The following is a guest post from regular contributor, Rachel at Useful Beautiful Home.
I’m enjoying Laura’s series on closet organization! Not because I love organizing closets as much as she does (well, maybe I do just a little) but because I love seeing the transformations, reading tips/tricks, and receiving encouragement to tackle my own trouble spots. In light of that, I hope you’ll feel the same as I show you how I organized my daughter’s skirts to fit her preschool needs.
Recently I completed a major overhaul in my daughter’s closet. One “problem area” in the closet were skirts. She wouldn’t wear them because they were tucked away in a dresser drawer (out of sight, out of mind problem). I tried hanging the skirts on latching hangers, but those are tricky for a small child to operate.
I ended up installing the elfa closet system (sold at The Container Store) to organize all her clothing. It’s highly versatile, will rearrange as her items change/grow, and can be easily uninstalled if we should move to a different home.
One new piece they recently added to the collection is called the White elfa Double Rail. It’s usually pictured in office arrangements for organizing things like magazines. The width of the rail is 2 feet wide and hooks into the elfa wall standards like this.
I thought the Double Rail might be an excellent solution to our skirt problem. My idea was to use the rail similar to a clothing line but against the wall. I can’t describe it much better than that, so I’ll show you in the picture below how I staggered her little skirt collection.
Hanging Skirts:
I used two sets of rails and hung them vertically spaced apart in her closet arrangement. The top one hangs at her eye level, making all the skirts easily visible. Two of them together hold about 10 skirts without over crowding.
I did a little research to find an easy clip that would fit over the diameter of the Double Rail. I wanted something that would stay in place and not fall off when a skirt is removed. In the end, I used another Container Store product called Olka clips.
Someone told me they were designed for arthritic hands, which also makes them easy for a child to use. My 4-year-old has no trouble removing a skirt nor does she find it frustrating/difficult to “hang” a skirt back on the rail.
When the skirts land in our organized laundry hampers, the leftover Olka clips remain in place. You can’t tell easily in the picture below, but they actually close around the bar making them incapable of accidentally falling off the rail.
My method was simple for designing this reach-in closet, identify the problems and find child friendly solutions. When I say identify, I mean that I literally wrote down each of the problems I noticed my child having and then brainstormed a solution to fit her small closet space. Her skirt railing is just one example, I’ll be back next time with additional kid friendly closet tips.
If you aren’t familiar with my writings, then I encourage you to take a look at some of my past posts here at OrgJunkie. These are suggestions and generalizations for your own inspiration. Please adapt and mold them to your family’s preferences and understand I don’t write with a one-size-fits-all mentality. Not everything will apply to you, but my hope is that you will be encouraged one way or another by what will work in your home!
In the professional world, I’m a nurse by trade. But, around our house, I’m known as Mommy to our young daughter. My two worlds collided and began shaping into a blog. Useful Beautiful Home represents the hours I’ve dedicated to managing my household as efficiently as possible. I offer you motivation to keep your home healthy, organized, and welcoming. My goal is to share what I’ve implemented in my home to inspire you with fresh ideas and to encourage you to keep up the good work in yours!
Jody @ Mommy Moment says
I think this is a genius idea! I love that the child can do it independently and that it even helps with hand-eye coordination for young children.
Rachel@Useful Beautiful Home says
Thanks Jody! Good point about helping with hand-eye coordination!