I tackled Little Bit’s closet this week to organize, purge, declutter, and pare down on the toys, clothes, and whatever else had gotten shoved in her closet. Her room is not the biggest in the world and we are using two pieces of my old furniture that are really big. One is her big girl bed that is a full and one is a big dresser/hutch/shelves thing. They are fabulous and they were FREE, so I’m not complaining. But it did make me look to her closet for some very functional toy storage and a little bit of play space. In fact, her closet stays open all day so she can access her toys so it really needed some help.

THE NITTY-GRITTY BEFORE

Here’s what I started with. In general, just too many toys in too many places, clothes on two different rods, unorganized shelves, and stuff that didn’t even belong in Little Bit’s closet. {My swimsuits?}

ORGANIZING IN GENERAL

I had some good organizational pieces in there {shelves, bins, boxes} but they weren’t being used to their fullest potential. They needed a kick start in the right direction. {Why do I sound like a high school football coach all of a sudden?}

I grabbed two bags {one for trash, one for donations} and pulled everything out of the closet except the clothes. I will spare your eyes the pain of that picture. Little Bit was, of course, right there making an even bigger mess.

I go through her clothes pretty regularly so that was kind of done already. I realized all of her clothes would fit nicely on the top clothes rod so I took down the bottom one. That opened up her “play space” a lot more. And it is prettier that way, too.

I took out anything that didn’t belong in her closet and put it where it did belong elsewhere in the house. Genius, I am. This left more space on the top of the closet, so I moved all bags up there along with spare diapers, wipes, and things like the Bumbo that will be in use soon for Baby Sister. {Baby Sister’s closet is TINY, so she’ll have to share her big sister’s closet space a bit.}

PUZZLES AND TOYS

I rearranged and reorganized the shelves and bins. All of her puzzles are now easily accessible {I found all the missing pieces on the bottom of the closet!} on the shelves and there is even extra space if we need it. Hallelujah!

As promised before, I weeded out any toys I didn’t like or didn’t work very well or were too plastic-y/electronic/etc. and what is left fit nicely into that big brown basket in the corner. The only other bin on the floor is just her musical instruments, which she plays with all the time. Two extra bins were donated to Baby Sister’s closet.

FUNCTIONAL PLAY SPACE

I made it pretty. I added this handmade quilt my aunt made Little Bit to the wall for some color and softening. Since the closet doors are open all day, I wanted it to be colorful and pretty to look at.

I moved things around so there was more room to play. I put the doll crib that was taking up major space in her room into the closet. The big brown basket that used to be in the middle of the closet floor is now nicely in the corner.

ROOM TO GROW

I left room for changing needs and a growing girl. I’m pretty sure the play vacuum and two trains are going to come out and go somewhere else. And I know in a few months her play needs will change and I’ll rearrange and reorganize again. But this only took me about 2.5 hours total, even with pulling everything out. So even if I need to do this again in 4 months, it’s okay.

Ah, much better. It feels so good in her room now! Let me know if you decided to simplify anything this week!