Realtor.com: The one thing every home with a child really needs

In the episode “Four Weeks Until Baby,” Roth helps homeowners Jess and Rich fix up their Huntington Beach, CA, home in preparation for their first child, due in one month. True to the show’s premise, these parents-to-be had hoped to do the work themselves, but after a few muddled attempts, they decided they were in over their heads.

Roth is determined to help—but has only a $70,000 budget to fix up the nursery and completely redo their cramped kitchen and dining space.

So what does a home with a new baby really need? Find out as Roth renovates this house, and get some smart ideas for your own home, whether there’s a baby on board or not.

Give yourself a ‘feature closet’

When Roth first tours the house, the nursery is just a plain white room filled, haphazardly, with baby things. Luckily, Roth has some ideas to add both order and personality to this space.

One idea is to make the closet stand out by adding wallpaper.

“If I can put a little bit of pattern in there,” Roth says, “maybe some color, I think it’s going to make it stand out.”

This blue wallpaper really pops in the room and serves as a fun feature. When Jess and Rich finally see the nursery, they love the room and the closet.

“It’s beautiful,” Jess says.

Save space with recessed shelves

The arrival of kids requires not just a nursery, but also a whole lot of other changes around the house. So what’s at the top of that priority list? A lot more storage!

“Babies come with a lot of gear,” Roth says, “so I wanted to make sure that we thought about that.”

When Roth first sees Jess and Rich’s kitchen, she’s surprised to see how little storage there is. So she decides to add some to a wall.

While she could have simply added traditional cabinets to this wall, she decides to instead deconstruct the wall and build some niche shelves between the studs.

These recessed cabinets give the kitchen a pantry, broom closet, and some shelves to display small appliances. And the best part is that they provide all this room without taking up the valuable space that bulky cabinetry would require.

Get creative with island cabinets

In addition to recessed shelves, Roth adds storage to the new kitchen island. Many islands have cabinets, but Roth creates something different here: a secret cabinet on the end of the island.

When the island is finished, Roth opens the cabinet door for Jess and Rich, revealing perfect storage for rows of bottles.

Of course, these parents-to-be love this feature.

“I didn’t know storage could make me so happy,” Jess says.

A kitchen island deserves some color

This kitchen island may have great storage, but Roth knows it also has to look great.

She knows that Rich and Jess want their living space to feel beachy and coastal, so she sets out to pick a light ocean-blue paint color. However, Roth explains how picking the right light blue can be tricky.

“I don’t want the cabinets on the island to feel like they should belong in a nursery,” Roth says.

Finally, Roth settles on a color that’s blue, but not too blue. The hue has some complexity to it and, on the island, ends up looking beachy, fresh, and still very grown-up.

Built-in banquettes offer seating and more storage

Roth decides to upgrade Jess and Rich’s dining space by installing a built-in banquette. This banquette gives the dining room a comfortable vibe while still making the space look elegant.

The banquette looks great, but Roth knows that it has to include some storage solutions as well. She installs floating shelves to the wall, so Jess and Rich can display their best mementos, then she adds a secret cubby in the wall. More secret spaces!

In the end, Rich and Jess love the storage, particularly the concealed cabinet.

“Hidden storage is cooler than just regular storage,” Rich says.

Stain wood to make it look more expensive

After focusing so much attention on creating storage in the kitchen and dining room, Roth knows she still has to make sure these spaces look amazing.

So, she decides to incorporate some stylish wood accents into both the niche cabinets in the kitchen and the banquette shelves in the dining room, tying the two rooms together.

To save money on these wood features, she uses maple with a walnut stain instead of oak. This less expensive wood keeps her on budget and looks great.

“Honestly, you can’t tell the difference,” Roth says of the maple. “It looks really rich and really beautiful.”

Does Jasmine Roth help fix up this house?

Roth has a long list of things to do for this renovation, and runs into a few problems along the way when she finds both structural and plumbing problems in the house. At one point in the renovation, it looks like Roth’s going to go way over budget—but she’s able to get creative and save money in other areas. In the end, she spends $71,900 on the renovation, just $1,900 more than planned.

When Roth finally invites Jess and Rich back into their house, they’re thrilled. Jess cries tears of joy when she sees her incredible new nursery, and Rich is amazed by the living space.

“You have no idea how much this has meant to us,” Rich says.

This story was originally published on Realtor.com