Before and After: More Closet Organizing, with Kittens

Before:


After:


That's my closet? -- one of Stephanie's sons, looking at the "after"

Remember Stephanie (who knits some amazing jewelry) and her office closet make-over? Here's the next project we did: de-cluttering and organizing her boys' bedroom closet. Pretty dramatic change, huh? No wonder her son was shocked!

Here's what we did:

1. We removed the sliding doors that were very hard to move. No wonder the closet got out of control; it was a struggle to open the doors, even for an adult! Stephanie could stick with the no-door look, but she's also thinking about adding a curtain rod and some sort of curtain.




2. We de-cluttered. The photo above shows what got removed from the bedroom - and most of that had been in the closet or dresser. We got rid of the clothes the boys had outgrown, or just didn't like. (We donated them to a local thrift store, or gave them away to other people with small children.) We also got rid of the beat-up linens; they went to the local humane society.

3. We looked for the easiest possible storage possibilities for things that are used on a regular basis. With two boys sharing one dresser, not all the clothes fit in there, so we added a bin on the closet floor to handle one boy's undies and pajamas. That's easier than trying to fit them into those hanging sweater shelves; the younger boy couldn't even reach the top shelves!

Sweaters and jackets are hanging up for right now - hidden in the lower left - but hanging things up can be a hassle. So Stephanie was going to buy another bin to hold those items; you can see just where that bin will fit on the floor. (The jackets that are used all the time are stored on hooks by the front door.)

Another bin, tucked away in a corner, holds spare linens. Some sentimental quilts got stored on the top closet shelf.




4. Again, we made do with the storage products we had. OK, Stephanie is going to buy two more big bins for the closet floor - one for the jackets and sweaters, and one to replace her laundry basket that is serving as a bin. But those are minimal purchases, and products that can get re-used in numerous ways over the years.

Stephanie would also like to have shelving built in on one side of the closet - a relatively inexpensive project - but for now, we made due with those hanging sweater shelves for storing miscellaneous smaller items: baseball caps, a belt, the Disneyland stuff.




5. We put like with like, in appropriately-sized containers. Things went so well with the closet that we carried on and decluttered and organized the top of the dresser, the bookshelves, and the toy bins. In the closet, you'll see a bucket that now holds small balls; they used to get buried in the larger toy bins. The bins above hold larger balls, including some that Stephanie knit. The toy chest holds a few larger items.




6. We didn't freak out at the mid-project mess. We'd pulled things out of the closet for sorting - so for the short-term, things looked worse, not better. But the end result made everyone happy!

Many thanks to Stephanie for agreeing to share her experience - and these photos - with all of you.

Categories: one person's decluttering story , organizing the bedroom