With back to school full steam ahead, no doubt your kids have extra clothes that will need a place to call home. This week I thought it was a good time to share with you how my daughter keeps her clothes organized. Last year I showed you how we keep our laundry somewhat under control, well sort of… So this idea really stems off our laundry idea and they really go well hand in hand. I’ve always believed in making my kids accountable for their things and believe strongly that if they are given things, then they should respect them also. This applies to school clothes as well!
With our busy schedules these past few years I needed to find a better solution for my daughters closet so that not only could she pick her clothes out herself when she entered kindergarten, but also she can put her clean laundry away after it is folded. She is now 7 years old, and is fully responsible for taking care of all the things she owns.
So today I thought I would share with you her closet and some of the changes we made to it a few years back. Sorry I do not have a BEFORE picture as we were not blogging back then. You’ll just have to use your imagination.
In our home we have a standard size closet for each of our children and the closet wall jogs out around 15 inches on the left and the right side. Most closets have this jog-out on your wall. If you don’t then totally disregard this post altogether if you want, and close your eyes. I won’t judge! 🙂 That doesn’t mean you can’t find a better solution if you need one, just send me a photo and I would be more than happy to take a look at your space.
Her clothes at one point used to be hung along the back of the closet on the medal shelving that the builders installed. You can see a bit of the shelving in the top right of the picture. This is a very standard type of shelving and it is very useful, but we felt the closet was not as productive and organized as it could be. I came up with the idea to install her clothes along the one side of the closet running the opposite direction then you would normally hang them. We spaced the two dowel rods one on top of each other with spaces in between so she could hang her shorts and tops on the top and on the bottom she could hang her jeans, and dresses.
We used 1/2 inch pieces of dowelling and pushed the dowelling into the pieces of trim (that we had previously drilled out in a circle.) Then carefully while I held the pieces in, Darryl drilled the trim pieces into the wall at the appropriate spots. You can fill in the drill holes with wall puddy, sand and retouch the paint up afterwards. If you are using unprimed pieces or completely unpainted pieces of wood, I would recommend painting all pieces before the install, as it will make this simply project all that more simpler.
Isn’t it all better when some things are kept simple?
Afterwards, she had a place to hang her clothes. She can reach them all herself, and if she can’t she steps on her chair and helps herself to whatever she needs. Another option is to use both sides for clothes if you feel you need the space.
Now you can see she has the whole wall space free to have her book-case that Darryl built for her out of panelled bead board and 1 X 2 boards, and room to play inside the closet on the floor too. On the right side of her closet she temporarily has a shelving unit that we placed there till we can build some more shelves in there for her extra toys. Now you’re probably wondering where she keeps her socks and undies? Well, they are in 2 baskets on the left side tucked neatly under her clothes on the floor. Two baskets are really all she needs as we try to keep a minimum of socks, tights, etc. Remember my motto? Less is more. 🙂 If there are any extra clothes or seasonal items we store them above in her closet in Simple white tubs from Ikea.
I’m not sure if Ikea still sells them, but they sure stack easily. We took advantage of all the extra height in the closet that wasn’t being used and stacked them 2 high. We still have room for more as you can see, but she really doesn’t need the extra space.
This system works for us. It’s a simple system and it’s not a part of our home that we want to be elaborate. We just wanted to give my daughter the tools to keep it organized and to really feel responsible and proud of what she has been given.
Does it always stay this clean? No, not always. When she does clean it up in the morning, she has a system in place that works that she can do independently… That’s the best word when it comes to being a Mom. Sigh…. The more independent my children are, the more time I have for things I need to do. Like putting away my laundry!
Do you have a great system that works great for your kids closets?
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Fabulous! You are an organizational guru! I am sad that Ikea stopped carrying their black canvas closet organizers that you hang. It helped divide up my daughters’ closets and organize their shoes and sweaters. They carry something else but it isn’t the same.