On Monday, I shared our new, improved organization in Lou's tiny room. I mentioned that a lot of thought had been put into that room, and I wasn't joking. When you/I look at kids' rooms on Pinterest, the tiny ones work so well - and are devoid of toys. And have, like, three books. I guess all those kids have separate play rooms. Or lead very austere lives. Well, we don't, and even after purging pretty heavily, fitting it all in without feeling like an episode of hoarders was a key goal.
We used a well-loved small space trick and turned to the walls to shoehorn in more stuff, including for our dress up wall. But want to know what takes up at least as much space as firefighting gear, Lady Bug girl costumes and princess gowns? The matching headgear.
These suckers are bulky, don't hang on hooks well, and are integral to the imagination process. I had them in a basket that I stuck under the row of hooks, but I really, really wanted a clear floor so that Lou had more space to spread out. While I was cursing the fates/mulling it all over, my friend Amy, of Montana A frame fame, texted me a photo of her brilliant winter hat storage solution.
Clip Winter hats to a length of rope to save space and see what you've got.
So I promptly stole the idea and decided to claim credit for it here. This is me doing that. First, I dug up some cute ribbon I'd found at the Brooklyn Flea this summer, and some large clothespins, which actually were table number holders at our wedding six years ago. (Never. Throw. Anything. Away).
I added two more Command hooks to our wall o' hooks, knotted two ribbon lengths around them, and began to clip the hats on. Worked like a dream. Even the slippery firefighter's hat, and the GIANT witch's hat, both of which I'd despaired of ever neatly storing, clipped right on.
Look how many hats that holds! There are at least 8, all comfortably off the floor and visible to Lou. This really satisfies my sense of chi (or something) - having everything all together, in an orderly, cohesive system. I am a happy mama, and Lou's dress up scenarios are more elaborate and creative than ever, because she can see everything she has to work with.
This is obviously a great solution for more than just kids' dress up dear. The original idea sure is clever, and I'm thinking of replicating it for hats and gloves in our front hallway. If I do, I'll let ya know. In the meantime, if you're doing something fantastically clever, let me know. I might steal your idea and blog about it.