The closet in the spare room used to be full of luggage, wrapping paper, gift bags, and assorted clutter that needed to be cleared out so the room could become a real playroom and storage space for Clara’s things.
We emptied it (photo albums and yearbooks at the top stayed put) and—magically—it disappeared.
Just kidding. It actually moved to the guest room closet.
That turned out to be fine. After three years in this house, we realized guests rarely use the guest closet, so it makes sense to use that space for items we access more often. There’s still a little room on the hanging bar if we push the bags to one side, so we can clear a spot when company comes, but most of the time it’s more useful to have the gift bags visible and easy to grab.
Best part: when the guest room door is closed, visitors don’t have to see the stash tucked inside.
With a few Clara-specific additions, the spare room closet is now genuinely helpful for storing games and a few outgrown-or-not-yet-fitting clothing items. It’s fitting to have “big girl” clothes in her “big girl” room. We’ve toyed with the idea of painting the closet walls a fun color—coral or teal would be cute—so that might happen down the line.
In the meantime, we added a couple of friends for closet ambiance—like her monkey who loves to hang out.
Adding a few toys turned the closet into another little play zone. Clara already spends a lot of time in her big girl room with her play kitchen, the small table for stuffed-animal tea parties, and the daybed for pretend naps. The closet gives her one more cozy spot to sneak into and enjoy.
On the closet floor are a few pieces I picked up for the Macklemore thrift challenge. Remember the $1 chair that was a faded yellow-brown and the cradle that had burns, scratches, and a musty smell?
They both look—and smell—fresh now.
Cleaning, priming, and new paint revived both pieces. I used Valspar Gloss in Classic Red (paint and primer in one) on the chair, and Rust-Oleum Universal All-Surface spray paint in gloss white (also a paint-and-primer product) on the cradle.
I have more plans for the cradle, so it won’t stay plain white for long—more updates to come.
Even though the cradle is only half finished, the cleared-out closet is getting plenty of use.
I’m finding that as Clara grows, having several small activity zones around the house helps her discover different things to do instead of dumping every toy into one big basket in the living room. Moving from room to room keeps her engaged, and separating toys into different areas reduces the chaos: instead of one huge pile of mixed toys on the living room rug, there’s a little tidying up in a few rooms.
So that’s the quick closet overhaul. What have you been organizing lately? Any closet clear-outs on your end? If you have a guest room, do you leave the closet empty in case someone needs to hang clothes, or do you use it for extra storage most of the time? We recently realized our four-bedroom house only has five closets total—our previous 800-square-foot one-bedroom apartment had four—so it’s surprising we ever had an empty closet at all.