ONE ROOM CHALLENGE - NURSERY [WEEK FIVE]

Organizing the Nursery Closet

The one positive trend to come out of 2020, is making organizing cool thanks to The Home Edit.

For me, organizing has been a requirement of survival because I grew up with an OCD mom then married an OCD husband! I wish I was joking!

Organizing the nursery as first time parents was challenging, because we didn’t know what we didn’t know in terms of baby clothes sizes and the amount of baby products that will be accumulated. Enter: the best friends a girl could ask for! My friends have been instrumental in talking me through baby clothing sizes, newborn laundry habits, and storage requirements. Not to mention, they have been beyond generous in sharing the hand me down clothing from their adorable little boys! I’m no expert, but I would say Baby Z is set for the first few years of life on clothing already!

For the nursery closet, we started off with a blank builder grade slate. The builder grade shelving is typically unthought out and often times unusable with overlapping closet shelf corners (my biggest pet peeve!). After receiving hand me down clothing from a few different friends, we sorted everything by size into bins. For a short time - the nursery closet was a hot mess, I'm pretty embarrassed to show you the "Before" photo, but here it is : )

We added a cabinet with three drawers and a granite countertop which I inherited from an old design showroom. Another "DSY" (do SOME yourself) project we did to the Nursery was adding two additional shelves to the closet. We found a primed bullnose closet shelf at Home Depot that was the same depth as the ones the builder used. We had our measurements ready when we picked up the wood at Home Depot and used their complimentary cutting service to have a professional cut the shelf material to the size we needed. After painting the new shelves and adding concealed brackets - we gained some much needed shelf space for future books and toys!

Storage Containers + Baby Hangers

Before buying storage containers, we took an inventory of everything we had + then predicted what type of storage we will need in the future. We decided to hang all of the onsies and "day outfits" in sizes 0 month- 9 month. We then put all the pajamas and swaddles into the changing table dresser drawers. How cute are these baby hangers!? We went with velvet ones per a recommendation from a friend that baby clothes will stay on better. These hangers are the Casafield 50 Velvet Baby Hangers - 11" Size for Infant & Toddler Clothes - Gray from Amazon for $21.49 which I linked here. I also found these rod dividers to help us sort the baby clothes by size. They are called the Baby Nest Designs Closet Dividers for Baby Clothes [Unisex Boho] from Amazon and are only $14.99 which I linked here.

For the baby clothes we did not yet put on hangers in sizes 9 months-24 months, we got oversized storage baskets that fit well on the top shelves. The tricky part in buying the containers was being mindful of the builder grade shelf depth. Our shelves are only about 11" deep, so we wanted to make sure the containers did not overhang the shelves! We also found closed top storage containers for any future sentimental items or toys. I've linked these below!

Foldable Storage Baskets Set of 3 (Amazon: $18.69)

Chloe and Cotton Woven Fabric Cube Storage Baskets Jute White with Handles (Amazon: $35.94)

White Nordic Storage Baskets with Handles (Container Store: $35.94)

We plan to add a bit more color to the closet, but feel much better on how the closet organization is shaping up!

To see the other amazing room transformation and cheer on all the designers participating in the Fall 2020 One Room Challenge, visit: https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/orc-blog