Brielle’s closet has to be organized, otherwise it becomes a pile of stuff that isn’t used and we can’t find what we need when we need it. Most girls have lots of “stuff”. Brielle is certainly a girly girl, so she has LOTS of “stuff”. We moved into our home in Texas 2.5 years ago and this (photo below) was the organization method I set up in her small walk in closet. I tried to maximize space in her closet. If there is wall space, I certainly use it! Her closet had clothing rods on only two out of the three open walls. For the wall on the left that had nothing I knew I needed to do something to take advantage of that space. I put in a shelf unit from Target that I assembled myself. I purchased the baskets too, and they work well to hold miscellaneous things she owns. On top of the white shelving unit there is an Asian Cabbage Patch Doll and a Porcelain Doll with Fur that were from my Mother in Law Carol. I put them there on display to keep them safe and remember her daily when we go into Brielle’s closet.
The bins held within the white shelving unit in Brielle’s room are labeled as the following (keep in mind the dresser in her room doesn’t hold much, so most of her clothing needed to go in the closet):
- Socks
- Underwear
- Headbands
- Purses
- Winter Gear (winter hats and mittens)
- Summer Hats
I purchased cute, pink, chalk board wood tags from Home Good that I tied onto each bin with twine. That way I have a label on each bin, as it is easy to lose track of what is in each bin and get frustrated with searching if there aren’t labels attached. The open shelves, without bins, in the white unit hold extra pants, shirts and sweaters.
Brielle owns quite a few ruffle pants. I wanted to hang them up, but they take up too much space on individual hangers. From a tip I got from another Mom on a “Matilda Jane” Facebook page I purchased space saving pant/skirt hangers from Walmart. These work fabulously! We own a few of them so we are able to put pants on the hangers by color categories. For us these are: White/off white, blue jean/black, and Patterned.
Like I mentioned previously, I like to take advantage of unused space in closets and pantries. Often the unused area of the closet is directly under the hanging clothing. If you are hanging short dresses, shirts, and pants there is room below the clothing to hang more. If only you had another rod to hang things from….YOU DO! I found this rod extender on Amazon (it is different from the cheapy one I have in Brielle’s closet- The one on Amazon I purchased for the Twin’s closet and like its durability much better as it holds more weight). Click on the photo to go to the link:
Here is how the one in Brielle’s closet looks and works:
Above is a photo of Brielle’s necklaces. We used empty wall space on her closet to hang her necklaces. I used 3M hooks. They are attached with adhesive stickers that come with the hooks. They remove easily without damaging the walls. I like using 3M hooks for things like her necklaces.
Under the hanging rod we STILL had some extra storage space so I used some bins/baskets to hold items we don’t need everyday. The pink basket on the left is from Homegoods (they have great baskets at the best prices) and it holds extra bags/backpacks. The green basket holds all her tutus. Yes, she has more than a few. Tutus are great as the size range is wide and they can fit for years because of their elasticity,
Hair bow storage took a few years for me to figure out. I finally realized clipping them to ribbon was the best way to maximize space. We have several long ribbons on rings hanging from a cute faux birdcage that has some hooks. These ribbons hold her bows according to color. In an upcoming post I will describe how I made these simple bow holders. Great money saver, very useful, and SUPER easy to make!