So, we've had our little guy's room "in-progress" for like two years now. I just want to get it done and call it done. It's so close! Seriously! We have all the big ticket items: the bed, mattress, dresser, storage, rug, etc. All we need to do is finish the extras. We do plan on doing a hand-painted wall mural (which I am super excited to do) and I think I got Luke on board to do it during the few days he has off around Christmas. I'm really excited.
So, besides the wall mural, there are a few things that need to be addressed. Let's talk about the closet today. Fair warning, this photo was not censored and, yes, this is what the closet looks like 90% of the time!
So, I don't know if it is obvious what is wrong from the picture or not. Basically, you have to have the right closet door shut to open/close the door to the room. The room door hits the closet door all the time. Anyone would have a hard time remembering to always close the door (or to open the door to the closet then close the door to the room) but with a preschooler, it's that much harder. So, about a year ago, we took the right closet door off the hinge so that the two doors didn't hit. We never put it back on or addressed the issue.
This isn't related to what I'm talking about, but totally check out that beautiful white door compared to the yellow dingy doors! We've made it so far in getting rid of all the dingy doors and baseboards, but as you can tell... we still have more to go!
Ok, back to closet door/room door issues.
Basically, I think there are three options to solve this.
Kid's Closet Ideas
Option 1
Hang curtains instead of doors. Dana from HouseTweaking did this and it looks so good! She has them in quite a few of their rooms. Some inside mount (inside closet) and others mounted with a curtain rod on the outside.
I found another curtain option at HGTV.
They used a hospital curtain track to mount the curtains. I can't really tell if if's mounted on the door jam or on the inside, but I do like the look of it.
Option 2
I think his room could pull off a modern-style barn door.
I like this one by BHG but his room would have to have a double-wide that rolled to the left-side.
Here's a pretty modern example of a double-wide via Houzz.
One concern that I have with this option is that they are all shown open. They are pretty when they are open, but that defeats the purpose of what I'm trying to do (hide the clutter in the closet). When you look at a few images with the door closed, your eye immediately gets drawn to the track. When the door is open, it's a nice visual for your eye and the track just kind of blends in.
Option 3
Half closet / Half Reading Nook
I can't quite picture how this would work exactly. We can't get rid of all of our hanging clothes. We need some space to hang stuff and a few shelves. Right now, everything is so disorganized. I could pair down more when I got organized.
Maybe something like this:
(image unknown )
We are not as minimalistic (wish we were) as the owners of that closet but I could have a shelf on the top with some baskets with toys and junk. That option gets rid of the closet doors, but still allows for some hanging clothes without it looking crazy.
Here's another similar one:
I don't know. Anyone have any good ideas? This is what's halting the progress in his room. I wish I could just finish it up and call it done! Anyways, I would love any ideas you guys have!
Image Credits : HGTV, BHG, Houzz, Unknown, and Ballard Remodel
Jennifer @ Brave New Home
Okay, can I just say that your "before" image actually inspired me? Yes, there are worst closets out there 😛
Kids develop so quickly it's challenging to keep up with their ever changing needs so it's no surprise it's taken this long for the design to be completely done. Hrm...I think you could totally pull off the modern barnyard option. If you're concerned with the rod drawing too much attention making you could add something visually heavy to the wall to the left of the closet to balance it out? And I'm sure you've considered it but what about accordion closet doors?
And is that a floor pillow I see above the pouf or a regular pillow? Been looking for floor pillows.
I'm so excited to see how this project pans out!
Ashley Mayes
Oh my, ha! The rod drawing attention is exactly what I don't like. However, I did see the other day that Vintage Revivals did one where she had artwork on the wall and the door just closed over it. It was pretty interesting.
As far as the pillow, its from Ikea and it's just a pillow. You can't see it, but we do have a double floor pillow (actually outdoor cushion) on the floor as well under all those blankets.
Urban Outfitters has some really cool floor pillows and other than that, have you checked out the dog beds at TJMaxx or Marshalls? I totally could see them being floor pillows as well.
Jennifer @ Brave New Home
Thanks for the tips! I'll have to keep an eye out for those.
Charlotte
I really love the reading nook! Mainly because I could really see a kid loving having a raised platform to crawl up into. It also makes the clothes accessible to him, which in our guys case when we lowered his clothes so he could pick them out we stopped having all the clothes battles we were having with him! I think you could definitely arrange it so that you had more storage than the photos show.
Ashley Mayes
Luke really loves that option as well (color me surprised!). I think Greyson would get a ton of use out of it, but I do wonder how many years it would support him. I guess it probably wouldn't be super expensive and if we thought about it really well before we did it, then we could always just take out the shelf nook and move the whole thing up when he gets older. Hmm, I need to think about it more!
Marybeth
I like the nook idea, but I think I would flip it and have the nook on the floor and the hanging stuff up high. They won't use the elevated nook as they get older (they'll get too big!) and then you're left with a nook to deal with... Also... my kids don't pick out their own clothes or hang them up (shame on me!), so it would be me hanging clothes on that super low rod. Plus, I can't lie, one of my kids is not the most graceful and the other is super active, so I can predict many falls for them from the closet nook. Now I'm inspired to rip out closets!
Ashley Mayes
That's a good point about me having to pick them off a super low shelf! My guy is super cautious but curious, so I think the nook would actually fit his personality but I'm sure falls would happen. Geez, who would have thought closet designing/organizing would have been so hard!
Kyla @HouseOfHipsters
I love the idea of the reading nook. I know my little guy likes to get away from his sister and that would be perfect for us. I think it is super cute for Grayson, and you could add some artwork and help him make it his little private area. So cool! We wound up just installing an Elfa system from Container Store. Both kids have so much junk. It just accumulates. Elfa makes it much more manageable for us, but it's not pretty to look at without doors.
The barn door is super cool. One word of caution, I have a huge metal one for my office door and they tend to be heavy. I think mine is about 200 lbs. Even though it is on a track, when it gets close to the wall, I tend to get nervous with little fingers. It's just heavier than a normal door. I'm probably just being paranoid. They do look super cool though. Besides, a person has 10 fingers. How many do you really need?
Ashley Mayes
We have lots of junk as well but we have a never before seen playroom that houses most of it! I saw lots of systems like the Elfa, but since it's not going to be behind close doors that bothers me. Good point on the barn door. I had no idea that they were that heavy. I think my husband has vetoed that anyways. He always proofs my posts and was 100 % on board with the reading nook. I didn't think he would want to do another project, but I'm not complaining! =)