Thursday, October 16, 2014

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."

34 comments:

  1. The shoe organizer turned weekly clothes organizer is absolutely brilliant! I always get such great ideas from you gals, keep it up!

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    1. Thank you, Trudy. It really does keep things moving quickly in the morning. {and saves him from wearing the same shirt daily!}

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  2. No wasted space in the closet! Love the clever use of the hanging cubbies. Will definitly add to Pinterest as a source of inspiration when I'm tackling a kid's closet in a client's home! Thx for sharing!

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    1. Thank you, Stephanie. Trying to make the most of ever inch! Have a great day.

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  3. Those wooden toys are amazing! What a treasure!

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    1. We really do cherish them. Especially after losing our dear grandfather. He was so so special.

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  4. I LOVE The blue & green color scheme but the part that really caught my eye was the wooden trucks. My Grandpa makes very similar one, I'm guessing they come from the same set of plans. We have a few around here and they are very special toys!

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    1. Oh, that's amazing. They must have been. Aren't they a treasure. We feel really lucky to have them. Thank you for the kind compliment on the color scheme.

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  5. Jen, I love your blog but...
    the section on the right of your post (the bit with your pic etc) has started jigging up and down ever so slightly but enough to distract me. Is it a setting on my computer or has there been a change you have mentioned that I've missed and I can somehow stop it moving? Thanks

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    1. So sorry to hear that. I can imagine that would be obnoxious. It may be a widget trying to load, I will absolutely look into it. Thanks for letting me know!

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  6. First thing I did in my daughter's room was take the closet doors down too!

    I love the colors in this room! And the toys on display look great! What an awesome family heirloom!

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    1. Yay! I love that someone else is ditching doors! Way to go, Jenni!

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  7. Very nice and light room. I loved idea about shoe hanger and clothes for each day.

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    1. Thank you! The shoe hanger has really helped us stay organized. And it doesn't take up much space which is nice.

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  8. Add me to the wooden vehicles fan club - they are gorgeous and the first thing that caught my eye as well!
    The reading light attached to the expedit creates an instant reading nook - I like that.
    Also, the shoe hanger turned to weekly outfit storage is outright brilliant!

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    1. Thank you very much. That light has been great for when our son works at his table or wants to read.

      Have a great weekend.

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  9. Love the color scheme and that everything has a place. If I could get my kids' room this organize, things would definitely run smoother.

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  10. Jen! You're the sweetest. Thank you for such kind comments and for letting me share our son's room. Always love being here with you and your kind readers.

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  11. Great ideas. I love how you set up the weekly clothes between the bookshelves. Very efficient use of space.

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  12. Great ideas!
    But I also want to know - where did you buy his bed? And are those functional drawers at the bottom? Looks like it might be perfect for my daughter's big girl room.

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    1. Yes! I've got to have the info on the bed too... Just what I'm looking for!

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  13. The room is beautiful and I love the curtains. Can you share where you got them?

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  14. This is a great design. For most little children, its a lot more about "stuff" storage than clothing storage. And the shelves can always come out later and more clothing storage added back in. The hanging organizer can also work well for shoes. Thanks for sharing:)

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  15. I also use the hanging shoe and the larger organizers in my craft room closet,,they hold quite a bit...Since we are in the process of painting and putting new carpet in another room and once its finished that will be my new craft room..I then will have the guest room I have always wanted...:-)...I really enjoy this site and all the creative ideas you share...know that you ladies are appreciated....God Bless...

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  16. Very practical and organized room. Great job and thanks for sharing!

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  17. Love the room and the organizational ideas! Just wondering about the reading light on the Expedit. Is it battery operated or is a cord hiding somewhere? How is it attached and where did you get it? I LOVE it!!

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  18. Nicely done Courtney! :) I love all the storage in the room...shelves, drawers, closet. Do you find that he is able to keep his clothes neat with this system? Do you have dividers or baskets inside the drawers?

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  19. What a great idea to take the doors off the closet. I think I'll have to use that idea for our kids' room. Really will add some much needed ACCESSIBLE storage space.

    Thank you for sharing it!

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  20. Love this room and all great ideas, I have just started redoing my little guys room. Love the hanging cubbies for daily outfits, great idea.

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  21. Love this room! I wish we could take down the closet doors in our daughter's room but alas, half the closet is used for storage of household items (think extra TP and paper towels, tools, etc) our house is THAT lacking in storage. Anyhow, what I wanted to ask about was a link to the room reveal. I love the use of the expedits next to the windows, we have a similar set up in her room and would LOVE to see how you did it. Thanks for the great ideas!

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    1. Hi Jaime! Thanks for letting me know the link was broken - I have updated the post. :) xo!

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  22. Great job! I think it's so important for kiddos to have organization in their room and this looks fantastic.

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  23. I love the combination of blue and green for the room. Exactly what I was looking for as inspiration for my son's room. Thank you! Kate

    simplikated.blogspot.com.au

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  24. I have two young girls, they love to change outfits. I love the weekly clothes organizer idea. This would give them access to a small number of outfits and help control how much laundry I have. I am not an organizer by nature, so I was thrilled when I found your blog. Thank you for taking the time to share your gift.

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