Storage in a Baby Closet

A kid’s closet often becomes a toy graveyard, a play fort and a laundry nightmare. Learn how to incorporate the special needs of a child while keeping the closet neat enough for practical use.

First, consider what you absolutely need to keep in the closet. Because of the tipping hazard of dressers, many parents have eliminated bedroom furniture in children’s rooms. This may elevate the need for closet storage. Without a plan, this can quickly become a problem area. Kids have so many clothes. They often have lots of pajama sets. If they are potty training, they may have a lot of underwear or you may need storage for diapers and wipes in the closet. You may have sentimental outfits and dress clothes that you really want to keep hung.

You can keep the hanging bar in place and create space around it. Another option would be to cut two or three short bars, easily done with a pipe cutter, and make a multi-level hanging bar. You can make the first deep shelf about three or four feet high and build from there. An easy place to start would be to hang a fabric collapsible closet shelf system from the hanging bar to the shelf for things like socks, underwear, diapers, and pajamas. This option is preferable to some parents because it is easily removed and replaced when the needs of the child changes.

You can also build cubby-hole shelves up each side of the large bottom shelf. Three-sided movable shelves that are easily moved around are also great for creating an extra level of storage on the large shelf. You can even invert the three-sided shelf and attach it with L-brackets to the top shelf, creating a hanging shelf for things that you want to keep out of reach, such as first-aid kits, games with a lot of pieces or children’s paints.

Smaller cubby-hole shelves are great for storing games and toys, extra batteries and keepsakes. You can create all kinds of storage while still leaving the bottom of the closet empty. Here you can keep a laundry basket, large stuffed animals, or build more shelves. Leaving this area clear allows your child to climb in and play. You could even paint windows with views in the bottom of the closet. Add a battery powered light under the bottom shelf, a couple of pillows, and your kids have a special place to play. Make sure that you do not place lamps or other lights that create heat inside of a child’s closet.

Hang those special outfits and dress clothes out of reach up high on the bar. Use the top shelf for blanket and suitcase storage. Bins with children’s sheets or out of season clothing can be stored up high where they do not get rummaged through or dumped out. This is a good place to store clothes that your child hasn’t grown into yet. You can easily access them when the time comes to put them into the rotation. Use baby hangers to protect the precious items that you hang. Conventional hangers are made for adult clothing. They can snag, stretch and tear delicate little kids’ clothing. This is a closet that you and your child will enjoy for years to come.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of baby hangers. The right infant hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Choosing Children’s Clothes Hangers

Choosing the right children’s clothes hangers for the child in your life can be difficult. There are so many designs and materials to choose from. Does it really matter which one you pick? Yes, in fact it does. There are a few things to consider when looking at all of your children’s clothes hanger options.

Kids’ clothing costs a lot. They outgrow everything so fast that you end up buying a new wardrobe every season of the year. The last thing you need is to have to buy more due to damage by shotty hangers. Investing a small amount in some high-quality childrens hangers can not only save your child’s clothes, but keep them in great shape for resale or hand-me-downs.

Tiered hangers are great for saving space and also for having complete outfits ready at a moment’s notice. A five tiered hanger is great for getting school clothes ready for the week. Kid’s clothes are so much smaller than adult’s clothing, that you can easily hang five pairs of pants from the waist on a five tiered hanger. The child can reach up to the pants and pull them down all on their own. The hanger will not break or go flying, causing a hazard to the child and other garments. The clothing will simply slip out of the clips and the child is proud of getting ready all by themselves.

Wooden hangers for children are always a beautiful addition to the closet. Wooden hangers are very beautiful and durable. Smooth finishes will keep clothes from snagging, while rubber or foam grips will keep the clothes from sliding off. Wooden hangers can be monogram stamped and personalized with your child’s initials or other emblem. Wooden hangers are great heirlooms and also make uniquely useful baby shower gifts.

Glam hangers are really fun for a child’s closet. These hangers are beaded and come in a variety of colors. Color coordinating the closet with the rest of the room is a fun and exciting activity for you and your child.

If you opt for plastic or acrylic children’s clothes hangers, make sure that there are no sharp edges or seams that you can feel. These can cut little fingers and also snag expensive clothing. Make sure that you get a heavy gauge plastic or acrylic so that the hangers cannot be broken very easily. You do not want the hangers in the closet to become a hazard to the child.

Keeping in mind safety, style and how well the hangers protect the clothing will help you make the right choice when you are buying childrens clothes hangers.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Children’s Closet Organization for Winter

Children’s hangers are the first step to creating space in a child’s closet. The hangers you choose do not have to be boring either. Velvety smooth kids Slim-Line hangers are available in exciting colors like pink, lime-green, blue and lavender. You can color code your child’s closet, dividing different types of clothing on different hangers, or you can simply match the children’s hangers to the room decorations and paint.
Another exciting way to spice up a kid’s closet is to decorate it with Glam Hangers. These beaded beauties are sure to encourage your child to hang their clothes and keep their closet looking nice!
Winter often means bringing out all of those bulky sweaters and coats. Space is the biggest concern among parents organizing their kid’s closet for winter. Many parents have found the use of bins or laundry baskets useful for things like winter boots or stacks of sweaters. Coats can be taken out of the equation if you hang them on hooks outside of the closet or on the inside of the closet door.
Slim-Line children’s hangers are very flat and keep clothing not only on the hanger, but hanging very close together so that they stay organized without taking up extra space. Another space saver that can actually save you almost 50% of your space is the use of cascading hooks or finger clips. These attach to the children’s Slim-Line hangers and allow you to really get organized.
You can use the hooks or clips to hang the bottoms with the tops. For example, you can hang a pair of pants with each shirt or sweater on the same hanger, freeing up the space that would be taken by the pants on a shelf or on the hanger alone. Some people even like to use the finger clips to clip socks and underwear to the pants, so that kids can easily get up in the morning, pick an outfit and get themselves completely dressed for school in record time. Talk about getting organized!
A kid’s closet may need to accommodate a lot of extras during the winter months. Shoe pocket hanging pouches make great places to store scarves, gloves and hats for the winter. Small bins are useful and inexpensive as well. Remember to keep everything on your child’s level. Kids as young as two or three can learn to take care of their own things. The earlier you start the better off you will be. Cute children’s hangers can be a good motivators on their own!
Make it fun for your child to keep their closet nice and neat. Offer rewards and do whatever you need to in order to make the lesson a fun one. Enjoy spending time together as you get organized and ask your child for their input. Teach them to use their childrens hangers and enjoy your time together while you organize this winter.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

The Secret Powers of Children’s Hangers

Children's hangers have some surprising benefits for your child and their clothes! Some people may have the question of whether or not to stock their child's closet with regular hangers or children's hangers. We will point out some benefits of using children's hangers over standard adult hangers for your child's closet. Some reasons may come as a surprise to many parents!
The number one and most obvious reason for choosing children's hangers is that they fit nicely through the small neck holes in children's garments.
The second reason is that children's hangers do not stretch the shoulders of small clothing. They are designed to fit a child's shirt or coat without damaging it.
Children's hangers can help you preserve heirloom children's clothing. You wouldn't want to tear or stretch out that beautiful christening gown that you had hoped to pass down to your grandchildren.
These reasons are pretty obvious and you have probably already considered them. If you are still not convinced, then consider these other strategies in your decision. Strategies? Yes, children's clothes hangers can actually help you to dictate some of your child's behavior.
Let's say that you have a child that is learning responsibility. Teaching them to hang clothes on big hangers up high in the closet can be a daunting task, and will not really motivate them to want to repeat the desired behavior, hanging up their coat and clothing.
This is where children's clothes hangers can have a sneaky benefit for you. Children are a lot more responsive to tools that they see as "special" or "just their size". You, the informed parent, can implement these special little items into your lessons to encourage children to not only take part in the exercise, but like it and have the ingrained desire to repeat it. This is how you teach kids to like their chores and how to want responsibility, rather than resist it or even rebel against it. The hanger itself is your positive reinforcement. A large, hard to handle hanger can have the opposite effect and bring about a snowballing of undesirable behaviors.
Now, who would have thought that such a huge life lesson could stem from your decision on whether or not to invest a few bucks in some children's hangers? The simplest things can have the biggest impact, sometimes. You can further ensure your success by selecting childrens hangers in colors that grab your child's attention.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Get My Kids Organized!

lmost every parent struggles with getting their kids' lives organized. Each season brings a whole new barage of items to manage. Sometimes it can feel like an incredibly hopeless situation. It is time to figure out a system that can get you from soccer season, to basketball season. Get clothes organized from Christmas to Back to School. When everything is easy to transition, your world and their's can run a lot more smoothly and keeping up with everything will hopefully not be such a battle.
You can implement a system no matter how little space you have to work with. A lot may depend on yoru child's age, so get inspired to come up with some ideas of your own to fit your personal situation.
-Get rid of extra junk. Kids can be inspired if you hold a garage sale and let them keep the money from the sale of their own items. Or, use this opportunity to teach your children about being charitable and remind them how lucky they are to have so much stuff that they actually need to get rid of some of it.
-Find unused space. A lot of times, we may not realize just how much space is actually available. Corner shelves only take up about a foot of actual space, but can hold a lot of books, games, figurines and models. Toy nets that hang from the ceiling can hold enough stuffed animals, blankets and pillows to clear out an entire toybox or closet shelf. Shallow wide containers make excellent out-of-sight storage under the bed.
-Move things out that do not need to be in the bedroom. Sports equipment can easily be kept in a mudroom or garage instead of in the bedroom. You can use a large garbage can or big wire basket to make it easy for your child to toss in pads, balls and bats when they come in the house. For children, sometimes it works best if you make a special area just for them. Try a bench for removing shoes and pads next to the container. Decorate with pictures or sports memorabelia to personalize the space.
-Revamp the closet. A lot of closets have one bar in the center and a shelf on top. Move the shelf up higher if possible. Store things that are hardly used up high. You can move the bar down closer to the floor for hanging clothes. Install a second or even third shelf above the hanging bar for games, folded clothes, toys and art supplies. Hooks or small bars can be installed higher on the sides for dresses, robes and longer coats. You may consider special childrens hangers to inspire you child to keep their clothing hung.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.
Each little change can make a big difference in your child's organization skills.

Get Kids Organized this Summer

Summer can bring a lot of toys, sports gear and swim paraphernalia into the house. It can all start to pile up before you know what to do with it all. Kids are at school for most of the year and your home may have survived the clutter tidal wave so far. Now that they are home all day every day, you may really notice a difference fast.

Getting your summer clutter in order may seem like an insurmountable task. Beach towels are drug out from the bottom of the towel stack, destroying your linen closet. Summer clothes are drug out of storage in a frantic hunt for that swim suit. Winter clothes get mixed with summer clothes and you may not know where to start.

In the spring, you may have noticed the enormous laundry mountain that started to grow in your house. This is mainly because the warm days may call for t-shirts and shorts while chilly nights still require a light jacket and jeans. Double the wardrobe and add on the extra changes of clothes and you have yourself a laundry nightmare.

Now, while you were dealing with that, the kids got out of school. They have started their summer sports activities, as well as brought over numerous neighborhood friends. Swimming creates a whole lot of extra wet clothes and accessory clutter that you were not prepared for. Neighborhood friends and pals can drag out things that your kids have not touched in months.

The bottom line is that you need to prepare before your world is spinning out of control. Start with the laundry problem. Put away and store all winter clothes except for two pairs of pants, two long sleeved shirts and one light jacket. These items can be easily stored in a dresser or hung on clothes hangers in a closet along with summer clothes that are coming out of storage. Encourage children to put their jeans back in the drawer at night if they are only worn for a short while and are still clean. There is no use washing them every day so that they can be worn around the house for an hour.

Next comes summer supplies. Snorkels, diving masks, flip-flops, creek shoes, sun block, sunglasses, beach towels and other outdoor activity supplies. Create a special bin or beach bag to house all of these items where they can be neatly stored and grabbed at a moments notice. Something as simple as hanging your beach towels on childrens clothes hangers can keep your linen closet from being destroyed by choosy children. Get your house in order and summer time can be less work than usual.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Kids: Organization Tips

Kids can accumulate an incredible amount of stuff. Keeping it organized is a challenge for any parent or child. You may be looking for some tips on keeping your child’s room neat and clean without spending a bundle. Here are a few tips that you can use to organize the space that you have and have fun doing it!

Let your child be involved. Make it a fun experience for the both of you. Start by cleaning the room. Try the “Big to Little” game. See who can keep finding the larger item. Start by picking up and putting away the largest item you can find. If your child finds one bigger, they get a point. Race around the room seeing who can pick up the larger item. Eventually, you will be down to the littlest toys and it becomes more and more of a challenge. You can even keep score by categories. First, get all of the laundry out of the room. Second, sports equipment should be put away. Next will come toys and shoes. Last would be trash. Come up with your own categories to fit your child’s belongings and make it fun. You might have categories like cars, dolls or balls.

Once the room is clean you can start organizing. Keep simplicity in mind. If all of the toys have a place, then it is a lot easier to clean up the next time. Simply throwing them all into a toy box will cause confusion. It may seem simple, but trying to find a specific toy can lead to a toy avalanche in the bedroom. Shelving, bins, buckets and baskets make a lot more sense.

Shelving can be inexpensive. Just make sure that your shelving is sturdy enough to withstand a child climbing on it, just in case. You may want to anchor the shelves to the wall, especially if your child is young. Create a bin, bucket or basket for each type of toy. Labeling the spot on the shelves for it makes cleaning up a snap and encourages reading and language skills. You can even build your own shelves with nice planks of wood and some simple “L” brackets. This can help you make use of corners and unused closet space.

Keeping the room clean should be rewarded. A reward system can be very motivating and set your child on a path of life-long organization. Create a chart and use foil stars to mark progress. One star can be for laundry being put away or in the laundry basket. Another can be for picking up toys, and so forth. Create a reward, such as going out for ice cream, for thirty stars. Smaller rewards can be given along the way if you wish. Let’s say that your child has five stars by Saturday mornings. The reward can be going to the park or something of your child’s choice.

Show your child the proper way to put away their clothes. Very young children can even fold and hang their own clothes. Consider building some closet shelving down low for them to put away the clothes that they fold. Invest in some nice childrens hangers to encourage them to hang certain items. Keeping the laundry in check is a good way to start organizing.

The important thing is to have fun and be encouraging, not degrading. Keeping up with cleanliness and organization is something that has to be learned and it may not be easy teaching it. Patience gets results, so use your imagination and your child could be organized in no time.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Child’s Closet Project

Are you looking for a fun weekend project to share with your child? Consider a fun closet make-over that shows your child that you respect their choices and interests.

The first thing you should do is to brainstorm with your child. What are their interests? What are their hobbies? Would they like to theme their closet or paint it to match their room decorations? Encourage them to express their individuality. Try not to interfere much with their choices. After all, it is just their closet and you can always change it later.

Choose paint colors together. Decide what features your child’s closet will have. Cork boards can give them a space to post up pictures of friends and family. Here they can also display ribbons, art, and clippings from their favorite magazines. Use decorative ribbon criss-crossing for a unique look. You can even spruce up a dull frame by painting on soccer balls, fairies, or any other interest your child might have. Personalize it with initials or their name.

The front of the closet door can also be used for organization. This is a great place for slotted file hangers for organizing homework, projects, letters and art. Continue the organization inside. Design a layout of shelving that accommodates your child’s special needs. If you have a son with lots of sports equipment, you might like some large bins near the bottom to hold balls, pads and shoes. Adding wooden or wire system shelving makes organizing fun and easy. It is also easy on the wallet. Bins and baskets can hold everything from mouth guards to hair bows, art supplies to collectibles. Leave a section for hanging clothes. Opt for decorative children’s hangers that do not take up extra space and stretch out their clothes.

Special lighting or light pulls can make a closet fun. Allow your child to paint their name on the door itself if they want. Encourage artistic expression as you go. When your child tells you of their interests, be interested and supportive of uniqueness and individuality.

This is a great opportunity to keep the lines of communication open between you and your child. You will end up being closer in the end. You will share a fun experience together. You will have something fun and unique to show for all of your hard work. You will encourage teamwork and self-esteem. Who knew that a kid’s closet could actually bring you closer to them? All along we thought that it was just about the childrens clothes hangers.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Make Room for Baby

Before you welcome your new bundle of joy home, you need to prepare. This can include baby proofing your house, top to bottom. But it also has its fun points too! Preparing your baby’s nursery can be a lot of fun. If you are inexperienced with creating a nursery that’s user-friendly, then you may need some tips. Everyone will have advice for you. We’re going to discuss the things that you may not have considered about your nursery set up. Don’t fret; just keep these few basic points in mind and you’ll have a wonderfully welcoming, usable nursery for your new baby.

The first thing to think about is your baby’s sleeping situation. You want a modern crib and not too much bedding. Check on current safety standards before you purchase either. When you get your crib and bedding home, it should be the first thing that you put into the room. Consider your placement wisely. Often the place that seems the best isn’t the best at all. Better to consider why you might want the crib in a certain place now rather than finding out later that it wasn’t such a good idea. Then you might end up rearranging the whole room.

The first thing to consider is sunlight. The crib needs to be where the baby isn’t going to get a ray of sunlight or intense heat when the sun comes up in the morning. This is especially important if your windows don’t have UVA/UVB sunlight protection. Little babies can sunburn very easily. The next consideration is noise. A squeaky door can interrupt precious sleeping time. Experiment in the room with your television on. See where the quietest place is. If the nursery is at the end of your hallway, then television noise from the living room can be amplified into the baby’s room.

Many parents choose to put a single bed for a grown-up into the nursery as well. If you have good storage area, then you might want a cot in the baby’s room. This way, if the baby is sick or just needs you in the room, you’ve got somewhere that you can relax and sleep. Just make sure that if you have a cot or other folding bed, that it is where the baby can never get to it. A chain lock up high on a closet door is a good option for keeping the closet off limits.

You can really make space in the room by utilizing an off-limits closet. You can easily install a medicine cabinet up high in the closet to keep all of the essentials close at hand. Use childrens hangers to hang special outfits up high. You might even decide to install shelving for all of your other baby clothes needs. Not having a dresser is a money saving, safe, space saving option for parents looking to maximize space.


About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

My Kid's Cool Closet

Sometimes your kid’s closet can be a nightmare. Kids are notorious for destroying the things that you would like to keep organized. If you’re looking for an interesting kid’s closet idea, then you’ve come to the right place. There are all kinds of organizers out there that can help your kid keep it together.

Start by giving the entire closet a make-over. This can be something that you do with your child. Make it fun! Encourage your child to pull everything out and completely empty the closet. Painting the inside of the closet can make it more interesting for your child to keep things in there. It may sound silly, but personalizing a small space for your child can help them to feel more special and involved. Let them pick the color. Even if it’s something wild, most people will never see it, so let you child be creative. Validating their choices is the first step to developing self esteem.

For children in school, a daily organizer can be fun and encourage them to take care of their things. This also makes things easier on you. You can help your child lay out school clothes for the week. It’s another activity that you can do together on a regular basis. Make sure that socks, underwear, pants and shirts are all in the cubby for the day that you’re planning. You may even check the weather together beforehand and ask your child to make informed decisions about what to wear on what day. Take every opportunity that you can to teach your child and encourage independence.

Another good idea for creating a fun closet is to get a hanging clothes hamper. These are really lightweight and don’t take up any space on the closet floor. Dirty clothes have a special place to go that’s fun and interesting to a child. They come in a lot of colors and some are available with characters. These are great for teaching small children where dirty clothes should go. For girls, you can also install a hair accessory organizer. This is a fun way to keep up with all of those hair ties, bows and barrettes. Most kids like having little special cubbies for each of their things. Shoe pocket organizers can also be used for hats and gloves.

Top it all off with some special interesting hangers that are made just for kids. They’re available in all sorts of interesting shapes, sizes and colors. You can even get glamorous beaded ones! Every little thing that you can include in your child’s closet to make them feel special is going to boost their self esteem and encourage them to stay organized.

Make the whole closet make-over a joint effort. Ask lots of questions and validate your child’s choices as often as possible. Decorating a closet together is a unique way for you to bond. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on the project, just keep encouraging your child to come up with new ideas on how to make the closet special. You’ll have so much fun together and your lives will become more organized in the process!

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Motivation for your Kid's Organization

Kid’s closets can be a real challenge. They are usually crammed with toys and clean clothes that have been pulled down off of the hangers and mixed with the dirty ones. Kids are notorious for trying on a few different outfits before they decide on one, leaving a mountain of laundry in their wake. This can be very frustrating for parents that are just trying to keep their household running smoothly. There’s nothing worse than opening your kid’s closet and discovering that everything you hung is now wrinkled up in a heap on the floor, mixed with dirty clothes, and disguising all of those little pointy toys that you are sure to step on in your attempt to fix the mess. Enough is enough already. It’s time to get in there and make a change. Your goal now is to have everything that they need within their reach and create some sort of a system that they’ll be inclined to stick to. This can be a tricky task, but not an impossible one.

Kids thrive on motivation. Keep your child’s personality in mind when tackling their closet. What makes sense to an adult may not be sensible to a child. Simple decorations or signs can motivate them to follow instructions. Try putting signs or pictures that indicate clean or dirty clothes on small laundry baskets near the closet. If they try something on and can’t reach the hanger again, then they should put it in the clean laundry basket. If they wear something for any length of time, it goes in the dirty basket. Be creative by putting a picture of your child covered in chocolate or mud on the dirty basket and an opposing picture of cleanliness, such as a bubble bath photo on the clean basket. If your child thinks that the pictures are funny, then they’re way more likely to stick to the system.

The next step is to put a low bar for hanging clothes down on their level. It’s usually a good idea to keep a high bar for things that you really don’t want them to pull down, such as dresses or suits. Installing a low bar can give them the feeling that it is something special just for them, making them proud of having the responsibility of keeping their clothes on this special bar. Use a plastic shower curtain rod cover to make it a bright color. They’re very inexpensive and can be cut to fit any hanging rod. Dress it up and stress how it’s just for them. You can even get special children’s hangers for their closet. Color coordinated children’s clothes hangers can motivate your child to keep things hung in a color pattern, such as pink, purple, blue, pink, purple, blue. The idea is to make them think that it is fun. Children’s clothes hangers are now available in beaded versions, funky shapes and colors that can make your challenge a little easier. Have fun with it and keep your child involved in the activity. You’ll have a fun project, a little bonding time and maybe make your life a little easier in the process.


About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Nursery Design Tips

Your baby’s nursery can be a really fun room to design. It can be cute and sweet, bright and cheerful, just about anything you can imagine. The possibilities are endless and you may be wondering what basics to keep in mind while you’re going through the design process. Appearance, safety and functionality are the three major areas that you will be focusing on.

Safety is always first and foremost. Most people start by selecting the furniture for their baby’s new room. First, you need a crib. Make sure that the crib you select is up to modern standards of safety. This is especially important if you’re using an older crib. Older cribs may have bars more than two and three-eighths inches apart and can strangle a child or baby. They may also have lead paint on them, a real danger since your baby will most likely be chewing on the rails when they start teething. The mattress should also fit tightly in the crib so that there is no space at all between the mattress and the rails.

Once you have your crib, then you can select a dresser and changing table. These two things must be anchored to the wall. The anchor should be securely in a stud. Babies love to climb up open drawers or handles and the risk of furniture falling on top of them is high. Make sure that all medicines and baby wipes are out of the child’s reach, preferably on a shelf or in a cabinet that only adults can reach. Never allow your baby to chew on baby wipes during changing. Lamps, clocks and radios should be placed up high and the plugs should be covered with an appropriate baby-proofing outlet cover. Excess wire should be secured to the wall or hidden behind furniture where the child can’t reach it.

The next thing to focus on is functionality. Determine what you’ll actually be doing in the nursery. Will you be nursing? If so, you’ll most likely need a rocking chair or other comfortable place to sit. You may want a chair comfy enough to sleep in for nights when your child is sick or just needs you often. An end table can be useful for bottles and warmers, burp cloths, blankets, and other things that you may need while you’re holding the baby. Be careful not to leave dangerous items like a thermometer on the end table where the baby can reach it. If your end table has a drawer that you can put a child safety lock on, then it is ideal. You can keep things that you need that the baby could choke on locked up. This would include things like lip balm, pony tail holders and other necessities that you may need close at hand.

If the nursery is small, consider not buying what you really won’t need. Dressers and changing tables take up a huge area. A lot of people give up going into the nursery to change a diaper after just a few days of having the baby at home. You might invest in a good changing pad instead of an entire table.

Also consider how much room the baby will have to play with toys on the floor. You may decide against buying a dresser and just put organizational drawers and shelves into your baby’s closet. This way everything is out of reach and the room has considerably more space. Keep the closet organized and functional with childrens clothes hangers for all of those precious tiny outfits. When you’re done you’ll have a nice, neat, safe and functional nursery to decorate.


About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Make Space in Your Child's Room

Is your kid’s room lacking in floor space? With dressers, desks, end tables, beds and toy boxes, open space is a rare commodity. Consider opening up the space and making their rooms more inviting. Organizing your child’s room and reducing the clutter can renew their spirits and yours. Use these tips to not only create space, but to help your child keep their room clean and organized, while spending very little money.
What you can actually accomplish depends on the size of your kid’s closet. A good idea for a standard closet is to install a sturdy bottom shelf about three feet high. Have it come almost to the closet door, but leave room for a chair to be stored there. This will be your child’s desk. They can use it for art, homework, or small manipulative games. Install another deep shelf above the desk and place a light beneath it. Push lights work well in places where you may not want to go all out installing special lighting and switches. Avoid lamps with incandescent bulbs because the heat from the bulb can be a real fire hazard, especially in a kid’s closet where it can easily be knocked over, left on or unattended for long periods.
The next step is to install three to four smaller shelves, shallower than the first two. Make these a little closer together. These will be for all of their clothes. I try to leave the biggest space at the top for storing the entire out of season wardrobe. Make stacks of shorts, jeans, t-shirts, long sleeved shirts, sweaters and sweat suits on the smaller shelves. Items that take up more room can go on the larger shelf. Getting everything out of the dresser puts it where you can actually see everything available. You can buy wire baskets that hang down from the shelves and act as drawers for socks and underwear. No more digging through drawers to find their favorite outfits. Having everything visible really cuts down on messiness when it comes to your kid’s clothes. Also, things that aren’t ever worn tend to stay at the bottom of the stack. It makes it a lot easier to get rid of things that no longer fit or just never get worn.
Next install a hanging bar below the desk. Hanging clothes that aren’t worn every day are out of sight and are no longer the focus of the entire closet. Put the most worn clothes towards the center. Store extra blankets, sheets and coats in a bin on one side of the floor. You can store shoes on the other side of the desk chair. Utilize hooks on the back of the door for backpacks, belts, hats and other items that can be hung.
Now that everything is in the closet, you can get rid of bulky dressers, desks and the chest of drawers. Your child will appreciate having room to play. You’ll appreciate the ease of putting away and finding clothes. No more stuffing that dresser to the hilt!

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.