When I come to a client’s home for the first time I always ask them to show me the room they want to organize first, and it is oftentimes a kid’s room. It’s one of the messiest rooms in the house, no matter how often you organize it.
Although you should never expect it to be perfectly in order, there are a few things you can do to make your life easier when it comes to organizing a kid’s room.
1. Involve Your Child
Organizing solutions must fit your child. Lower a hanging rod, buy small hangers, take lids off the bins, and make it easy for them to put things away. And if you involve them in the process there is a better chance of them maintaining an organized room.
2. Toys
Decluttering
Decluttering is the first step in organizing the kids’ room. Take time to sit with your child in the room and go through toys, sorting them into three piles: keep, donate, and throw away.
Studies say that fewer toys are actually better for your child. Having fewer toys promotes creativity and social skills development, improves attention, and teaches them to take better care of things they already have. If I didn’t convince you to have fewer toys maybe this article will “Why Fewer Toys Will Benefit Your Kids”.
Rotate Toys.
If you already have many toys, and you do not wish to get rid of them because you’ve spent a lot of money – stop buying and start rotating. Simply, put half of the toys in storage, bring them out on a rainy day, and let kids decide what they want to store away. It will be like brand new toys for them.
Favorite ways to organize toys.
IKEA has a nice toy storage system or you can go for a shelf unit with bins, that you can buy almost anywhere (Home Depot, Walmart, Canadian Tire, IKEA).
3. Clothes
If you have one of those closet systems with wired shelves in your child’s room it is probably not very functional for small clothes. You can buy bins, label them and place them on the shelves. Or take out part, or all of the system, and install a better one. This particular one is BOAXEL from IKEA. You can create any combination that will fit your needs.
Measure and use drawer dividers.
Drawer dividers will keep clothes and other items more organized. Before buying measure the drawer; make sure you measure width, depth, and height. Look at what’s available online and plan out before buying. You want to make sure it will fit perfectly and won’t move around. I recommend STUK from IKEA, as it comes in different sizes and heights for those shallow drawers.
Also great for changing station organization for your baby.
Set up a bin with outgrown clothes.
In the bin, you will put everything that does not fit anymore, and once it is full you can throw it in the wash and donate it.
If it is not dirty or smelly, it can go back in the closet.
There is no need to wash clothes after each wear unless it is dirty. Make it simple for yourself. It means less laundry, clothes will last longer, and better for the environment.
4. Girl’s hair accessory
I love this idea of displaying hair accessories on the wall. For headbands picture frames with clips work great.
And for hair clips, you can buy frames on Etsy (just search for “hair clip holder”) or DIY them.
5. Move around the furniture
Look around the room. What furniture do you have? Bed, bedside table, chest, mirror, chair, bookcase, bins with toys, what else? Is the layout effective? Is there a better way to set up the room? Most of us just don’t know; it is hard to envision how the room will look, so just move everything, try different ways, and see what you like the best.
Once everything has its place it will be fast to put away and don’t forget to involve your child in a cleanup.
Don’t have time to organize, consider hiring a professional organizer. Check our “7 questions about professional organizer“, to find out some commonly asked questions.
