Organizing Closets for the Seasons

I promise I did not forget about you, my friends. 

I have been doing this all week: Organizing the children's closets.

Yes, that's right. ALL week.

Backstory: We live in a cozy home, so when the children were born we bought them each a convertible crib, a dresser, and an armoire that was to be used to house their clothing. Why, you ask...well, like I said, we live in a cozy home. So Chaz's "real" closet is a toy closet since we don't have a playroom and I'm not big on having a ton of toys throughout the house (even though we do have a giant play kitchen in our living room-best purchase ever I might add!). And Channing's closet, I'm sad to admit, has always been used mainly as a storage closet for my hope chest, wedding dress and other such things. Naturally, we knew we needed something to hold the children's clothes and I just LOVE the look of a nice armoire (in fact, we have 4 armoires throughout our home!). Hi. My name is Michelle. And I'm an amoire junky.

So twice a year, I do a wardrobe switch to maximize space. In March, I pull out all the children's warm weather clothing for Spring/Summer and in September, I pull out all their cold weather clothing for Fall/Winter. This is a huge task and I can always tell when it's time for the wardrobe switch because their armoires will start getting super cluttery and messy looking. As you can imagine, this drives me crazy!!! So even though closet/armoire organizing turns my house completely upside down for a week with clothes and storage tubs everywhere, it is totally worth it.

We are super fortunate to get tons of great hand-me-downs for both children...which is perfect for where we are in our lives right now with me being a stay-at-home-mama and our household living off of one income. Now, I'll be real honest with you. I have a love/hate relationship with hand-me-downs. The hardest part about hand-me-downs is storing them (especially when we get sizes that the children can grow into but have to be stored first). But the best part about them is that they save us soooo much money and the clothes that we don't have to return we get to pass along to others who can appreciate them in the same way we do. So to all my hand-me-down angels out there (you know who you are!), thank you for blessing our family and other families too!!!

Even if you don't live in a cozy home with little closet space like me, you should definitely go through your closets and pull out things you don't need/wear anymore at least twice a year. Your closet will thank you.

Now on to the fun stuff: organizing!

Channing gets a lot of hand-me-downs. Like A LOT. And she is at an age where she can wear most of her clothes for more than a year. Especially dresses...we always throw some leggings on under dresses that fit everywhere else but are just a tad too short. So I have 2 tubs that I keep up in her closet filled with Future Clothes-one for Fall/Winter and one for Spring/Summer. I know...my labels are super awesome. She also has a tub filled with shoes all bagged together by size. This girl has it made. 

Come take a peek in her armoire with me...

Even though the weather is getting cooler, it can still be quite warm in Texas through October. So I always keep a dozen or so short-sleeve shirts and a couple pairs of shorts available. Here in her armoire she has all of her shirts, light jackets/sweaters, and vests. She also has her bow/flower collection and her boots and special occasion shoes.

Her armoire also has these 2 super awesome drawers that are perfect for headbands and winter gear like hats, scarves, gloves, and arm/leg warmers. And I love keeping all her accessories all together like this. It makes it so easy to have everything all in once place!

Wait! There's more! Do you see why I LOVE armoires so much? We still have 2 large drawers to go!! The top drawer houses her jeans, colored pants, skirts, and leggings.

And the bottom drawer holds her shoes. We still keep some sandals out because of the fickle Texas weather.

Now, sadly, my armoire has disappointed me some as of late. But I knew this day would come. The majority of Channing's dresses are really too long to fit in the armoire anymore. So I had to make room for them in her actual closet. Come take a peek...

To the left I have seasonal shirts/outfits (like Halloween, Christmas, Valentines, etc). Then I have a few warmer weather dresses just in case. In the middle are the very important princess dress-up dresses (for easy access). You know the ones...The ones that you saved up for that are actually from THE Disney Store that you don't want to find wadded up and shoved under the bed. Yeah, we hang those. Then to the right I have her cooler weather dresses/outfits and big coats. This girl LOVES dresses!! Can you tell?

Now Chaz's wardrobe isn't as out of control. I am so thankful that God gave me a boy where the clothing choices are more minimal. All of his clothes fit in this beautiful piece of furniture. It's like a little present all wrapped up with a nice, neat bow. It makes me so happy. Let's look.

Short-sleeve shirts to the left. Long-sleeve to the right. I also love it that his armoire has 2 shelves inside it! Bonus!! Top shelf has winter gear and hats (in the red tub), some extra stylish hats to the right of that, then 2 piles of shorts. I love it that he can wear long-sleeve shirts with those shorts when the weather is kinda in-between. Bottom shelf is jeans, slacks, and athletic pants (Daddy's favorite!)

His armoire also has 2 drawers. Top drawer is dress-up stuff.

Bottom drawer is shoes. Don't you love how minimalist boys are???

So that is pretty much it! We do have a dresser in each of the children's rooms. That's where I keep linens for their beds, extra blankets, pjs, socks, and undergarments. And they each have a special spot for their baby books and photo albums so they can remember to not grow up too fast. :)

All this organizing for the cooler weather puts me in a giving mood. Check back soon for a fall/winter giveaway!!! :)