Organizing...Ella's Closet

As I've stated in my work mom life post and interesting things about me post, clutter drives me crazy as does procrastination. I am currently enjoying the fact that Ella does not make a complete mess of her closet every day. Being organized simply puts me in a good mood. I try to keep the boys closet clean and organized but there is always little nick knacks everywhere! Does anyone else's kids have a crazy amount of random small stuff? We also house a lot of games in their room which can appear very cluttery (I think I made that word up). Someday, I will show their closet as a mess and then after I clean it :)

I have had many comments from visitors on Ella's closet. It really isn't anything special, nor is it very big, but we bought a few things that have helped us keep it organized and functional. This is what her closet looks like every day. I honestly thought about tiding it up a bit before the picture, but I wanted you to see real life.

We just have the standard shelf that came with the closet across the top. Eventually, more clothes will hang from the shelf, but we have a dresser/changing table that we use right now. The only things I have hanging up are a few dresses and her baptismal gown. I bought 4 matching bins for the top of the closet (I can't remember where I picked these ones up but similar ones here), but we now have one in our living room for toys. When she was under 1 years old, I kept bigger clothes organized in those bins (0-3 month, 3-6 month, 6-9 month, and 9-12 month). It was nice to have them right there. When I found clothes on sale, I could easily check what I had already. Baby clothes are so little so they fit just fine.

Now that she is older, there is one bin of 18month - 2T clothes. One bin of toys (I like to rotate them every couple weeks), and one bin is currently EMPTY! Having these bins on the top of the closet has significantly helped our closet stay and look organized/clean. To the left of the bins, there is nothing on the shelf and to the right I have some Christmas and birthday presents stashed away. With those two events being so close to each other for her, I thought it would be nice to put some away so she can open new toys here and there.

The next part of her closet is my FAVORITE. We bought an Ikea Kallax bookshelf off Amazon. I loved the IKEA one because it was more heavy duty and the openings were bigger than a typical shelf. I wanted to fit bigger bins in some of the cubes. It also looks a bit fancier. With 8 cubbies, we have been able to organize and compartmentalize a lot of random things.

Also, even if we chose to hang up all of her baby clothes, there would have been quite a bit of space on top of the shelf for us to put other things. Sometimes, if I need to get all of the big toys put away, I set them on top of the shelf. There is so much space there and if I needed more storage, I would have utilized this as well.

Room for storage on the top of the shelf

We have four open cubbies and 4 cubbies with bins. The two open ones on the right are for toys and one currently holds her shoes.

On the other side, we have one compartment of books (a lot more in our basement, I try to rotate these out, too) and the other one is pictures and baby books. These won't be here for long as her little fingers are getting curious and I don't want them to get ruined. This will soon be another spot for some larger toys.

I bought the gray and white striped bins from Land of Nod (similar ones on Amazon here). I like that they are bigger than a typical bin and more flexible. Up until now, we have kept all of the baby blankets/quilts, extra crib sheets, and extra changing pad covers in these bins. We have been able to cut down on some of the blankets now and have one bin of toys that Ella can easily access when she is in her room.

There is about 2 feet on each side of the bookcase. I have a few really big quilts that we have been given and a long narrow bin of clothes that no longer fit on the sides.

So, that is her closet :) It is really easy to keep organized and easy to find things which makes my heart happy!

And while we are in there, here are a few more pictures of her room :)

When putting her room together, I wanted the majority of decor to last for quite a few years, rather than be too 'baby'. Almost all of the decor is from Hobby Lobby.

  

The dresser is from a friend whose daughter didn't want it anymore. It works great as our changing table and eventually will just be a dresser.  Her clothes take up 3 drawers. The other drawers have diapers, pajamas, her aden + anais blankets (she sleeps with one of these every night), socks, and headbands. 

We keep all of our extra diapers and wipes under the crib so we hung the garland to hide most of it.

Our crib is the same one we used for Jaxon :) It is almost 9 years old {and you can definitely tell}.

I added this picture as it shows her feather crib sheet, one of her aden + anais blankets, and the special quilt from great auntie Vonda she sleeps with every night, too. I'm so glad she is old enough to finally sleep with blankets!

  

We just used thumb tacks to hang these little poof balls. 

I love the art work my sister, Bobbi, gave Ella for baptism. The frame is totally my style as well.

'You are a Child of God, Wonderfully Made, Dearly Loved and Precious in His sight.'  Pslam 139

Ella received the cube from some special friends at work. It has their names, a big E, her full name, parent names, birth stats, and where she was born. Such a special gift!

  

The rocking chair we got off Amazon and as I said, the signs were from Hobby Lobby.

  

Isn't that chandelier beautiful?! It came with our house and actually has a dimmer. This was so convenient for night feedings. I feel like it really adds to the room! 

  

I need ideas...I bought these hooks before Ella was born as they totally went with her room theme. I cannot figure out where to put them or what I want to use them for. We don't have extra paint for her room so I want to make sure I am confident in where I put a nail. Any designers out there that can help me out?! I was thinking of hanging them behind the door (to the right of her dresser) to use for her bath towels, but I can't make up my mind!

I hope you enjoyed seeing Ella's closet and a little tour of her room.