A Fold-Away Changing Table for the Bathroom

When we had our daughter in March 2015, the blog was still on our bucket list, and not something we would get to until almost 2017. That doesn’t mean we didn’t already have a passion for working on our home and DIY-ing projects. Most of these projects were small space saving solutions, especially once we were expecting our daughter and my mother moved into our 850 SF Craftsman Bungalow! One of our favorite space saving solutions was this fold-away changing table we made for the bathroom, and we decided to use it again.

Why Build a Fold-Away Changing Table?

Although we certainly have more space in our new Historic Colonial, we’ve decided to reuse the idea in the downstairs bath for a few reasons;

1. So that we don’t have to run up and down the stairs for diaper changes; 2. Because it minimizes my Mom having to run up and down the stairs and; 3. We are so tall that for us, changing a baby at table height is a must.

Here’s the bathroom before installing the table:

And after:

Building The Table

We can’t take any credit on the actual design of the table, we used a plan for a Murphy desk found on Shanty 2 Chic, and modified it to our needs. You can find the plan here.

Our modifications include :

1. Height of the unit/legs had to be changed so that when the unit is down the legs touch the floor (this will depend on your toilet height). 2. The depth of the side panels was increased to accompany the changing pad being folded away with the unit (this will depend on your changing pad). 3. Pad secured to top with industrial Velcro so it would close up inside nicely.

DISCLAIMER: We didn’t use this unit past her being a year old, and always stood on the bottom legs while changing her just for extra safety. Even with a strap from your changing pad you can never leave a baby unattended on any changing table! 

The Changing Pad

This post may contain affiliate links.When you click on a link and purchase I will get a small compensation at no extra cost to you, win win.  Read the full disclosure here. 

You may have already seen this changing pad from our Fall One Room Challenge Reveal where we finished the nursery for our little baby boy. I couldn’t recommend it enough and bought that second one for on top of his dresser. We already had this one from our daughter and couldn’t wait to re-use it.

It’s an expensive baby item and probably not for everyone but we think it’s worth every single penny. All you have to do is wipe it down when things get messy, no extra laundry to do, no changing of the pad sheets, nada.

It’s waterproof and wipeable (although we did find baby wipes created some discoloration on the pad). Mild soap and water did the trick, and that was easy to come by in the bathroom.

You can find it here, or a less expensive alternative here.