Saturday, June 1, 2013

Nursery Closet Organization

Okay, so if you are not interested in organizing and came here to look at photos of the boys.... click here to see some photos of them from back in April that I totally forgot to post. :)

If you ARE interested in organizing, or even at looking at how messy I can actually let my house get... then read on! :)

One of my all-time favorite things to do is look at before and after photos of organizing projects.  Whether it's in a book, magazine or on the internet, I find it really fun to look at other people's messes and see the results of their hard work.  It's inspiring!  I love to tackle big jobs (well... once I can get the motivation to start) and even as a kid I would re-organize my room a couple times a year, including moving the furniture around and redecorating. So.... without further ado, I give you these before and after photos of the boy's nursery closet. I can try and blame the before photos on all the pregnancy nausea I had before Little Brother was born, and the busyness that was life after he was born, but really those are only excuses.  Obviously I had just been throwing stuff in and shutting the door with hopes to "get to it later."  Which, if you continue to read this post, you will see that I did get to it!

Also, I have to apologize that there is absolutely no natural light that shines into this closet, so the photos are lacking. Okay.. enough stalling.. here are the photos!

 BEFORE:

Yikes.  This is scary.  This is real life folks...

What is going on here?

Is there a floor down there somewhere???

GOAL:
Organize the closet, spend as little as possible. (It's only a closet.. I had to force myself to forget about all the pretty closets on Pinterest!)

 AFTER:

 Step 1: add Command Hooks to the back of the door for the boys' bath towels.  The hooks are completely removable and won't hurt the surface you put them on, so why not?


 Step 2: fill the out-of-reach top shelf with boxes of things you won't need for a while (or ever.) For example, girl baby clothes, maternity clothes, big kid toys etc.  See top shelf in photo below.

 Step 3: hang all dress shirts and sweaters according to size.  Tip: use toy links to separate sizes, they work well! Organize diaper supplies on floor.  Add 3 bins on the shelf.  One for summer hats and bathing suits (all sizes), one for night time diapers and the third for clothes that Little Mr. almost fits into.

 Wow, is that a clear floor I see?

 Step 4: Organize baby supplies and shoes into boxes. The tower of boxes might not be beautiful and Pinterest worthy, but it's free, it's organized and most importantly it WORKS.  I can access any of the four boxes at any time and everything that needs to be contained is contained.  The Target bag is where borrowed clothes go until they are returned.

 Step 5: Buy a hanging organizer (this one was under $5 from the kids section at Walmart) and use it to store burp cloths, blankets, hooded towels, sleep sacks and swaddling blankets. The Peapod travel bed hangs from a hanger on the left and the Bumbo is stored underneath. The mini suitcases in the top section are memory boxes for the boys and hold hospital bracelets, baby hospital hats, cards and other bulky items that won't fit in their baby books.

So... as you can see, the nursery closet is not pretty, but it is now ORGANIZED and IT HAS A DOOR.  I close it when I want the nursery to be pretty.  And comparing the before images to the after images kind of makes me a little more than happy. :)  I can go in and out without tripping on anything, I can find what I need, I know where everything is. 

So the moral of the story is... "A place for everything, and everything in it's place!"  So far it's working because I am happy to say that the closet has been staying very tidy and organized since these photos were taken.

So what about you?  What have you been organizing lately?

3 comments:

  1. Very inspiring! I love the idea of using toy links to separate sizes. I think one of the hardest things is staying current on keeping the clothes that fit out and the clothes that have been outgrown or are still too big in their proper spots. Kids grow so fast!

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  2. Some of my closets get like that too (before pics), and I think it would help if I had my handy hubby put up some more shelving. Because our own bedroom closet stays nice, and I think it's because of all the neat shelving (and it's not a big closet either). Since you asked, I just organized our schoolroom closet and upstairs hall closet within the last couple weeks. Today it's tackling the basement, parts of which are like one huge (messy right now!) closet. Great job of organizing, Coralee! ~Twila

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  3. Hmmmm...your before picture could be an "after" picture in our closets : ) Boy AND girl clothing saved in sizes 8 clear down to newborn is getting a bit out of control. I have high hopes of getting to it in the next three months before I know which kind I will be needing...but we'll see : )

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