Storage Solutions for Kids' Rooms
Children may be small, but add up all the things that come with them and you may find yourself with an overflowing room! Creating storage in a child's room is the first step to getting a room under control, and this article has some ideas for inexpensive solutions.
1. Closet organizers are easy to install and there are a variety of price levels from hiring California Closets to do-it-yourself shelving from Home Depot or Lowes. You can also find inexpensive options like hanging shoe and sweater racks at discount retailers like Target.
2. Over-the-door shoe racks are great for organizing smaller items in kids' rooms. Choose a rack with clear pockets, or use a permanent laundry pen to label each pocket of a fabric rack. Use the pockets to store hats, socks, girls' hair accessories and brushes or anything small enough to fit. Canvas racks can even be decorated with permanent fabric markers to match the room's decor theme.
3. Bookshelves are a necessity for every child's room. Of course they are great for holding books, but they also make super toys shelves. Find some plastic bins or wicker baskets to hold the toys and place on the shelves. Make sure to anchor any bookshelf to the wall so that a climbing child won't pull the furniture piece on top of herself or himself.
4. Plastic rolling carts are an inexpensive alternative to wooden dressers. They can be hidden in a closet in small rooms or where they won't complement the child's room decor.
5. Toy boxes make great storage locations for blankets and extra diapers in a nursery, and of course for toys as your child grows. Unfinished wooden toys boxes are the perfect canvas for creativity; visit our Decorating Kids Furniture page for tips on painting.
6. Hatboxes decoupaged with WALLIES cutouts or other images are a great way to store older children's "treasures" and kids can even help do the decoupaging.
7. Coat racks are essential to a clean room, and it is easy to make your own. Visit our Make a Coat Rack page for instructions.
8. If space allows, place a filing cabinet with hanging files in a closet. Label each hanging file to sort artwork, homework, invitations, pictures and school information. Set an hour at the beginning of the school year to organize the cabinet according to that year's needs. At the end of a school year, sort through artwork, etc. for things to keep and move to a permanent storage location. Recycle the rest.
9. Place a net in the corners where two room walls meet for stuffed animal storage. These are available through One Step Ahead.
10. Install shelves 12" to 18" below the ceiling on one wall or around the room. This is a great way to display framed artwork and store special items that don't need to be handled regularly.
11. Paint an area or an entire wall with magnetic paint. Once dry, it can be covered with regular indoor latex paint that matches the rest of the room. This is a great way to display a child's artwork or leave notes without cluttering the rest of the room or house.
12. Schedule a day every six months to sort through toys and clothes with your child. Have three labeled bins ready, one for storing toys to keep but that aren't played with often, a second bin for storing outgrown clothes that you want to save (labeled with size) and a third bin for donating to a worthy organization. Or don't wait for every six months...some families we know have adopted a policy of "one toy in, one toy out" to keep the toys under control.
It takes some effort, but organizing kids' rooms can be fun when you get creative and you'll save time and headaches in the long run!
©2006, WallNutz LLC.
