Wire To WOW! Kid’s CLOSET Reveal!

I showed you the beginning steps on How to Build Closets for Kids! Now we open Jude’s closet door and reveal the results and even more details. I added the stars for effect but, I imagine this is how he saw it the first time. When I opened the door he sat down and took a deep breath. He looked at me and said “this is just like a daycare!” He meant that in a good way. To him a daycare means, organization, labels, and easy access to a variety of toys. Before the closet makeover his toys always just ended up in a big bin and in small tubs which we had to crack open to figure out what they were.

It’s hard to tell by these pictures, but this is a walk in closet with plenty of space to sit down and play. However, there is only one wall for storage. The other wall has a door leading to our walk in attic where I keep a backstock of toy bins filled with extra toys and other books for rotation. Too many toys to at one time can be overwhelming to play with  and to clean up. Plus it’s very exciting for Jude to get “new” toys from time to time out of the attic.

A small bench to sit and read books fits perfectly against the back wall. I found a peg shelf in the attic that I quickly re-furbished and customized with the word “PLAY” It’s perfect for holding oversized imaginative play toys. and gives the wall a pop of color.

These storage bins are made by Closetmaid and fit perfectly with the shelves. I didn’t fill all the shelves with bins. Instead using some shelves for large toys, book displays and stuffed animals not only brings interests to the shelf but doesn’t overwhelm the child with too many bins.

I can’t tell you how much easier playtime is now that we have bins with pictures on them. Jude gets excited to find  the bin and clean up his toys now. It’s amazing. Children thrive on consistency and structure. Which can sometimes be a struggle for me because I am not always the most consistent parent. Coming up with systems really helps me. Labels with pictures make it easy for children to find their toys and clean up but why the words. Just like with books children learn through word and picture association. After seeing the words associated with the picture your child will start learning to read those words. You should point these words out to your young children and show them how they correlate.

Unfortunately but fortunately only one pre-fab shelf fit on the left hand side of the closet wall. What to do? I decided to build a small “bench” like shelf to fill in the rest of the space. The purpose of that custom piece was to hold those tall children’s books that never seem to fit in normal sized book shelves. The lower shelf also left room for a bar to be hung for clothes above which fits child sized hangers and adult sized hangers as well.

Have you noticed the backing of the shelves yet? Yes, they are brown “wood” grain. I really had no choice but to cover each shelf with a backing. However, I really wanted to bring in some contrast. I used a wood grained wrapping paper glued on to pieces of foam board that I purchased at the dollar store. I hot glued them all to the back of the shelves. Imagine all the possibilities.

So there you have it. This time, there was little to no chaos when I was building and tons of calming results. We are so happy with our clutter-free closet and Jude actually enjoys cleaning up. NO More Hassles! Well ok less hassles, but I’ll take that. Thanks again for stopping by and please help us grow by sharing what you like on all your networks.