Ever look at your child's bedroom and wonder how it got that way? Clothes all over, toys, stuffed animals and dolls thrown around in a disheveled mess. The bed, although made up, still doesn't help the look of the room. Sounds familiar? Well, I did just that last weekend. I looked at my daughter's room and could not bear to enter it. After looking around, I decided it wasn't just a matter of having her clean it up, but it was, in fact, that she had nowhere to put her toys and belongings. Or at least, she didn't have enough room for everything. Remember, this is a 6 year old I'm talking about. She doesn't know the meaning of the word organization. So, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.
The First Step - Sorting

We made different piles for the toys, dolls (with a different pile for all the tiny clothes and accessories that they come with), stuffed animals, arts and crafts, and books etc. The larger items we sorted separately as well. Anything she didn't want anymore, we put in a bag to be donated.
Then we stood back and tried to figure out where to put it all. We decided to take the closet door off of her closet and made an area on the unused floor for the toys. This is a 10 x 10 room we're talking about. Creativity is a must when organizing it. I found a small shelving unit in my basement that would fit perfectly in her closet. I added a few baskets and began throwing the sorted toys in a predetermined basket. One for dolls, another for arts and crafts... you get the idea. We allowed space for some of the larger toys to sit on the shelves and stood the books up neatly. Looked great but it needed one more thing. Beaded curtains. That's right, beaded curtains come in every color and style imaginable. We chose a purple iridescent one to match her room and hung it up to replace the door we took off. We now had a closet space that is multi-functional and adds more space to a very small room.
Now, what to do with all the stuffed animals she wouldn't part with. After much consideration I decided to build up as there was nowhere else to go in her room. We made a wall to wall shelf over her window and stored all the stuffed animals there. When she wants to play with them, she just has to ask, and we take it down for her. They are out of the way and actually acts as decoration for her room not an eye sore as before.
2nd Step - Clothes
I decided that at 6 years old, my daughter needed to be able to have easy access to her daily wear. Her dressy clothes for special occasions and church etc. were hung in her closet. Anything that she would wear on a daily bases were then placed in her armour. We used the smaller drawers for her underwear, socks, belts etc. The larger drawers were used for her school clothes (jeans, tops etc.) and another drawer for pajamas. Other foldable clothes that she didn't wear as often or hadn't yet grown into were placed separately out of her reach in the armour.

3rd Step - A place for Dirty Clothes

Pop up hampers. The greatest invention. They look good and you can get one to match any room or decor. Princess is the theme in this room. So, of course, we have a princess hamper. We placed that in the corner of her closet and her dirty clothes scattered all over the room is now solved.

4th Step - Knick Knacks

The hardest part to the organization was where to put all the little decorative stuff. You know, the trophy's, ornaments, pictures etc. With so many things, where do you put it all in a small bedroom? This is where some creativity as well as decorating skills come in. We decided to put up shelving on the walls for her to display her knick knacks. With all the different types of shelves and shadow boxes out there, following your rooms theme decor is easy. With that said, we put shelves up on 2 of her 4 walls. Staggered them for interest and got to work displaying her stuff. Her room was organized and still had personality - her personality. All of her things were proudly and neatly displayed. She was very happy.
5th Step - Decorative Hooks

Another easy thing to do is put decorative hooks behind her door or in the open for displaying things that can be hung. My daughter loves to wear her robe daily and always has jackets or hats laying around her room. Sometimes she wears something that she doesn't want to put in her hamper, but wear again later that day or week. These items can be hung on hooks placed strategically around her room. It's an easy and effective way to keep the clothes off the floor. If you prefer not to see the clothes, put the hooks on the wall behind her door. It keeps the clothes etc. out of site but still accessible.
6th step - Under Bed Storage

With so many different options for storage bins, boxes etc., utilizing the wasted space under the bed is now easier than ever. I picked up an under bed storage unit for storing all the seasonal clothes, So now my daughter has a place for clothes that she will not be wearing for a few months. The winter clothes are swapped out for the summer clothes and vise versa. This works great for us and she doesn't have to filter through a lot of clothes to get to the stuff she needs now. Storing away clothes with the change of seasons makes everyone's life much easier and keeps the drawers and closets neat, tidy and uncluttered.

So now that my daughter's room is organized, she and I feel much happier. She loves her room and works hard on keeping it organized and tidy. Her friends always compliment her on her room and that makes her feel special. I hope this will motivate you and act as a guide the next time you undertake a room organization task. I think the main thing I found is that you need to have a place for everything. If you have a place dedicated for a certain item, it's that much easier to put it back there when you're done using it. A simple concept, but one that seems to elude a lot of us.

See my article coming soon on “Decorating a girls bedroom”.

Written by: Marcia Pasram