When designing your baby’s nursery there are certain items that you will find are necessary to prevent chaos from reigning supreme during a midnight feed or emergency diaper change.
Having a baby closet system that is organized and orderly will go a long way to keeping the chaos at bay. It will also keep you calm and relaxed, which means that your baby will be calm and relaxed, giving you a better chance at getting back to sleep at a reasonable hour.
There are companies who specialize in nursery closet make-overs, whose costs can run upwards of $400, but why go to the expense and indiginity of having strangers rifling through your personal closet space and belongings, when you can achieve the same results at a fraction of the cost?
Creating the perfect closet space filled with storage for your baby’s clothing is great, but don’t stop there. Check out our baby closet organization ideas and create adequate space to store not only clothing, but diapers, blankets and sheets, along with those little things like baby wipes and diaper cream as well as bath time supplies and toys.
This can be done simply and economically and here’s how:
The key is to AVOID organizers specifically designed
for BABY closets as they are way more expensive.
Start with a dresser makeover
Many baby closet organization systems have open shelving or open faced storage. These are attractive, yes, but they can be rather expensive, and they tend to take up linear space within the closet that may be better put to use in some other fashion.
Instead, why not go ahead and place a small chest of drawers, 3 or 4 drawers tall, in the center of the closet. If you do not already have one handy, check out the local thrift store. As long as it is in good condition and made of real wood, the color does not matter. With a light sanding and a coat or two of bright white paint the dresser will look brand new!
To dress it up even more try replacing the old drawer pulls or knobs with acrylic or ceramic ones or even some alphabet blocks. For a little girl get creative with some swirly ribbons in pink and silver and gold. Or for a boy, try your hand at stenciling trains or cars or teddy bears on the drawer fronts. You could also go for the easier option of using decals.
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Another baby closet organizer idea in lieu of the dresser is a bookcase. The height and number of shelves as well as the width of the bookcases available make it easy to find the right fit for your closet space and your storage needs.
Add in some hanging sweater holders
Once you have the dresser in place, depending upon how wide your closet is, you can utilize the spaces to either side by installing hanging closet organizers. These are made of heavy canvas for about $10.00 and consist of a series of cubes running vertically from the clothes rod to the floor. Most are 5 or 6 cubes in length, but are available in shorter versions as well.
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Utilize the space above the dresser
For the baby closet hang space over the dresser, use a double hanging rod. This is a rod system that has a telescoping mechanism that allows you to drop a second rod from the first that can be extended from 1 inch to 30 inches from the the top rod. The secondary rod is also capable of extending from 20 to 36 inches across making this a very good way to gain more hanger space for baby’s clothes.
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Find some shelf organizers
Most closets have a long shelf above the closet rod. For storing items there, you can make use of several different types of organizer which are basically open or closed storage containers.
For open storage containers, canvas bins are very easy to obtain, very reasonably priced at $20.00 for 4, and very easy to personalize. Remember those stencils from the dresser? Well, use them to jazz up those plain white or blue or pink bins to create a range of matching, cute nursery organization options. Just don’t forget a fabric marker.
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Another type of open storage containers are wicker baskets, available in a set of 2 small lined baskets for $22.00 or 2 large ones for $24.00. Although a bit more expensive than the plain canvas bins, these nursery organization baskets are quite spacious and attractive which makes strategically placing one or two on the shelves alongside the canvas bins worth the extra expense.
For closed storage try using clear plastic containers. Available in shoe box and photo box sizes for about $1.00 each, these are perfect for keeping items neatly tucked away, but easily visible and accessible while at the same time being an attractive storage option.
Lidded canvas storage boxes are another great, affordable closed storage option at $5.00 to $7.00 each.
For larger see-through storage options the 15 qt. box, about twice the size of the clear plastic shoe box, is perfect for keeping linens and bath towels and other larger accessories easily accessible and readily identifiable while at the same time being neat and orderly.
Don’t forget the back of the closet door
Let us not forget about the closet door itself. This is a flat, vertical space that you can use to gain even more usable storage space. An over the door shoe holder or jewelry organizer, $9.99 each, of the fabric kind with lots of pockets, is perfect for storing diapers, cloth and disposable, as well as baby t-shirts and onesies, socks and booties, bibs, receiving blankets and all the little odds and ends that you never quite seem to have a place for to keep them at hand without getting lost.
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So you should end up with something like this:
Close off the closet
If you find the overall look just too plain and dreary for a child’s room a quick fix to add charm with ease is to simply run a tension cable through the top of a pretty decorative curtain panel or two (cloth shower curtains are a perfect solution as they will already have the holes with grommets in place) and secure them to inside of the closet doors. Now you have a sliding curtain that can be used to hide the contents of the closet while it softens the look of the room and adds a touch of whimsy and personality.
Costings
Saving money and getting what you want can be done with a little ingenuity and a lot of patience, but in the end savings of over $200 on this stylish, yet practical, nursery closet with a total cost under $200 is an accomplishment to be proud of.
Being innovative, thinking outside the box, doing what you want to do in a way that makes sense to you will help you to make the space inside your baby’s closet be not only productive, but attractive and a space that you will be able to customize and expand to fit the needs of your child as he/she grows.
Shopping List
Closet rod doubler = $15
Dresser/Bookcase = $75
Hanging organizers x 2 = $24
Canvas bins x 4 = $20
Wicker baskets x 2 = $24
Clear sweater boxes x 2 = $7
Over the door organizer = $15
Total = $180
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