34 UHeart Organizing: An Organized Child's Room

My beautiful friend Courtney, is a gal I admire in many facets of life.  She has a heart of gold and this mighty talent for making any space beautiful, functional and whimsical.  And she shares that magic over on her blog, A Thoughtful Place.

Days when she comes over here to share a tip or space always make me grin big, and today is no exception.  When I saw she also loves to remove doors from her kid's closets, I squealed out loud, "YES!".  And that is just the beginning.  Here she is now!

Hi, everyone! Excited to be here today sharing our son’s room and how we organized it to really make the most of the space. Each year, as our children grow, we have to revisit their rooms and make adjustments so that things stay organized and efficient. This year we made some changes to his closet and how we prep his clothes for the week.

To increase the real estate in this room we decided to think outside of the box. We took the closet doors off and stored them in the garage {for down the road when there are far less toys in his room}. We turned the traditional closet into a storage area for toys, some clothes, and other items.

This seriously added a huge amount of space to his room. I am a big fan of taking doors off of closets in the rooms of little ones. You just have to be clever about the storage you may lose in doing so. Our son has a large dresser in his room {six drawers} which is more than enough space for his clothes. It helps that he is only six and his clothes are still relatively small! We don’t miss the hanging space at all. But you can see that to the right of the bookshelves there is still room to hang things. We could on the left hand side as well but we really only hang his dress shirts, sweaters, and navy blazer {for when he gets all snazzy}.

So here is a close up of the right side. Below the hanging clothes is a white storage bin from Target. It holds clothes that were passed down from my nephew but do not fit my son yet.

Both bookcases house books and toys. I unified the space by choosing bins that are in the room’s color scheme and by using the same chalkboard labels on most of them.

The left side has another storage bin for clothes that we need to part with because they no longer fit. I also will store out of season clothes in one of the drawers. His cute little sleeping bag gets tucked away here as well.

Because we started full time school this year with first grade, I wanted my son to be ready each morning as quickly as possible. We took a shoe hanger and cut it off so that only five bins remained. It is such an easy way to set out his outfits for the week. Not to mention this system keeps him from wearing the same shirt everyday. Do your kiddos do that, too? Seriously. He would sport the same green and white collared shirt every day if I let him.

It doesn’t get any fancier than this! Ha! Holding it up is just a flat spring rod resting on the shelves. It has worked like a charm.

The top of each bookcase holds very special wooden toys hand mad by his late great grandfather. These and his microscope from Santa last year are pretty darn special and have earned the top shelf spot! And never under estimate the power of the Banker’s Box. I adore these for storing odds and ends. Most of the items in them are mine and not my son’s. It’s great added storage!

And last but not least, we have a tall Ikea Expedit in one corner of his room which holds more toys and books. Always a fan of this piece. You can’t beat the storage space. We attached a reading light to give it some extra character.

I am hoping you are inspired to rethink your closet if you have one that isn’t functioning as well as it could be. I honestly think that there is much to be gained from thinking outside the box with children’s rooms. Thanks for letting me share. Always a pleasure to get to hang out in Jen’s neck of the woods. She has the greatest readers ever. Enjoy your day, everyone.

"Do you believe in love at first sight? I sure do because when I first stumbled upon I Heart Organizing I immediately fell in love with Jen's mad organizational skills. I think we all long for a calm, organized, well styled life. I am the author of A Thoughtful Place blog where I dish on all things related to decorating, organizing, entertaining, and of course DIY-ing! To be quite honest, working on making my house a home is my happy place. It fulfills my need to be creative and I love sharing ideas {both big and small} with my readers. Along with my blog, I am a contributing writer to House of Fifty and have recently started my own decorating firm, Casey Grace Design, LLC, with my talented sister. I call Orange County, California home where I live with amazing husband and two children. At the end of a busy day, I love to enjoy an ice cold beer on the front porch with my hubby while we watch our children ride their bikes or run around. Life is sweet and I am thrilled to be a part of the IHeart Organizing Team."