Organizing a shared kids room

8 years ago

This is probably a no-brainer for some (most) of you, but I am very much organizationally challenged and need some help. I've found that I'm much more successful if I just adopt someone else's method and make my own little tweaks.

We have two girls sharing right now, one is almost 4 and the other is 1.5. How do you organize clothes and toys when your kids share a room? I need details, people. Right now we have a small three drawer dresser that serves as a changing table and a decently sized closet. I'd love to not have the changing table in there at all anymore in order to move toys out of the living room (we do have most toys in the basement, but we like to keep favorite books and smaller toys upstairs). We also have an Elfa system in the closet, so a number of the shelves could be switched out with the Elfa drawers. We have 3 in there already that were put in when just my oldest was using the room.

I know the first step is to purge. With #3 coming soon, and a kitchen reno starting in a few weeks, that will happen, but I need to have a functioning system in place if the purge isn't completed until after those two events occur.

HELP!

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Comments (4)

lazy_gardens
8 years ago
When I shared with my sister, we had chalk lines drawn on the floor, dividing up the floor space and the storage was divided precisely to the cubic inch.

Post a room plan, and check HOUZZ for shared rooms - there are some good ideas.

But first, PURGE!
gotgoatmilk
8 years ago
Purge. Get rid of the dressers if you can.

Designate shelves or drawers for each child in the closet and then plan out what will go in each. I've even grabbed a sharpie and labeled shelves and drawers. I use baskets for socks and undergarments (and usually keep those in the bathroom). Make sure you always put everything back where its supposed to go will help keep the closet cleaner and keep you saner.
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xarcady
8 years ago
I shared a room with my sister from the time she was 6 months old until I was in high school.

I think the first thing to do is determine what you want the girls to do in their room. Sleep, obviously. But what else? Will this be their main play area, or just a place for toy storage? Do they need a place to color and do crafts, which could turn into a homework spot in a few years? Do you need to store all their clothing in their room, or is there space for out of season clothing elsewhere? Where will you store the older kid's outgrown clothes until her younger sister is big enough to wear them? Do they need a little, quiet reading nook, or a noisy play space (with the baby coming, it might work to have a shut door between the kids during nap time)?What toys need to be stored in the room? Big ones that need floor space? Smaller ones that can go on shelves? Will you need bins or boxes for things that have multiply parts?

For the clothes, I'd more or less divide the closet in half, and store each child's clothing separate from the other. If you have a central column of drawers, the top half goes to one and the bottom half to the other.

You might want to have things as low as possible so that the 4 year old, at least, could put her own things away, and get dressed by herself.

And this might not work for your circumstances, but I have to share what my sister-in-law did with three kids under 5. She took a large, walk-in closet that was near the laundry room and put all the kids' clothes in it. The kids come downstairs in their pajamas in the morning, get dressed in the closet, and at night, they get changed into their PJs in the closet. It's just a few steps to the laundry room and the hamper. And when she has a load of clean clothes to put away, she just walks to the closet and stands in one place and puts it all away.

There's a combination of hanging rods, shelves and those plastic drawer units (for underwear and socks). The kids know exactly where their clothes go.

The only laundry that gets carried up and down stairs is the parents' and sheets and towels. The kids' bedroom closets get used for storing all their sheets and blankets and their toys.
neonweb US 5b
8 years ago
Love your sister in law....I thought I was the only person who put the clothes by the bathroom and the washing machine (where laundry is created and taken care of) instead of upstairs in their rooms. I used Ikea freestanding tall kitchen cabinets with ikea drawers and added hang rods for their clothing cabinets though. The setup is different than most, but I think laundry is done much quicker and easier.

I had to move all the toys out of the kids bedrooms because they would think they could get out of bed and play instead of sleep...and if one child did it, it would instigate the other one. So the bedroom is a quiet place. Only sleeping, time outs, and in the future homework is done in the bedroom. All the toys went into the loft as a playroom so they are not underfoot of our guests in the living room.

Personally, I do not think that all of a person's/childs belongings should be put in one room and labeled as THEIR space with THEIR stuff. OUR house is filled with OUR things where they make sense to have them. We share the whole house. Everyone has their own items, and own spaces- just not crammed together into one room. I.E. we all have our own pairs of shoes but they are stored in a closet by the entry door (where we put our shoes on to go out) together, not in each person's clothing closet.

So I completely agree that you need to figure out what you want in the room first before you know how to rearrange it, and just saying that it's okay to put the kids stuff in places outside of their bedroom if that works for you.

Organizing a shared kids room

Comments (4)

lazy_gardens

gotgoatmilk

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xarcady

neonweb US 5b

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