized furniture for that. Instead, you can get organizers like these to put in existing drawers. With these, you can divide each drawer into more manageable sizes and keep everything organized for quick access. When you're dealing with a growing baby, the ease of access will be valuable!

14) Split Level Closet Rods

Since baby clothes are so short, you don't really need as much closet space as you normally would. Instead of wasting space by using the original closet bar, you can redesign your closet to have two tiers of closet rods like this Home Sweet Ruby closet does so that you can fit twice as many baby clothes. Since baby clothes are so small that you could even have three levels of closet rods, but with two levels, you'll have plenty of time before you have to remove one level because your kid's clothes have become too tall for it.

15) Fabric Organizers With Windows

Windows are a surprisingly valuable tool when you're trying to keep things organized, but limited space forces you to cram several things into the same drawer. When we saw these fabric organizers with built-in windows, we thought they'd be a useful storage tool for people struggling with a small nursery. We'd suggest arranging things so that you can see everything from the windows so that you can figure out which drawer you need to open at a glance.

16) Put Dressers in Closets

If you have a closet in the nursery, you might want to put the dresser in it. Dressers are useful because they can double as a changing table, and you can reuse them when the baby grows up, but they can be a problem in a small room because you need to leave enough room around them for the drawers to open. By placing one in a closet as Daniella Hodgson did in this video, you create some extra space to open it comfortably.

17) Clear

Clear organizers, drawers, or totes like these are excellent ways to store things in a small room since you can see what's inside the clear storage container. This is important when you have stacked shelving or totes to conserve space since you'll have to open every tote and go through it if you don't have a clear tote like this. You can label each tote, but that can be a pain if you decide to rearrange things.

18) DIY Nursery Blanket Ladder

Blanket ladders are cool old-fashioned storage racks that take up a lot less room than you may imagine. You can make a blanket rack just for your nursery using these special instructions by tylynn_sattler, and then if you're only using it for blankets and cloth items, you can tuck it upright in a corner next to the crib. This takes up a lot less room than a tote full of blankets would, and there's less risk to your baby than a blanket hanging on the side of the crib could be.

19) Ottoman

Combining seating with storage is usually an excellent way to get the most out of your space, and you can do it in a nursery just like you can in any other room. You'll probably want somewhere to sit and spend time with your baby if you can find the space to do it or to sit by their crib when they're sick, so an ottoman like this is ideal since you can sit on it or store extra clothes and blankets in it. You can even use it as a toy box.

20) Remove Doors

Doors are more of a hindrance than convenience in a small room. They can be valuable if you want privacy, but there's no real reason for hiding the contents of a nursery closet. It's more important to have them accessible, so we'd suggest removing any closet doors. You can even create a customized closet like this one Kelly from The Green spring Home made so that it looks like the doors were never there. This creates a more attractive look, but it also makes it a little harder to add the doors back later.

21) Stackable

Stackable bins may be your friend when you're trying to get as much storage space as you can in a small room. That said, a lot of stackable storage is inconvenient because you have to unstack it to use it. We liked this set from Amazon because the pieces stack, but there's a clear door in the front so that you can see what's inside and access it without rearranging anything. This piece is pink, but you can get it in different colors.

You've probably been thinking about this for a while, and you might've come up with some ideas we haven't thought of. Parents can be amazing innovators! Show us your little nursery in the comments below!