Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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A Kids Closet With Some Play Space In It

The closet in the spare room used to be packed with things like luggage, wrapping paper, gift bags, and a bunch of other clutter that had to be dealt with in order to free up space for actual playing and Clara-storage (since this is now the playroom/big girl room instead of a room full o’ junk).

Messy Closet

So we took everything out (except for the photo albums & yearbooks up top) and it magically disappeared.

Empty Closet

Just kidding, it ended up in the guest room closet.

Messy Guest Closet

Which actually seems ok since we’re on year three of living here (CRAZY!) and we haven’t noticed any guests using the guest closet at all, so it made sense for us to put that valuable real estate to work for us. There’s actually still a little room for hanging things on the bar if we shove all the bags to the left or the right, so we might do that if we’re expecting company, just in case. But for the rest of the time it’s more functional to see my gift bags all spread out so I can grab one nice and fast.

And the good news is that once the door is shut, our guests don’t have to be subjected to all of the items that lurk behind it.

Guest Closet Closed

And after the addition of a few Clara-things, the closet in her big girl room is now nice and useful – both for games and for storing a few not-her-size yet items of clothing (get it? they’re her big girl clothes in her big girl room). It would be fun to paint the closet walls a playful color (coral? teal?) so maybe we’ll get to that sometime.

Closet Done1

In the meantime, we just added a friend or two. You know for closet ambiance. Like her monkey (he likes to hang out).

Closet Done 3

The addition of a few toys essentially creates another play-zone in the house (Clara already plays a lot in her big girl room thanks to her play kitchen and her little table for stuffed animal tea parties, (not to mention fake naps on the daybed) but the closet is yet another little spot that she can sneak into and enjoy.

Closet Done 2

Down on the floor we have a few things that I picked up for the Macklemore Challenge. Remember the $1 chair that used to be a faded old yellow-brown color? And the cradle that had some burns and scratches along with a pretty musty odor?

Stuff We Bought

Well they’re looking (and smelling) nice and fresh now…

Closet Done 4

They were both easily revived thanks to some cleaning, priming, and fresh paint. For the chair I used Valspar’s Gloss in Classic Red (which is a paint and primer in one). And for the cradle I used Rustoleum’s Universal All-Surface spray paint in gloss white (which also has a built-in primer).

Red Chair3

I actually have some more plans for the cradle (rhymes with bom bom bringe) so I promise I’ll keep you posted! It definitely won’t just be all basic and white for long…

But even though the cradle is only half done, the newly cleared-out closet is getting lots of play.

Closet Done5

I’m actually learning that as Clara grows it’s nice to have a few zones throughout the house for her to “discover things to do” instead of plopping every toy in one basket in the living room. It seems like the change of scenery from room to room holds her interest more, and I like that there aren’t ten million jumbled toys in one spot to clean up (by delegating them to different areas, most of the time they stay in those new zones so there’s just a little picking up in a few rooms instead of a giant pile of mixed toys on the living room rug).

Closet Done6

So that’s the story of our quick little closet overhaul. What have you guys been transferring and organizing? Any other closet clear-outs going on? If you have a guest room do you keep the closet completely bare in case someone wants to hang something? Or do you use it since most of the time you’re not housing guests and it’s valuable storage space? We just realized the other day that we only have five closets in this entire four bedroom house (our 800 square foot one-bedroom apartment here in Richmond had four) so it’s a wonder we ever had an empty one at all!

Comments

  2. Gabriella @ Our Life In Action says

    I love how she has a play area inside her closet – I borrowed/stole that idea from you guys and added one for my little man in his closet. It has his tools and “wood” working bench. When ever he is going to build me something he says he has to go out to the shop (just like his dad). It’s a great idea. :-)

    Reply

  3. Kristen | Popcorn on the Stove says

    We just moved so there’s a lot of reorganizing/hiding things in closets. We now have a large walk-in closet in the living room that we’re converting into an office space for Joe (the desk we had fit perfectly!) so I’m very excited about that :)

    Reply

  8. erin says

    5 closets! man i would kill to have 5 closets.. we only have 4. and that’s one closet apiece, along with a storage closet and the entry closet. Mission for this late winter/spring is to revamp them so we can maximize storage!

    Reply

  9. Jan T says

    Great post. I actually hang gift bags the same way, on the closet rod in my craft room. I use the large paperclips to keep the bottom of the bags flat, this way they all stay close together and don’t “flop” open. I’m sure Clara will love her new space, I enjoy watching the evolution of the room!

    Reply

  11. Erica - From Millstones to Milestones says

    Oh wow – I’m so glad you posted this. Maybe other folks have been “in the know” for a while, but I swear I never thought to hang all the extra bags on a hanger before I saw this.

    We have so many bags in the corner of our dining room right now…I think they’ll be getting their eviction notices soon and moving to a hanger in the closet downstairs this weekend.

    Reply

  13. Needle little Balance says

    Yay for spring cleaning! I really like the new look of the little chair and the cradle.

    I finally received your book -that happens when you live in Europe and support little local bookstores. :) Can´t wait to start a project! I loved to see the lampshade you designed in there. Was it inspired by the piece of art above your desk?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks so much! So glad you’re enjoying it! And the lampshade could definitely have been subconsciously inspired by lots of things in our house- like that art over the desk :)

      xo
      s

  14. Jennifer says

    I feel your pain re: closet space – we only have three – one in the entry and a small one in each bedroom. Yikes. Where do you guys keep your coats and outdoor gear since I don’t think you have a closet in the diningroom/front entry or in the laundry room?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We have a closet in the dining room (next to the green console by the door) so that’s where we keep all of our coats and outdoor gear. Definitely is a lifesaver!

      xo
      s

  15. Liz says

    Oh gosh, am I cleaning/reorganizing closets! Planning a move (from a 3 bedroom to a 1 bedroom) is kind of crazy. I’m losing a linen closet and HUGE walk-in, and all of the closets in the entire place (3) will line one wall of the bedroom. And while it seems like a nightmare… I’m gaining an amazing in-home studio space for my photography. I’ll just have to be super-careful about organization because many things that were once behind closet doors will be out in the open!

    Reply

  16. Claudie says

    Oh, there are lots of things in the guest room closet at my house. :) I did leave room to hang some clothes and put a few things on the shelf, but the rest of the area is used. I figure since guests are only here once in a while, it would be better to utilize the space for what we needed. I suppose if we had someone staying for an extended period of time, we could make more space for them. So far, it hasn’t been a problem.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes, I think you’re onto something with the extended period thing. If my mom came for a week I’d clear out some space for her and stash things in our closet just for that time!

      xo
      s

  17. Diane @ Vintage Zest says

    I love the cute touches like the monkey and the little nook of toys! Also, I need to find a Painting 101 video because every time you roll or spray paint an object it looks about a million times better. The only time I’ve spray-painted, I ended up with blue floor and dirty hands. Ugh. And I’m nervous to roll paint! Eek!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We love to spray paint outside on a not windy day and mist mist mist things. Three to five super light coats of misted spray paint are much better than one heavy drippy one!

      xo
      s

  21. Sarah says

    Love the closet! Wish our place had more normal people closets (one contains a staircase to the rapist basement, as we call it, so it can’t be used as storage and the others are more like mini rooms with low ceilings. So dwarf style bedrooms…). I guess we’re lucky to have closets at all considering the house was built in 1919.

    Also, what is hanging above the ceramic animal hooks?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      The personalized things with her name, etc will move into her big girl room when she finally stops sleeping in the nursery (don’t want to strip that room when she’s still in there) and the general nursery items and objects will stay in there, hopefully for future baby to enjoy! Of course we’ll freshen up the room so Baby #2 isn’t just in a room full of “leftovers” (depending on the sex there might be lots of changes, and even if we have another girl I’d love to switch things up for a new look). You know kids rooms are our favorite!

      xo
      s

  23. Chrissy says

    I recognize that you are storing a ton of curtains from Target’s collection in blue and orange on the top shelf of the closet. What are they for? I bought the same ones!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Those are actually flat packed storage boxes that I got super cheap. Just have to assemble them all (in my head they’re the key to being super organized… will report back if it ever gets done…)

      xo
      s

  25. Megan @ Rappsody in Rooms says

    Oh the glories of guest bedroom closets. Since we also live in a ranch house from many an era ago, the closet space is small. So all of my clothes live in the guest bedroom. We call it my “dressing room” when guests are there. But it’s definitely not as cute as Clara’s!

    Reply

  27. Kara says

    I’m jealous that you still have days down there where you can still spray-paint outside! I’m impatiently waiting for the first non-windy, non-rainy, over-50-degrees day when I can run out and free my spray-paint-maniac self.

    Painting up the closet a fun color would be so much fun! Maybe mix in a pop of contrasting color on the edges of the shelves and maybe the rod in there for a fun mix – like a teal closet with coral strips!

    Reply

  28. Kate says

    My daughter is the same with zones. We just moved into a 2 story house and I realized when she’s cranky sometimes it just takes moving to the other floor. (really, we should play outside more but it’s been raining a lot!)

    We also put most of her toys in her big girl room that she hasn’t moved into yet. I think she transitioned into the new nursery in the new house better without all of her toys to look at when she should be falling asleep.

    My mom very much likes having hanging space, so we have some room in our guest room closet. One time when she came we must not have had enough hangers in there because the next time she brought me some…

    Reply

  29. Emily says

    I know that you said you’d talk about what your plans were for the space above the hooks, but I see that you’ve already put something up and I’m so curious about it! I see your 1-4-3 dominoes on the bottom, but what’s happening on the top?

    Reply

  31. Kristin says

    We’re having a big snow day, so I decided to organize my pantry…my 16 year old son even got into it (both literally & figuratively…why does a kid that old still like to get into cabinets?) and helped me figure out where things should live.

    Reply

  32. Tricia S says

    I love the closet redo. I am also plagued with tiny old house closets. I’ve got all my skirts on the multiple skirt hangers that will hold six skirts. Looking at your collection of gift bags I realized that a skirt hanger would be a great way to hold them. Just fold the bags flat, flip them upside down and clip them to the hanger.

    Reply

  33. Karen F says

    “bom bom bringe” – LOL!

    Isn’t cleaning out closets the best?? We live in a 100 year old house, so we have 4 closets that are original to the house, and we added a mudroom which has a closet. My older daughter’s room has 2 sort of half closets that are tucked under the roofline, and thus will be unusable for hanging clothes in the near future (I don’t think a full size hanger would hang in there, thanks to the slope of the roof) So, yeah. Also, we don’t have a guestroom – we end up having guests sleep in the master BR, and my husband and I sleep on an air mattress in one of the girl’s rooms. Not ideal, but we only have quests 1 or 2 times a year anyway.

    I did however just clean out my coat closet by my front door, so that coats could actually hang in it (we had a ton of old coats that we never wore in there). Also, now I can get the vacuum out of there without cursing.

    Reply

  34. Megan says

    I’m several weeks behind getting the upstairs bedroom cleaned out so I can start putting baby stuff in there. But the closet is the one place I’ve finished! Save for a piece of luggage that will go in the spare Ron’s closet after I reorganize my craft and sewing stuff…
    Yeah, it’s never ending here.

    Reply

  37. Nicole says

    I’m sure you’ll probably read approximately 8761873245 comment recommendations as for what color, if any, you should paint the closet, so without further ado, I’ll throw my hat in the ring and say something like a minty green or something similarly soothing would look lovely. It would help to calm some of the other energy (in the cheery pinks and reds going on in the room). Perhaps minty green doesn’t jive well with colors in the rest of the room… in which case I’ll blame my recommendation on my monitor. You know, the colors ‘n stuff.

    Reply

  38. Susanne says

    I’ve been hesitant to spray paint in the winter since the cans give warnings about the temp ranges to use it in. (I live in Baltimore and so far we’ve only gotten teaser spring days.) Did you happen it hit up one of the warm days to spray paint?

    Reply

  39. Krissy says

    Nate is putting the laminate down in the bedroom this morning, the trim will go up in the afternoon… and then we have to put the whole house back together! We’ve got dressers in the office and kitchen, and the bed in the middle of the living room! We decided that when we put everything back into the bedroom, we’re doing a super spring cleaning and getting rid of a lot of stuff – you don’t realize how much you have until it’s in giant piles all over other parts of your house!

    Are the dominoes in the frame specific numbers on purpose? I’m looking forward to hearing about more of your creative art!

    Reply

  40. Lindsay@Tell'er All About It says

    Ca-UTE! I just had an idea! You should do a post on how you organize your toys and all of the the “Clara-phe-nalia”. As if you don’t have a TON of other posts to do. I always love to see good organizing ideas…it’s always the last thing to get done when you move into a house – haha! Love how the room is coming together!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We actually did a post about that a while back (I think if you search Clara-phernalia it comes up) but we owe you an update since it was a long time ago! Basically we like to not overwhelm her with too much out at once, so we rotate things in and out and try to keep things more fun that way!

      xo
      s

  41. Cathy says

    I also use our guest bedroom closet for storage. I ended up using one of those hanging closet organizers to lay our gift bags in, and that has worked out well for keeping everything organized and taking up as little space as possible. :)

    Reply

  42. Liz R. says

    Every closet in our house needs a change out. Most of them need new doors too. Who loves metal bifold doors from the 70s? I don’t!

    BTW, I was perusing “All You” magazine this morning (Oddly it’s my husband’s subscription, which he got for the coupons, the nerd :)) and they had an excerpt from your book on updating a lamp. I turned the page and was all “Hey, I know that lamp shade!” and quickly looked for the credit.

    And in other news I FINALLY wrote up meeting you folks in DC. I totally planned it to coincide with your last book tour post ha ha.

    http://www.grownuppretenders.com/2013/02/19/first-richard-simmons/

    Reply

  44. Jess says

    Looks great (as usual :) And this gives me a lot of ideas as we prepare for baby No. 1. Thanks!
    Question: Where did you get that adorable butterfly vest? I don’t normally do the whole pink thing, but I’d consider picking that up for my little girl for sure. Too cute.

    Reply

  45. Liz O says

    I really like those little shelves on the side of that closet. it’s a great idea! We are relocating my son to his “big boy” room thanks to a little sister coming along. I might have to add some shelves there. I think it would a great new home for his shoes!

    Reply

  46. Michelle says

    Yes, same old toy in new spot = new discovery. I recently cleaned off our play table (which was overrun by half-finished Lego projects) and put out some new stuff for the boys to play with. My youngest was all excited. I pointed out that since he is 6 and his brother is 9, they could switch out the toys, too. But, I was only met with a blank stare. *sigh*

    Reply

  47. Rachel says

    My husband and I are in the process of buying our first house (yay!) and last night I was playing around with Google SketchUp to find ideas for improvement projects when I realized just how similar it is to your house! Ours is a little smaller, but it’s a ranch on a slab with an addition in the back. The kitchen is smack in the middle of the house with no windows, and we’re talking about knocking out part of the wall to make a nice open feeling between the kitchen and living room. When I plopped an island in the middle of the doorway, I suddenly realized where I’d seen that house before! Thanks for all the inspiration for big and small projects. I love reading your blog!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Sorry Kim! I love unpainted wood too (the living room media cabinet, the console table that we built from scratch, Clara’s wooden dresser in her nursery, the wood duck on the wall in our dining room) but I also love to add pops of color and clean up old musty/burned wood. It’s a pretty nice balance for us, although we know it’s not for everyone :)

      xo
      s

  49. Catheine A. says

    Love, Love how fun, fresh and functional they turned out. ha!
    Would love to know how you cleaned the chair and cradle before painting.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Catherine! I just wiped them down with a bit of liquid deglosser (we get some called Crown’s Next from Home Depot, which is low-VOC and biodegradable). It gets off old oil and grime and then once it’s dry you’re ready to prime/paint :)

      xo
      s

  50. Katherine says

    With limited real estate it’s important to condense and go vertical. You can layer Clara’s closet by adding another set of shelves or additional rod lower…. great for all the shoes a girl tends to collect. {For kids safety do not use the extension rods that hang off of the top rod.}

    I have stored all of my gift bags and tissue paper flat in a plastic storage container – it takes up limited space and they never get ripped.

    Reply

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