10 Creative Storage Ideas for Kids’ Rooms- Guest Post

This is a guest post from http://www.housekeeping.org  I felt it was appropraite to share since I am in the process of reorganizing the house!  :) Getting ready for winter! 

From the time your child is born until the day she moves out of your house, storage space in her bedroom is likely to always be at a high premium. From the wide array of infant paraphernalia to the precious items collected by a teenager throughout her adolescent years, there will never be a time when your child doesn’t have a wealth of items that need a designated space. With these 10 tips, you can be on your way to an organized child’s room in less time than you may think.

1. Toy Racks – Those wooden racks with brightly colored plastic bins nestled inside that you see in daycare centers and preschool classes don’t have to be restricted to institutional use, and can be great choices for storing your child’s playthings. Handy parents might try their hand at building the racks themselves, but they’re available from several online retailers as well.
2. Personalized Metal Buckets – Kids love things that bear their name, favorite color, or other personalized details. Painting and applying decals to galvanized metal buckets allows you to tie them in with the rest of the decorative theme so that they provide a stylish, fun storage option.
3. Storage Beds – When space in a child’s room is limited, it’s important to make sure that as many items as possible do double duty. In most cases, the bed is the largest piece of furniture in a child’s room. Opting for a storage bed, with drawers in the bottom and shelves along the head and foot boards can help you maximize the potential of the space.
4. Wooden Crates – Right now, wooden crates are all the decorating rage. Whether they’re reclaimed from salvage yards and flea markets or purchased new, these fashionable and functional pieces are great if you need some extra storage space. Adding wheels to the bottoms also allows kids to move them more easily, which is a major bonus when they’re still small.
5. Hanging Baskets – Intended for storing produce, hanging baskets with three graduated sizes are inexpensive and provide a surprising amount of storage for small trinkets and miscellaneous toys that don’t seem to fit anywhere else.
6. Storage Ottomans and Benches – Add seating and storage to your child’s room in one fell swoop by springing for a few storage ottomans or benches. These nifty items open to reveal storage space, but masquerade as comfy seating when the lids are replaced. They’re available from a variety of retailers and come in a vast array of styles and every color option imaginable.
7. Hat Boxes – Round hat boxes are funky and useful, storing small toys when your child is little, then mementos and photographs as she gets older. While you can find actual vintage hat boxes at flea markets and other out-of-the-way places, craft and hobby stores almost always stock plain brown ones that you can personalize, tailoring them specifically to the color scheme and décor of your child’s room.
8. Peg Walls – Those peg walls that are mostly seen in garages and workshops can be interesting and functional installations in kids’ rooms as well. Rather than leaving them unfinished, paint them in a shade that compliments the color scheme and use all of that space to hook small baskets and a variety of items to the wall. Because everything will be in plain view, you’ll never have to help your child search for a missing toy again.
9. Photo Boxes – Intended to store snapshots safely and protect them from damage, photograph boxes are becoming a favorite organizational item for adults’ home offices and studies. Because they’re available in a variety of colors, constructed from relatively sturdy cardboard, and feature a prominent space for a label, they can also be a great choice for kids’ rooms.
10. Display It! – If your little girl has an affinity for dress-up and a few particularly pretty items, or your son has an impressive collection of a specific item that he’d like to display, making those things a prominent décor feature helps the room to reflect more of your child’s individual personality, makes them easily accessible to their pint-sized owners, and frees up precious space for storing less aesthetically pleasing pieces.

While some of these ideas will be outgrown as your child gets older, others can grow up with her. Sometimes, applying a fresh coat of paint or dressing up with a bit of fabric to match an updated décor is enough to make old items seem new again, so it’s wise to think twice before tossing all of the storage systems she’s had in place since childhood.