Hello, new year! It’s time for all things organizing, decluttering and cleaning. We all do it, right? We head into the new year ready to toss the junk in our homes and lives and get everything sorted! (Whatever the time of year, feel free to join my “30 Days to Less of a Hot Mess” Challenge!)
I haven’t talked about this much on the blog, but I’ve been doing some major organizing over the past few months. I was busy posting about Fall, Christmas and getting ready for the baby, but behind the scenes I was a total organizing (and de-junking) fanatic!
My junk room, packed with home decor and assorted random things, has been turned into a nursery, so I had to build some storage in the guest bedroom closet for all of my home decor and crafting supplies. We have some great closets in this house, but most of them only came with one wire shelf at the top. That means tons of vertical space goes to waste.
I’ve wanted to install a closet system in Miss A’s closet ever since we moved into our home. She has two wall closets on one wall of her room, and until now neither one has been used or organized well. We have toys in the bottom of both, clothes hanging in both, and random things stuffed on the top shelves.
Yes, I just flung open my daughter’s closet doors and snapped a picture for you to see. #noshame #wemayhaveahangerproblem
(You may notice a bit of the big girl bed in there now instead of a crib. I still need to buy some bedding for her before I reveal the new look completely.)
So over Christmas break, I went to Lowe’s and picked up one of these Rubbermaid HomeFree Closet Systems for one of her closets. I’ve decided to give one closet to her clothes, freeing up room in her chest of drawers. (The other closet is for toys, though I’m also moving some toys to the dining room, which I plan to turn into a play room.)
I also grabbed two add-on drawers and two upright extension rails. I wanted the drawers down low so Miss A could reach some of her clothes and, hopefully, dress herself.
Is it weird that I’ve always wanted drawers in my closet?? Maybe a little.
OK, so I started by emptying the closet and taking down the old wire shelf. If you’ve never removed a wire shelf anchored directly to the wall, I highly recommend looking up how to do it first. I’ve made some rather large holes in my walls in the past by taking them down the wrong way. You can remove them with much less damage. Trust me on that one.
I loved that this system fits different sized closets, so there’s no cutting, and the track lets you reposition the telescoping rods and expanding shelves easily. As Miss A grows and her needs change, or if we change the function of this room entirely, the system can be rearranged too. Love that!
Since my closet is 6 feet wide, I bought the 3 to 6 foot system. There are also systems for 4 to 8 foot closets and 6 to 10 foot closets. I seriously considered the 6 to 10 foot organizer, but I’m glad I went smaller because I don’t know where I would have put all of those shelves and rods! The 3 to 6 foot system was plenty big for my 6 foot closet.
It was very easy to put together. Hanging the top rack and the vertical rails took the longest, but they were easy to install. Once they were in place, adding the shelves, rods and baskets was a breeze.
And best of all, Miss A can now easily reach her socks, underwear, tights and shoes. I can keep the outfits I want her to wear that week on the bottom rod, where she can reach them all by herself. She says her new closet is “perfect” and loves picking out her clothes. I LOVE some 4-year-old independence around here, especially with a new baby!
The organization, the use of previously wasted space and the decluttering don’t hurt either. As you can see, there’s still plenty of storage up top, as well as plenty more hanging space. It will all be put to good use!
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