This closet organizing post was sponsored by Wayfair.com, my secret source for giraffe decor.

Organizing a child’s closet can feel like you are climbing a mountain, and usually you are…a mountain of stuffed animals and who knows what else. We were lucky enough to organize the closet of a sweet four year old girl, whose best friend in the world is a giraffe named Stinky.

This is about as normal as it gets. Normal sized house. Normal sized closet. Normal animal takeover. Normal kid clutter. You may think your kid takes the prize, but I see this all the time.

Wasted space. Clutter city.

Right. Enough of that. We’re not only going to organize this zoo, we’re going to make it cute AND most importantly, put in systems that both Mom and our little zoo-keeper can use to keep this closet mostly organized in the future, all with a little nod to our friend Stinky.

I really need to get a theme song for this next part. Anyone volunteering to help me with that? S-P-A-C-E. Start with the sort and purge! Digging to the bottom of the closet, we found these four major stuff-groups.

The Inspector approved our work, and pounced on a few shoes to teach them what’s what.

Now we’re ready for organizing systems and solutions for a child’s closet. They need to work for both Mom and the little one, so she can learn how to stay organized.

Organize Shoes in a Child’s Closet

This shoe holder is holding- wait for it- SHOES! Yes, these clever multi-tasker of the over-the-door variety is actually holding 24 pairs of shoes this time. Instead of banging up against a door, it is securely screwed to the wall. The screws are camouflaged by sweet 3M patterned tape. Did you see yesterday’s brilliant shoe storage idea for out of season shoes?

I love that she even has giraffe-patterned loafers. Cute.

Organize Stuffed Animals in a Child’s Closet

Remember what we started with. More critters than I could count. We netted these in two compartments. A hanging cubby system corrals the little guys.

The bigger critters were transferred into four mesh hampers. I can’t tell you how much I love this solution. These are bright, see-through, light, stack nicely in the corner, hold a ton, and are just $5 each.

In case you were wondering, I had no luck in getting either Mom or little miss to part with ANY of the animals. 100% of them stayed. That’s totally fine as long as they fit, and fit, they do.

Organize Mementos and Keepsakes in a Child’s Closet

By adding some bins, we are able to use the vertical space and keep precious mementos in place. In case you are wondering, that’s a backup-Stinky peering out from the top box. Mom and Dad are brilliant, and are prepared for the inevitable loss of this little guy. The other giraffes are just for fun.

But there’s just one little problem. Who knows what is in those bins? Will Mom and Dad remember? Of course not. But hang-tag labels solve that problem. They are labeled “memories,” “memory clothes,” and “baby blankets.”

Bonus: there’s a tiny little sliver of space behind these bins that we’re able to use to neatly store an extra blanket, but I’ll bet you didn’t notice at all.

Organize Hangers in a Child’s Closet

Remember what we found in the sort and purge? 75+ empty hangers. No wonder it was so hard to find anything. The empty hangers actually outnumbered the clothes! We upgraded to the “fancy” velvet flocked hangers with polka dots, in a child’s size, which are separated by a single divider labeled “summer” on one side, and “winter” on the other. Because one little gadget, instead of pawing through 40 dresses and skirts, we know immediately which half are in season and the right size.

We used the same deco tape to give the divider a custom touch.

Organize Clothes in a Child’s Closet

Keeping up with growing kids can be tough. Going through the clothes took at least half an hour, I’ll be honest. But once purged of clothes that were too small, or were “memory” clothes (those went in the bins up top), or were dress up clothes (those went into the dress up hamper), we had exactly the right amount of clothes to fit on the top rod. That’s important, because we need that space closer to the floor for animals, ya know.

We do have that adjustable hanging rod, which is awesome in a child’s closet. But instead of using it for clothes, it’s a good place to store empty hangers. It is SOOOO much easier to put away laundry if all the empty hangers are already bunched together. Why add an extra step of having to search for hangers in amongst the clothes if you don’t need to?

Organizing Secret Weapon for a Child’s Closet: The “Too Small” Bin

This kid, like most, is growing like a weed, and Mom could spend hours going through clothes each year, but she doesn’t have to anymore because she has a new system, ahem, secret weapon. This bin up on the top shelf is empty. It’s labeled. And it is open on top.

The next time little miss is sporting high-waters, or she can’t fit into her favorite sparkle-dress, Mom can do a three-pointer into the “too small” bin. Maybe we can even get Dad in on this pseudo-sport action. The point is, each kid can have a collection point right in their closet for outgrown clothes, and twice a year or so, those clothes can be passed down to the younger child or donated, without ever having to spend another day cleaning out the closet.

Organizing Accessories in a Child’s Closet

We’ve covered all the majors, but there’s more. We used my favorite, 3M Command Hooks in purple (!), to hang up necklaces, purses, and a flashlight.

Hooks they already owned but hadn’t installed now hold hats.

The old baby clothes hamper now holds princess gowns.

We found a better spot for the princess shoes, under a nearby bookcase in previously empty space.

A trio of giraffes watches over the newly organized child’s closet.

There’s simply no room for a door, and we removed the curtains to let in as much light as possible. It’s hard enough to keep a small space like this organized without a light source. I have a feeling that this space is going to stay a lot more organized with all of these systems and designated spaces that we’ve put in place.

You might never have thought about organizing a closet by including a theme (giraffe or otherwise), but now that you’ve seen this, what do you think?

Mom already owned a lot of the things used for this makeover, including the pink mesh hanging animal cubby, the brown fabric bins, the white mesh hampers for animals, the adjustable hanging bar, the dog tail hooks, and the pretty patterned 3M tape.

We brought in a few items from Wayfair.com and spent $100 to make this space so much more functional:

• 2 giraffe patterned fabric bins
• 3 coordinating giraffe panels
• the hanging shoe organizer
• a pack of 30 child’s sized velvet flocked hangers
• 6 Command Hooks from 3M (in purple!)

One $1 closet divider was all we needed from The Container Store.

This is the payoff. Little miss took one look and was able to tell us where everything in her closet belonged!

That’s the lucky girl and her big sister. Guess who wants her closet organized next?

What do you think of this organized child’s closet makeover? Would it work at your house?

If you haven’t found your big project for the 31 Days of Clutter-Free Living, did this give you some ideas?