I can't believe I am sitting here and writing a 5-star review for this product. Let me explain: When my husband and I found out we were pregnant, all the older women in our lives kept insisting that we get a changing table for our first floor. This seemed utterly ridiculous to us. The new baby already had countless "necessities" that were already taking up major real estate in our home. This product seemed like it was just going to be a huge waste of money and space. We already had a changing table upstairs in the baby's bedroom, and my husband and I felt like when we were downstairs we would either: change the diaper on the floor, change the diaper on the couch, or walk upstairs and change the diaper in the nursery. You get so much varied (and often unsolicited) advice when pregnant, but it was funny, all the women in our lives said the same thing about a changing table. They insisted they needed it for anytime they babysat - their knees or backs would hurt if they didn't have a proper table and it was way too far to walk all the way upstairs. My husband and I were so fed up with their nagging, that we ordered this, as we found it to be one of the cheapest and most basic changing tables out there. We joked and called it the "old lady table" and we assembled it in the corner of our main living room. I assumed it would just collect dust. Boy was I wrong! First off, we were able to store so much in the shelves! We fit 6 baskets, 3 on each shelf, and we used them to store: 1. Bibs and burp clothes 2. Blankets, changing table covers and liners 3. Wipes and diaper genie refills 4. Diapers 5. Onesies, socks, and hats 6. Miscellaneous things such as: nail trimmer, thermometer, diaper cream, nose bulb, brush I already liked the fact that it was giving me space to nicely hold all of the baby's things in an organized and aesthetically pleasing way. This table was growing on me before the baby even arrived. Once the baby came, I was shocked at how often I actually used this to change diapers. As much as we hated to admit it, the old ladies were right - it was so much easier to change a baby using a table! Another huge perk, something that even these wise women didn't think of, was the fact that our daughter had so many diaper accidents. We're talking massive diaper blowouts - poop everywhere. Would I really have wanted to change that mess ON OUR COUCH? Or how about when the baby decides to pee mid diaper change? Again, wouldn't be so wonderful if we were doing this on our couch. For squirmy children, it's great, too! You can strap them in to help with all their wiggling. We also were able to mount a musical mobile on the side, to provide some entertainment during diaper changes. Again, not something that would have been so easy with a floor our couch diaper change station. I will note that while this came with a foam changing pad, I found it to be really thin and crinkly. I purchased a separate one (Summer Infant Contoured Changing Pad ) that we use instead. I highly recommend this combination! Also, to combat all the diaper accidents noted above, we also really relied on these liners (Munchkin Waterproof Changing Pad Liners, 3 Count ) for easier clean ups. We have been using this table multiple times a day, for 18 months now. It has held up wonderfully. No chipping paint and no signs of it breaking down anytime soon. It fits in really well with all of the other dark-colored furniture that we have in our living room. You would never know the low price point we paid for it. BONUS: When not in use by the baby, our two cats enjoy it as a cat bed. This thing has really been used by everyone in our house! I honestly think that when our daughter has become potty trained, we will still keep this up. We will use the storage shelves/baskets to store toys and the cats can keep sleeping on the top!
