Closet Organization: Revisiting My Boys’ Shared Bedroom

January tends to be the month of setting goals.  Eating less, exercising more, spending less, saving more.  But this year, it seems that at the top of most people’s list, including mine, is ORGANIZATION.  De-cluttering and simplifying my home is what I crave.

I started out, right after the new year with a quick fix for my entry coat closet.

It was a mess!  It’s still not beautiful or even Pinterest worthy but to me, it’s so much more:  It’s functional!  Very little will enter my door this year, unless it has the combination of form and function.

I’ve been wanting to revisit my boy’s shared bedroom since it’s been about a year since I revealed it.  When I  originally revealed the space, the baby hadn’t been born, so I wasn’t really sure if the room “worked” for me, for my 6 year old or a growing baby.

A year later, here it is (and this is relatively clean!):

The room is tiny, it’s 10×12 at best.  So I really needed to maximize every square inch, and to be honest, I hadn’t.  

While the entire room is going to get a refresh, today I’m sharing with you how I organized their closet with the Ikea Mulig clothing bar and items I already had on hand.

Here is the before:

I know, scary huh?

First off, we removed the large toy box that seemed like a bottomless pit, a pit in which my son never even looked in.

We sorted and purged most of the toys . . .

the rest were placed in individual storage containers and baggies (because I’m crazy about organization inside of organization).

I purchased four of the Mulig clothing bars at my most recent trip to Ikea for my daughter’s room, however, her room has become a never ending project that I’ve slowly lost motivation for.  I digress . . . I only needed 3 of the clothing bars for my daughter’s organization project, so I used the extra one in this space.

These clothing bars are pretty awesome, they are expandable and they just screw into the wall–no need for brackets or poles!  The most important thing is that you use wall anchors or screw directly into a stud.  The best part?  They’re only $4.99 each!

I installed the bar below and left just enough space to put a shelf above, and containers below for toys.  The baby’s clothes went on the top bar, organized by color.  My 6 year old’s clothing went on the bottom.

I chose hangers that all matched, hangers I happened to have leftover from my shop, to keep everything looking uniform and neat.

I had some extra bins in my storage room that were barely serving a purpose, so I put them to use, rather than going out to buy new ones.

Shoes were placed on the shelf above the clothing bar, within reach of 6 year old arms.

I gave each boys two bins:  one for toys, and one for summer clothes, or clothing that doesn’t quite fit yet.

 

I screwed cup hooks to the door to display Cayden’s hat collection.

I placed two larger hooks on the door to hold his backpack and coat.  The only thing I didn’t get to was adding some cute labels to the bins, which I’m sure I’ll get around to soon.  Even though I’ll have to tackle under the bed, book storage and under the crib, I feel rather accomplished with this portion of the room organized.

                         

     

This easy and inexpensive closet organization is going to be a game changer in my home . . . it’s one of those things where you ask yourself “Why did I wait so long to do this?”

What type of organization projects have you taken on so far this year?

For more closet organization tips, please visit my dear friend Linda’s post on her daughter’s closet:

Or visit my friend Darnetha’s post on organizing her master bedroom closet:

Linking up with Beth at Home Stories A to Z