Few experiences in life have as much impact on someone as becoming a parent. Preparing for parenthood can be an incredibly exciting time, bringing new feelings, new understandings and new joys.

As you ready yourself emotionally for this milestone moment, parents-to-be can also prepare their physical space as a way of destressing and planning as they get ready to welcome their newest family member home.

To find out more about getting your home baby ready, we caught up with mum to be Caitlyn Hegarty and first-time mum Elaine Donaghy (mum to 14-month-old Mollie) for their top tips for preparing your home for your new arrival.

For first time mums

A busy make-up artist, business owner and influencer, Caitlyn admits that she loves change whether it’s in her life or in her home, and has been embracing the process of getting her home ready for her little one.

Plan, plan, plan

Being organised and doing things early has been the key to not getting overwhelmed. Making a list on your phone of things you need to pick up for the house or jobs you need to do can help break it down into more manageable tasks.

Pinterest was also a lifesaver for me when it came to planning out the nursery and the type of style we wanted to go for, so I would definitely recommend that!

As a mum to be, I did take joy from researching how I might want our home to evolve and change, that in itself was a nice way to destress and unwind.

Utilise your space

We’ve found that adding storage to our space has been important to keeping the house tidy but organised!

We changed out our hall console table to one with drawers and cupboards, and we added an island and breakfast bar area to our kitchen with cupboards which we plan to use for bottles and baby products.

Whilst children’s furniture can look really appealing in the nursery, we decided to opt for full size wardrobes instead to make better use of the space and give us more storage. We also decided to use a chest of drawers as our changing table, it’s the perfect height and allows us to have all the essentials to hand in the drawers.

Embrace marketplace

When having your first baby, the excitement of going out and buying new products can often be tempting. However, we’ve found lots of second-hand options on online marketplaces and from friends and family.

Saving money on bigger items like a cot, bouncer and highchair can allow you to save money for the bits you might want to splurge on. Your baby might only use these items for six months and then you can easily pass these on yourself to make more space.

Think practical

Whilst it was tempting to get rid of all the furniture in our spare room to make way for a nursery and start fresh, we still wanted to keep some elements of what was already there. Having a nursery that can double as a guest room also gives us the option of having family to stay over, especially for the all-important babysitting duties. It also allows us to have a cosy space for reading and sitting in the nursery.