Children’s closets can be quite the mess. From all the clothes that don’t get re-hung to the piles of belongings that accumulate, you never know what is lurking behind the door. That’s why, whether you have toddlers or teenagers, to keep clutter under control, it’s wise to make a plan of attack. By implementing strategic storage solutions geared toward your household, you and your kids will have a better way to keep chaos under control.
To help you start, below are some top tips for how to manage the clutter in your children’s closets — grouped by age.
*This is a guest post and all opinions are those of the author. This post may also contain affiliate and/or paid links. Rest assured that we only work with companies and individuals that we trust.
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For the Nursery
If your home is like most, your bedroom closets weren’t exactly made with infant wardrobes in mind. A single rod may feel adequate for adult-sized clothing, but it’s fairly inefficient when the clothes are pint-sized. Rather than hanging baby clothes on that one rod and leaving the bulk of the closet unused, consider customizing the closet with baby-friendly storage.
Here are some ideas:
Another rod(s):Add a second (or third) horizontal rod to double hanging space, which would mean more room to organize by size, season or type.
Wall shelves:Another idea is to install one or a few wall shelves for keeping bins or containers of grouped accessories, clothes, toys or supplies.
Stacked storage:Wall-mounted or stacking drawers are another good option, offering easy-to-organize areas for types of clothes or other items.
Children who are big enough to get clothes and put them back will enjoy closets that make items accessible. Youngsters will likely get excited about these activities, and you’ll reap the benefits of having shared cleanup participation.
Consider these possibilities:
Reachable shelving, bins or hanging racks: From a row of cubbies that you designate for certain clothing groups to bins that hold groups of toys, look for ways to make reachable parts of the closet easy to use for your child.
A lower hanging rod:If a child can reach for a shirt or sweater without adult help, that task encourages independence. A lower hanging rod allows for easy access to remove and return outfits each day.
Higher shelving:While the higher parts of the closet are still perfect for storage, in children’s closets, you can save them for the lesser-used or special-occasion items. The key is to create low areas your child can reach to grab shoes, socks, pajamas and other essentials, and higher areas for everything else.
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For the Teen’s Closet
As kids grow, so does their interest in clothing. Many teens obsess about what to wear, so much so that their closets are stuffed. To accommodate this collection without letting it overrule the whole room, here are some practical steps to take:
Create a doable laundry system:Give your teen a dedicated, in-room hamper for dirty clothes, and create a day of the week when that hamper always gets emptied. Ensuring there’s a place and system for dirty clothes can help keep messy piles from accumulating.
Invest in the closet style:Depending on your teen’s preference, take the door off the closet to showcase its contents in the room; hang curtains in the door’s place; and/or paint or wallpaper the inside of the closet to make it a showpiece. For some teens, caring for their personalized space will be incentive enough to be more organized.
Most children’s closets are filled with untapped potential — but, with smart storage solutions, you can reap the benefits of a more usable, organized space. Use the tips above as a starting point, and make the most of your children’s closets at home.
Author Bio
Tom Happ is President of Closet Works — based in Elmhurst, Illinois — which for 32 years has served Chicagoland with customized closet and storage solutions. With more than 100 employees, each solution is designed, fabricated and Installed to optimize the storage for every room within the home.
A child’s bedroom can be a lot more important to them than they are to an adult. Young people tend to spend far more time in this sort of space than their adult counterparts, with years of their lives spent playing, relaxing, and learning in the room that you create for them.
Of course, though, it’s not always easy to create an environment out of the space you have that encourages healthy development in your children. To help you out with this, this article will be exploring some of the key work that can be done to get more out of your child’s bedroom, all without having to spend a fortune in the process.
*This is a collaborative post and may contain affiliate and/or paid links which means that if you click on one of these links and buy a product, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Rest assured that I only recommend products that I love from companies that I trust.
Babies & Toddlers
The first couple of years of a person’s life are crucial to their development. Babies need to be placed into environments that stimulate their minds, help them to learn, and will keep them curious, but you also need to make sure that your child’s bedroom is safe. There are several key areas that should be considered here. Decor doesn’t really matter to babies, as long as they have access to bright colors and interesting shapes. This will quickly change as your little one gets older, though.
Comfort
Babies have to spend a lot of time on their backs when they are first born, and this can often cause issues like sores to form. Comfort is extremely important at this age, making it well worth taking the time to make sure that your little one has furniture and accessories that will keep them feeling as comfortable as possible. Learning about things like different crib mattress sizes can prove invaluable as you go through this, enabling you to make choices that could save a fortune down the line.
Learning & Enrichment
People are often quick to emphasize how well-equipped babies can be for learning, and this is certainly the case. Unlikely older children, though, babies learn passively, and this means that they need to be in an environment that stimulates their mind. Colors and shapes can be used for this, with the decor in your baby’s bedroom being exciting and fun. Alongside this, it can also help to make sure that they are surrounded by toys that they like, with those that they can touch and feel being the best.
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Safety
Safety is always a major concern for parents, especially when their little one is a baby. The furniture you choose for children at this age should always be as safe as possible, but this doesn’t stop here. You need to make sure that your baby’s toys are age-appropriate, that furniture is fastened to the walls to avoid any toppling, and that your little one isn’t exposed to anything else that could hurt them as they grow.
Young Children
A child’s needs will always change as they get older. While they may have enjoyed staring at pretty colors and shapes as a baby, their developing mind will soon be far too fast for that sort of thing. Instead, you need to find new ways to make your child’s bedroom stimulating, but you have to be careful to make sure that you don’t go too fast.
There are a lot of great toys on the market that young children will enjoy, with options that have an education angle usually being the best. Of course, though, kids will learn no matter what they play with, with toys like Lego proving that they don’t need much for their imagination to fly. Alongside this, it can also be a good time to start letting your child choose the decor in their bedroom at this stage. Many parents make the mistake of keeping the decor from when their child was a baby, though this can be a mistake that makes your child feel bad about their room.
Older Children
As your child reaches the next milestone, it will be time to start branching out and giving them more choice. Much like being a baby, there are several key areas that need to be kept in mind when you decorating your child’s bedroom. Most parents will be considering giving their children electronic toys at this point in their lives, and this can boost their learning potential even further if the right options are picked.
Toys
Older children may not feel like they need toys, but it will be easy to see how much they rely on items like this even as they approach adulthood. The toys you buy a child at this age need to be far more complicated than those bought for a baby, though, with challenges like puzzles providing great mental stimulation for a young person. Many older children will prefer spending time outside, but this only opens the toy potential even further.
Electronics
Alongside the toys they like, it’s also worth thinking about electronics. Computers can be extremely helpful to a young person when they are at school, giving them access to a wealth of tools and knowledge at their fingertips. Of course, though, these machines can also be dangerous. Video games can be excellent teaching tools, but they can also hinder a child’s education, making it worth balancing this out as much as you can.
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Decor
The decor in an older child’s bedroom will always be less important than it is when they are young. In fact, many parents give their children a lot of freedom with their bedroom at this point, enabling them to choose the decor they want. If you haven’t updated this element of a child’s room since they were a baby, it will be crucial that you do it now.
Teenagers
Teenagers are one of the hardest groups to please when you are a parent. While you want to make sure that they have a good bedroom, you will also want to give them plenty of space in life, ensuring that they are able to grow and develop well by themselves. Of course, though, as a big part of this, you will also have to contend with their opinion in this matter, and this can make the whole thing much harder.
Independence
While they may not be an adult yet, teenagers certainly tend to act like they are. They will want to make their own choices when it comes to the way their room looks and works, and this means that you may have to take a step back to ensure that they can create a space that appeals to them. Of course, though, this has to be within reason, and you can even use this as a way to teach your child about moderation and spending.
Privacy
Alongside being independent, teenagers will also need privacy in their bedroom. Some parents will go as far as installing locks on their child’s door at this stage in their life, but simply making a habit out of knocking on the door can be enough. Alongside this, they also need their bedroom to be a good place to work as they go through their final years at school. Noisy distractions should be avoided, and you should make sure that your teenager is in a room that has enough space for them.
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Furniture
Teenagers will often hold little value in things like furniture, but this only means that you have to work harder to make sure that they have what they need. They will be the size of an adult by now, and this means that they will need a bed, desk, and chair that suits their frame, along with having other pieces that help them to keep their room clean and tidy. Thankfully, you don’t really have to worry about attaching their furniture to the walls at this age.
Home Life
Most living situations aren’t ideal, with every family having aspects of their lives that they would rather keep behind closed doors. Of course, though, you can’t let the chaos of family living get in the way of your child’s education. Arguments, loud music, and other regular disruptions could have a long-term impact on your child that lasts much longer than their bedroom. Many parents choose to work hard to push this issue in the other direction. By offering support and always being there for your children, you can ensure that they do the best they can in school and with their future work.
With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to build your child’s bedroom into something that will help with their education as they go into the future. Of course, this isn’t just about making sure they like their bedroom; you also need to work hard to give them an environment that makes it easy to learn and develop.
Designing and decorating a child’s bedroom is never easy, especially when you have three kids with very different tastes.
How can you get it right without disappointing your child or having to change things around again in six months’ time? It’s a pretty difficult balancing act, and many parents get it wrong. Unfortunately, when parents do get it wrong, they tend to waste a lot of money, and that’s the last thing you need.
Luckily for you, there are lots of tips that you can take advantage of if you want to get this whole thing right without ever wasting any money. And it doesn’t have to involve taking the cheap option and disappointing your child either, so everyone can be a winner here!
Here are some tips that will allow you to get the most out of your child’s bedroom and remain relevant and suitable for a long time to come.
*This is a collaborative post* *This post contains affiliate links which means that if you click on one of these links and buy a product, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Rest assured that I only recommend products that I love from companies that I trust.
1. Don’t be Too Specific With Design Features
Your child’s interests, tastes and favorite TV shows and characters probably change all the time. That’s something that you should definitely keep in mind when you’re coming up with design features for their bedroom. If you choose a theme that is too specific, relating to a movie or TV show, they will probably lose interest in that thing within 6 months or a year if you’re lucky. That’s simply the nature of childhood. So many parents have made this mistake in the past, and it costs them big.
2. Keep Things Adaptable Because Change is Coming
It’s not just the general design you need to keep adaptable though. It’s also a good idea to keep the furniture and general arrangement and layout as flexible as possible too. As we’ve already mentioned, your children will change and grow up over time. That means their needs will also change. It’s wise to be prepared from that from day one when it comes to designing their bedroom. So don’t nail things to the walls and floors, and don’t set things in stone because you’ll only regret it later.
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3. Fit a Chalkboard
Having a chalkboard in the room can be a great idea because it can serve all kinds of different purposes as your child moves through the different phases of childhood. They can use it to help them learn things while they’re young and still learning basic math and English skills. And they can later make use of it in order to get creative and express themselves in various ways. It could be as big or small as you want it to be so definitely consider this option.
One good way to add some style to your son or daughter’s wall is to use wall stickers and stencils. Stickers are perfect for short-term designs because they can be removed and replaced as soon as your child wants a new design to be put in place. These details will add something more to the room and stop it from looking dull or tired. There are so many sticker and stencil options out there that are ideal for children’s bedrooms.
5. Assess Furniture Materials and Choose the Ones That Will Last
The furniture you use in your child’s bedroom is important because you want it to be durable and as long-lasting as possible. The last thing you want is for your boisterous child to break a furniture item when using it. That’s not only dangerous for them but also costly for you as a parent. So always look at the materials from which relevant children’s bedroom furniture is made before buying. That way, everything you buy will last for as long as it possibly can.
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6. Make Use of Old Picture Frames
You can do anything with old picture frames and it’s this that makes them so useful when you’re looking to liven up the walls of your child’s bedroom. You can add nice designs, photos or art to the frames and make them work nicely together. You could make a collage of picture frames because this often creates a nice impression, so give it some thought. It’s a simple trick but it works wonderfully.
Storage is a huge part of any child’s bedroom. Let’s face it; all kids of piles of toys and gadgets that need to have their own storage place. But that doesn’t mean the storage can’t be part of the design. It’s more than possible to use colorful boxes and baskets to make the room both stylish and functional.
8. Focus on Timelessness
Some design styles are timeless, and these are the things you should be focusing on if you want to avoid having to make regular design changes to the room going forward. The simple and classic touches that are both timeless and suitable for children are not always easy to find, but you’ll know them when you see them. Stay away from the temporary and plastic items that are only going to break or look tired within a few months of use.
9. Keep Your Child Involved in the Design Process
It’s important to remember the importance of keeping your child involved in the design process because they need to have their say. If they’re old enough to do that, they will be clear about what they want and what they expect. This is helpful because you don’t want them to start complaining about the design as soon as it’s in place. Obviously, you’re still going to have to take the lead, but your child should be involved in some way.
No parent should waste money when it comes to designing their children’s bedrooms. It’s more than possible to come up with designs that will hold strong and survive the test of time if you’re willing to think carefully and take the right steps. It is important for your child to have a comfortable, relaxing space of their own, but it is completely do-able on any budget.
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