Get Organized In Every Room with These Great Storage Solutions

By Kim Proulx

Organizing your child's space can be a wearisome job. Whether you're looking to tidy up a playroom, design a new baby nursery, or create more storage for a big kid's room, it can be frustrating when everything goes back to being cluttered. With the right storage and organization, keeping your child's things picked up and in their place can be a much simpler and quicker job! Listed below are great kids storage solutions to meet any need you have. These super space savers will give your child a winning start to a clutter-free life.

What are my first steps?

1. Make a Plan - Take some time to create a plan of how you want to incorporate storage into the room schematics. What kind of storage do you need? Books, toys, bedding, clothing, and shoes all need special storage. There are some items you will want to place at an accessible height for your little one to reach. Your child's age and phase will give you a good starting point on where you will want to create storage.
2. Start with the basics - Before you get all your extra storage; be sure to have all the basics like crib or bed, dresser, nightstand, or armoire in place. Once these pieces are set up and filled with their specific items, you can see what you have left and decide where it should go and what you need to store it in.
3. Measure and note - Get out the measuring tape and measure the spaces where you want to place storage units. Write the space dimensions down so when you begin getting items you can check the measurements and know if they will fit. Don't forget to measure both the height and the width!

What are my options for storage?

Wall Storage - Going vertical with organization can really save on space! Walls are the most unutilized space in a room. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish with just 3 square feet of space! The easiest thing to do is buy the attachable hutch for your child's desk or dresser. Hutches have great amounts of display space. Consider placing baskets or boxes on each shelf to hold small items. You may even want to label the holders so you know what's in them. Some hutches are equipped with drawers and cabinet doors to make organization even simpler! These pieces are fabulous from birth, all the way through college.

SouthShore Gascony Hutch in Ebony & Spice wood - An elegant and classic staple, the Gascony Collection Hutch offers great storage including three storage shelves plus two glass framed doors.

To mix and match for a fun storage design, consider putting several storage pieces stacked against or hanging on the wall. You can place lockers against the wall with shelves, corkboard, hooks, and small cubbies all intermixed together. This allows an organizational section for your little gal to keep books, jackets, cards and knick-knacks grouped together nicely. Paint them a fun and unique color or mix and match to make the space pop.

Closet Storage - Options for creating great storage in your child's closet are endless! If you use the right pieces, you can move them around and take some out when needed. As your little one grows, so do their clothing sizes. In the beginning, their clothes take hardly any space on the hanging bar, and you can go as high as you need to with additional storage. As she grows, her needs change and you can rearrange the storage to meet those needs. Inserting stacked boxes or cubbies in a corner can be perfect for shoes, baby blankets, or toys. A cubby system or grid shelf would be perfect under the clothes bar to keep shoes or clothing stored at a good height for your child to access things for herself. Add baskets in cubbies to provide a pull out container for socks, extra diapers, or hats.

More Closet Storage - If you have more space on the hanging rod than you can use and need more shelving space, move a tall bookshelf into one side of the closet and set up baskets on each level: highest being clothes, then accessories, shoes, toys, and books. Bookshelves, in the closet, look gorgeous and can really make the closet look customized. Once your baby becomes older and needs the actual hanging space, simply move the bookshelf out and use it in her bedroom when the glider or other baby accessories are outgrown and ready to be removed from the room.

Bed Storage - Whether you have a crib or a big kid bed, storage under the bed is a marvelous option! You can actually buy a bed or a crib with storage already built in. These are called trundles and they are very versatile! With an expansive trundle drawer under a crib, you can either keep it, as is, and store extra bedding and larger accessories in one big drawer or section it off by creating a grid and store smaller items like clothing, diapers and socks in their own compartments.

For beds, larger trundles are available in many options. Built-ins with drawers and shelving are great for extra organization for smaller things like clothing and shoes. The larger trundles can hold everything up to a mattress! Keep the drawer empty for large items, and then when your child gets older, insert a mattress for sleepovers and family guests. When not in use, the trundle rolls back under the bed and is a terrific space saver!

Other Under-the-bed Storage Options - If you're not interested in trundles, baskets and fabric bins are made that can slide under the bed for toys, out of season clothing, and shoes. It's great to switch out your child's clothing every spring and fall so the choices aren't overwhelming. Keep bins under the bed to hold clothing that's not in use. This will help keep things in the closet neat and easy to find.

Floor storage - Keeping things stored at a good height for young children is always a great addition. Teaching your kids to pick up for themselves after playing with toys or changing their clothes, can save you many headaches later on. Create a great space to store toys and books and label drawers or bins with photos so they can play the pickup, match the right toy to the picture game. For something fun, you can use fairy or racecar themed shelving systems that make picking up their toys when playtime is over, just as enjoyable as playing with them!

If you're looking for an item to grow with your baby, modern designed small dressers with cubby systems and rolling bins really give storage an edgy style! These pieces have tons of potential and versatility as your child grows through different storage phases. Designed to last, your precious baby will use this to store baby clothes and diapers, legos and dress-up costumes, all the way to CD's and video games.

KidKraft See Thru Bins - Natural - These modern style see-through bins make it easy for your child to find toys easily.

Consoles / Media Centers - For another super flexible piece, large extensive consoles are great to get from the very beginning. Consoles are close to the ground and make great benches with storage underneath. Place some flat cushions on top the first few years of baby's life and use as a great reading area with a space underneath to organize books and toys. Remove the cushions when the time is right and place a TV up top and store a DVD or video game player, with DVD's and video games underneath. You can move it into the playroom or keep it in her room for her own private television center.

Organization Stations - If the nursery doesn't have much closet space or you are looking for the ultimate in storage, we offer complete units with every option in storage you will need. Hanging cabinets, drawers, and shelving all work together to meet any need you have. This kind of piece would also work great in playrooms for hanging dress-ups or jackets with toys and books.

Stokke KEEP Complete in Gray - Talk about incredible storage, this unit has enough shelves and drawers to offer a place for all your child's favorite items.

Other Full Storage Options - Another option for total storage, that is perfect for space-challenged bedrooms, are full storage beds with tons of shelving and drawers . These stations have trundles underneath, display space for anything, and a built-in desk! A whole bedroom set built into one piece of furniture.

Additional Tips:

• If your child is slightly older, incorporate her in the organizing process. Give her options on where things can "find their homes" and when she asks if she can play with puzzles, you can tell her "Yes, as soon as the Legos you were playing with find their home". Keeping her involved from the get-go, helps her grasp that each toy or clothing item has its own space.
• Keep decorating to a minimum in playrooms and play areas. This will keep the space less cluttered looking and give the room a more clean feeling. If you stick with neutral themes and minimum color schemes, you don't get the "busy feeling" when things do get cluttered.
• Divide your child's toys into broad categories when labeling bins or drawers. This will save you lots of time and effort if your children don't have to sort and place every piece in its own little space. If they have several lego sets than make a drawer for legos and place them all in there. They will get mixed up at playtime anyways so you don't want to create a non-playful environment with too much organization.
• If your child can't seem to stick to the rule, put one toy away before getting a new one out, then you might consider creating a 10 minute cleaning dance party. Find fun or silly music and each day when the song is played, let the kids be silly while they pick up their toys. This also works if snack time or dinnertime is right after playtime. Making the rule, "No food until toys are put back in their homes" gives the extra push to pick up and get it done quickly. Correlating fun activities or habits with picking up and cleaning can give your children a good attitude and fond memories even when doing chores!

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