Rooms: Closets for Girls

Seems strange to gush about closets, I know, but I couldn't be happier with the way the new closets turned out in my girls' rooms! It was on my nesting list for Baby Girl #2 and somehow I managed to get Audrey's redone as well. The "before" scenario included a set of double doors, a big interior space and one hangling rod and one shelf across the top. Not a very good use of space. Especially when the clothing one is hanging ranges between 12 inches and 24 inches long! And for babies, and anyone these days really, it seems drawer space and folding space is so much more useful.

So we took the space and put in cabinets--used the same carpenter who did our kitchen cabinets. So we have in Audreys' room, three banks of cabinets. The first has hanging space (currently configured to double-hang) above and then a very deep (36") full-extension drawer beneath. I'm excited about these drawers for storing clothes, but also toys! Love the idea of tossing them in a drawer and closing it.

The middle bank of cabinets has shelves behind doors and then three deep drawers. haven't figured out how to use the shelves yet, it's a bit random, but it's just so great to have the space.

We put cubby holes all along the top because it's so awkward anyway getting to those top shelves inside closets and I thought I might as well use them more decoratively. Down the road this space could be filled with some sort of organization cubes or baskets and full of things. Or it could be full of books, or who knows what Audrey will come up with in a few years.

For now I love having some meaningful things in view in her room, such as some figurines that were prominent in my childhood (the mother and child was my mother's and reminds me of her and we used to talk about the brother and sister reading representing my brother and me), another that was a wedding gift to us, a set of baby china from my mother-in-law for Audrey, a great photo of Audrey on the beach with her Dad,...

...a Matroyshka doll my parents brought me from Romania, one of my mother's teapots, one of my Barberini Bee paintings from college, ...

...Audrey's birthday crown and a paper crown from Primary (church), and a picture my mother took of her when she was two days old, and books I'm looking forward to reading with her.

In Scarlett's room we have four banks of cabinets because the space is wider. But it's also shorter, so we lost the drawers all the way along the bottom. Given the two middle banks of drawers there is still plenty of room however.

Since I feel like Scarlett's walls are a bit blank it's especially nice to have some display space here. I have quilts from my great grandmothers, a figurine of my mother's, Scarlett's first Easter gift (the little lamb), some great books to look forward to,...

...some plates, teacups and teapots handed down from my mother, and this fun alphabet block sign:

When Audrey was born I took monthly photos of her lying next to alphabet blocks that spelled her age: 1 month, 2 months, etc.. It was a fun way to document her growth so I've continued it with Scarlett. Even more fun to have the numbers change in her nursery too.

So that's the story about the closets. So much more functional, and fun. And I think they are built to adapt to our girls' changing wardrobes and habits. We'll see.