Wednesday, January 16, 2019

DIY shared closet transformation

I have been working on this post for months and finally just completed the project this week. It seems like it has gone on forever, partially because it wasn't a full priority and partially because trying to keep a 9 year olds room clean enough to take photos while simultaneously trying to complete a project is no easy task. But here we have it, just in time for our newest baby girl to enter the world any day now! I am going to share how we transformed a standard closet into a shared closet easily and cheaply with just a few steps and of course help from our friends at Ikea. Anyone else obsessed with Ikea as I am? If only we have one in our city. 

Just over a year ago I posted Sofia's bedroom reveal in our new home, remember that? It was her happy place and still currently is. Her room has been perfect for her but with the baby arriving this year we needed to make some adjustments since we only live in 800 sq ft (read about why our house is small in this post).  When I was first pregnant I would worry how Sofia would take the news, how are we going to add a baby with only 2 bedrooms, will she be okay sharing? The day we told her she was going to be a big sister (read all about that in this post!) her first  statement was "baby can share a room with me!" and once we found out it was a girl, she asked if baby girl could sleep with her the first night home from the hospital! Since then my mind has been at ease and I knew she would be okay with sharing!  I will do a full room refresh this summer (baby will be sleeping with us for the first few months) so her room hasn't changed much but the closet has been transformed! 


What we did:
Originally we had the top shelving unit (bough from Ikea 4 years ago) out of the closet on the ground in front of her window. We had all the pink baskets (bought on sale from Target 3 years ago) inside the cubes with her toys/books/electronics inside. This worked great and we loved it! However I noticed we had enough room above the clothes bar in her closet to put the shelf unit up top and it would create much more organized storage. The closet is split down the middle, half for Sofia and half for baby. I put things like diapers/extra wipes and toys in those top baskets. Sofia has a stool in her room so she can reach the baskets when she wants or she can ask for help and we will get it down for her.

The center organization system is the same shelving unit (kallax) from Ikea just the newer version, only $99. We attached it into the wall of course, we don't need any little babes pulling it down. Then we bough 4 sets of these drawers (come in sets of 2) called the kallax insert drawers only $20 and the white drona boxes only $5.99. (The tassels on the boxes are a DIY project I found from a post on Pinterest and absolutely loved the look). The entire unit all together costs under $200 and the best part is you can take the 4 bolts out of the wall and take it with you when you leave / want something else. 

We left the original top clothes bar in place, didn't seem to make much sense to cut it and figure out another solution since the shelving unit wasn't in the way. I am going to buy a little container for babies shoes (I love the gold trim glass boxes from Winners (or Marshalls) right now, and that will go next to Sofias jewelry box on the top shelf. We did decided to add a second level bar lower down for some extra hanging space. Since the closet goes in deeper to the right than it does to the left Sofia's side has much more space where babies is a bit smaller. Thats okay because baby has a small corner in our room as well, and lets be honest her clothes will be cycled out much quiet than a 9 year olds! 

I am so happy with the transformation of the closet. It has been a project I have been thinking of since we found out we were pregnant and it is now finally completed! We have more than enough space to keep everything organized.... at least for a but of time!