You thought you were somewhat organized before parenthood, but those days are long gone. Now, your children’s toys, building blocks, stuffed animals and books are cluttering the entire house! There are so many ways to control the toy clutter and get your kids involved. In addition, these little tips can provide you with not only a functional space, but will complement your home décor.

Playroom Organization 101

Discard or Donate

Broken toys can pose hazards to children. Either repair broken toys or discard them. If your children have toys they simply have out grown, encourage your kids to donate them to others less fortunate.

Think function!

Involve the kids when designing their playroom; however, make sure to incorporate loads of storage within! Closet Tailors are experts and can help optimize your children’s storage space.

Have different activity stations.

Create different play stations in the playroom; this will help keep things orderly. Closet Tailors can design a space with flat file drawers, pull out baskets, vertical storage slots with adjustable cubbies to corral craft projects. If your kids need a computer center, Closet Tailors experts can design a kids office where they can do their homework and play. Lastly, Closet Tailors can design a library to house your children’s books, collectables, and stuffed animal zoo!

Keep cleaning simple.

Categorize your kids belonging. Separate the big stuff from the little. Incorporate bins, storage units, shelving, and baskets to organize the toy clutter. Having a place for the kids’ belongings will make cleaning much easier and less frustrating. Also, kids are more acceptable to cleaning when everything has a specific place it belongs. A label maker for organizing is handy for labeling and categorizing different drawers and bins, so supplies are located quickly and easy to put away.

Getting the kids involved with cleaning.

It is a smart idea to encourage your kids at an early age about organization and that everything has a place. Consider creating a house rule that the kids tidy-up before the next activity they want to start. Or make up a game to encourage your kids; how fast can you tidy-up or who is the fastest cleaner?

More than ever, consumers are choosing products for their homes that minimally impact the environment. Closet Tailors proudly uses UltraBlend™panels produced from 100% pre- consumer recycled materials by Roseburg Forest Products, to meet the growing consumer demand for eco-conscious products.

UltraBlend has been certified as an Environmentally Preferable Product by Scientific Certification Systems, a neutral third-party environmental testing and certification organization. This certification confirms Roseburg’s commitment to conserving natural resources, and affirms that they are a very efficient producer of wood products. In order to attain this certification, a producer must submit a formal plan that includes reforestation, monitoring practices and protection of the forest's biological diversity.

Roseburg was among the first in the industry to set aside some of its own land in order to study and improve upon fish habitat. They prefer more environmentally-friendly harvesting options such as helicopter logging to protect the soils that grow their trees and the animals that inhabit the forest floor. And Instead of using fossil fuel to power their plant, they use natural remnants like bark and branches which produces enough clean power to run their entire operation without emitting smoke or VOCs in to the air.

We at Closet Tailors take a great deal of pride in our partnership with Roseburg. They are not only in the business of producing quality wood products, but also of conserving natural resources for future generations.

For more information on Environmentally Preferable Products and
Scientific Certification Systems, visit
http://www.scscertified.com/

Make Your Clothes Fit… Without Dieting

Every fall we swap summer’s shorts and t-shirts for fall’s corduroys and sweaters. This is also a perfect opportunity to square away your closet. Here are some of our tips for making your fall wardrobe fit… without dieting!

You’ll need:

• 2-3 hours for a small closet; 3-4 hours for a larger closet or walk-in; Dresser, too? Add another 1-2 hours
• A vacuum
• Damp cloths
• Baskets or bags for sorting
• A table (nice to have)
• A hanging rod (nice to have)

GET STARTED!

• Start by emptying your closet. All of it must go!!! Place folded items on the table and hanging items on the rack.
• Find other homes for items that are not clothes. Put photo albums and books in a bookcase, seasonal decorations can be placed into labeled storage bins and housed elsewhere. Broken items should be tossed or recycled. Items that you no longer use but are still usable can be donated to your favorite charity. This will free up precious space for your wardrobe!
• Vacuum your closet thoroughly. Get into the nooks and crannies. This is probably the one time you are able to get into all the nooks and crannies. Take advantage of it! Wipe the rods with the damp cloth and inspect any hooks to make sure they aren’t rusting, and damaging your clothing.
• Now, start sorting your clothes into four categories:
  • Keep
  • Donate
  • Throw away
  • Repair
• Take the throw away pile to the trash bin. Place the items to be donated into the donation bin. Move the items to be repaired to the appropriate area. Put a date on the pile, because if you haven’t repaired them in six month’s time, chances are slim you ever will, and they should be donated.
• Collect all the hangers. If you have a rainbow of colors, separate the hangers by color. The goal is to use only one color hanger per person or per wardrobe. Perhaps use black for your fall/winter wardrobe, gray for transitional items and white for your summer wardrobe. Why? Using one color of hanger through a whole closet will make your closet look neater and more organized immediately!
• Now, turn your energy to the items that you wish to keep. Separate these into three categories:
  • Fall/Winter – Chunky sweaters, boots, woolens
  • Transitional – camisoles, t-shirts and other items that can be layered or worn alone
  • Spring/Summer – Shorts, lightweight cottons, etc
• Pack the Spring/Summer items in appropriate storage containers and store in a dark, cool and dry area. They are clothing so feel free to store them in the closet if you have the space.

Now, evaluate your space.

Count how many of each item you have. How many shirts, pants, sweaters, boots, shoes, etc. Map out your closet. Consider folding sweaters and placing on a shelf rather than stuffing them into a drawer or – gasp! – hanging them in the closet. Consider where your shoes should go. Back on the floor or in a shoe rack or shoe shelf.

If this step seems daunting or you determine that you really need a closet organizer, call one of the space designers at Closet Tailors. They’ll plan a space to fit your needs and will adjust to your seasonal wardrobe! If you have an impressive shoe collection, Closet Tailors can design a storage solution that will showcase it beautifully. If sweaters are your thing, we’ll design shelving that will allow you to see all your treasures. The more you see them, the more likely you are to wear them. Invaluable extras are available, too. Coordinate your outfit the night before and hang it from a valet rod. Store belts and ties on appropriate racks. Add tilt-out hamper bins for whites and darks, and make laundry day less of a chore.

Once you have the right storage solution in place, put your seasonal wardrobe back.
Enjoy the satisfaction of your perfectly organized closet!

If you are familiar with the ABC program Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Sundays, 8/7c on ABC), you know that the team works with lots of local companies to complete a house for a deserving family in the span of one week. Typically, the family has a particular need that the house needs to help meet.

The project in Billings, Montana was no different. The challenge the Closet Tailors space designers were asked to provide a custom storage solution for was that the family needed all items in the closet to be accessible at eye-level or below.

If you’ve seen new closet designs, you know that vertical space is used to stack short hanging items to virtually double hanging space in a closet. So, would the Closet Tailors designers be able to solve the storage challenge presented by Extreme Makeover: Home Edition?

Indeed, Closet Tailors was able to resolve the challenge with a product called a wardrobe lift. A wardrobe lift allows designers to take advantage of vertical space, but allows the user to lower the entire rod for easier viewing and access.

The wardrobe lift can hold up to 33 pounds of clothing on a steel rod that can be lowered using an ergonomic handle, then secured safely above other clothing. The wardrobe lift features a reinforced T-bracket and bumpers to add protection.

This system is ideal for anyone who has difficulty reaching items overhead.

We were thrilled to work on the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project and hope the family enjoys their closet solution for years to come.