Oliver’s Closet

In the nursery closet we have a small white dresser that has been priceless for storing out-of-season and next-size-up clothes. It’s easy to access so I can see what we’re working with for an upcoming season and has made my life SO MUCH EASIER with a growing kid. Staying organized is hard, but I have found that knowing what we have and being able to buy off-season clothing for next year has saved us a lot of money on clothes. Anything Oliver has grown out of (or will grow out of by next year if I’m switching out seasons) is put into a storage tub that’s also in the closet, and when that’s full the clothes go into a bigger bin destined for the attic.

I want to keep this system in place for baby boy #2 - using the same dresser for off-season and next-size- up clothes from Oliver’s attic tubs (I have some serious sorting and organizing ahead of me). Both boys will be born in the same season so sizing shouldn’t be much of an issue and I’ll just fill in here and there where I need to. I also want to keep this system in place for Oliver in his new room, which meant getting a second small dresser for his new closet.

It’s the RAST dresser from IKEA. Currently it’s unfinished but for now it’s still perfectly usable and since it lives in the closet, it doesn’t matter much. Someday I’ll want to finish it I’m sure. The tub on top of the dresser is for outgrown clothes. I don’t hang a lot of Oliver’s stuff - just his polos, jackets, sweatshirts and dress clothes. I want to add a hook or two for his Halloween costumes so he can wear them when he wants (though currently he can pull them down off the hanger pretty easily).

The cedar planks on the closet walls and paint-splattered wood flooring came with the house. We never carpeted any of the closets because it's much easier to keep wood floors clean.

We also put hooks up on the inside of the closet door, just like I did in the nursery. They are the perfect height to hang things like his school backpack and sweatshirts that aren’t dirty yet. This time I asked Oliver what animals he wanted and he insisted on an elephant, a frog and a zebra. I told him we only had room for 2 hooks but he explained that the zebra was supposed to be above the elephant and frog with no hook. Okay! The elephant is the closest my home printer could get to match a swatch of the navy ceiling paint and the green frog ties in the bedding. It's lighter in the photos than it is in real life. I really like how they came out!