The PROBLEM
On the top floor there was an inner room in between what would eventually become the bedrooms. What to do with it? It had tons of entrances and no natural light source.
We saw a recently renovated house on our block that turned that space into bathroom space. I wasn’t interested in doing all of that plus plumbing is ‘spensive.
I could’ve chopped it up to add more bedroom space but that didn’t feel like a good use. To see the before pics and the process.
The SOLUTION
Clearly there was only one solution. THE. FAMILY. CLOSET. ::fanfare::
Check here if you need more convincing.
You want a tour?
It’s divided up with the parents on one side and the kids on the other side.
As you can see my late husband’s clothes took up much of the space on the parent side.
The man had a lot of clothes!
The kids’ space is more evenly divided.
So how do we use the space?
On the the tip top spot I put the bulky swim gear. I’m probably not going to store tons of stuff up here because I can’t reach it. Maybe when they are teenagers they can store additional sports gear up there. I have a feeling they are both going to be taller than me.
On the next shelf down I have bins with out of season items. During the winter this is where we stored the majority of their swimwear. In the summer you’ll find all the hats, scarves and gloves.
It feels so nice to put away the winter stuff. FINALLY!
On both sides they have space for short hanging things. I hang up most of their dressier shirts and tops in this space.
One day I’ll get up the motivation to do a rainbow sort.
Underneath Lady Pep’s side is a folding thingy. It’s fun and easy to use. It’s the junior size since they aren’t wearing adult sizes yet.
This helps ensure all the folded shirts are uniform (mostly) on the shelves. The nicer graphic tops are folded and stored neatly on the shelves.
They also have another section for hanging clothes. I use the lower short hanging section for dresses on her side and coats on her brother’s side. The coats will move out and then I can use that space for his dress pants later on.
Bin there Done That
Let’s talk about my favorite section. The bins!
I found these inexpensive bins at the Container Store. They are fabric and less rigid. They are the right size to hold their clothes if I roll them. I’d love to KonMari the bins but the bins aren’t structured enough. I use a few rolled up pieces in the corner to help give them more structure.
What’s in the bins?
On the top row they have bins for bed clothes. One bin for tops and one bin for bottoms. Super easy for my daughter to grab her clothes and mix and match.
The next shelf down is where we store “house clothes”. The rule in our home is to change your outside clothes as soon as you come in. Everyone has house clothes they change into.
The beauty of the system is that I can use the older clothes that they have slightly outgrown for both the bed and house clothes bins. Lady Pep is currently in a size 7 but will still wear size 5 clothes around the house.
Plus it’s super easy to take t-shirts she’s outgrown and pass them over to baby brother.
The last row of bins holds underwear, undershirts and socks.
I also have these tall striped baskets that I bought from Ikea. One on each side for clothes that we can donate. In the middle is a third basket/hamper that I also bought at Ikea. We use it for clean laundry that needs to be put away. It holds a ton of stuff and I just move it around depending on its contents.
Luckily we have a washer and dryer right on the other side of the closet which makes doing laundry quick and efficient.
What I like about the space?
- It’s easy to see and quickly coordinate outfits for the kids.
- It’s easy for them to get their own clothes and get dressed. Right now this is mostly Lady Pep but Master Ace should be able to do this soon enough.
- I can lay out outfits the night before which helps mornings run smoother.
- The system with the bins is pretty simple (labels would help) so anyone can put their clothes together.
It might possibly be my favorite room in the house. It pretty much always looks neat because you don’t have to dig for anything and everything has a place.
Photo by Cary @ DeerBaby Photography
Would you consider doing a family closet?
