Friday, November 5, 2010

Cloth Diaper Storage Solutions

Hi, I am Sharni of the Nappy Shoppe in Allen Texas. Several months ago, I ran a little competition asking entrants to show me their cloth diaper storage systems. I am one who loves to be organised, Ikea and Container Store are places I love for their organisation systems. So I wanted to see how others had worked out ways to store their diapers. Quite a few people entered, and you can see them all on my blog under the cloth diaper storage category.

But I thought I would feature some of my favourites.

While it did not hold a lot of diapers, this one appealed to me because it made the diapers look like artwork. Daisy used mostly gDiapers with G-Flappers on her son Aiden, and this system did not require a lot of storage room so this worked for her. When changing Aiden, she simply had to reach up and grab a prepared gDiaper and put it on him.

She uses a regular trash can from a home improvement store with a Wahmies pail liner in it, right beside the change table. A small basket to one side contains creams etc for all those diaper changing needs.

I am sure you have seen those toy storage bucket shelf systems at Target etc. Melody had one of these and re-purposed it for her diapers. By tilting the buckets, she was able to see at a glance the diapers in the buckets. She said the storage system cost her $65 from Target. She has it placed right next to her changing table. This system also allows for the buckets to be stored straight, so if you wanted to hide what was in them, you could do so.

Chelsea took an over the door shoe hanging system and turned it into her diaper storage system. Over the door can work well for you if the door is convenient to your changing space. This system means that the diapers take up next to no space to store. The beauty of this system is you could have more than one on different doors in the house if you are someone who likes to change baby at different places.

Britney had a very limited space in her apartment, and needed good storage for her two little ones. So she made good use of her wall space. She labeled canvas boxes so she knew exactly what was stored in them. These boxes are readily available at big box stores for less than $10 a piece. Simple white shelves store the boxes. As you can see the boxes store more than diapers, they store the kids clothes as well.

Do you have a space in your bathroom that allows for you to sit in a chair and do your make up? I do, as does Julie. I never use mine, and Julie didn't either. So she turned this space into the changing area. Using simple wire shelves, she turned the space under the counter into diaper storage, and put a changing pad on the counter. Doing this gives her ready access to water for changing. (I actually have a similar set up. We have the changing pad situated between the two sinks in our master bath, and my husband installed a shelf in the space beneath for diapers.)

And then you could go traditional. See how much prettier cloth diapers look in a standard change table than disposables. They look like artwork here in the shelves under the change table. Such a system works until baby is mobile :) Rebecca found she had all her diapers within easy reach with this. Did you know that Ikea sells affordable change tables in this style?

And want to see my system? This hangs over the door of our master bath. As I said earlier, we have his change space between the two sinks in the master bath. When the bathroom door is open, it is a simple reach to grab a diaper from this. We got this one at Ikea, but I don't know that they make this particular one anymore, but they do have similar ones available. The top shelf of this dragon is reserved for diapers for daddy's use. Daddy prefers all-in-ones that close with hook and loop. He was not a fan of testing different brands on baby for the store, so we keep it simple for him. He knows any diaper in that top shelf is going to be easy for him to use.

And then we could all be honest about the way we store our diapers. Sara had a nice shelving system all set up for her diapers, but she said in general this was typically how she had her diapers stored. And if I was honest, often I am pulling diapers directly out of the laundry basket too!

I hope I have inspired some storage ideas. If you have a different storage system, I would love to feature it on my blog. Just contact me through the Nappy Shoppe website.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

On October 30, 2010, we opened our NEW cloth diaper showroom in Haverhill, MA with a great big celebration!

During the course of the day, we were visited by former customers, new customers, friends, family, and even a celebrity in the cloth diapering world, Erin from Sustainablebabyish|Sloomb!

Our new cloth diaper boutique in Haverhill, MA!

There were lots of new babies who came to visit (with their parents, of course!) and pick out some new cloth diapers, wetbags, and cloth-diaper safe laundry detergent.

Showing a new Dad some gorgeous Sbish knit longies!

The showroom was set up to provide a comfortable environment for parents to come and learn about cloth diapers. We have a sitting area with a big, comfy couch and a rocking chair for nursing mothers. We even have a diaper changing station and some toys and books to keep little ones occupied while their parents shop!

A group of new and veteran cloth diapering parents discussing cloth diapers!

Our showroom is located at 71 Summer Street Haverhill MA. It is open to local parents from the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, including the surrounding towns of Methuen, Lawrence, Andover, North Andover, and Salem, NH. We will be holding regularly scheduled open houses, as well as monthly cloth diaper classes. We also will be starting a monthly group meeting for local babywearing parents, called Merrimack Valley Babywearers!

Follow us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MVDiapers for current information on classes, meetings, sales, and other special events!
 

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