Even small children can make big messes, and you may feel like you are always trying to clean up after them. With the right organizational aid in place, though, it might not be such a struggle.
A lot of these ideas reuse items you may have in your home or garden already and don’t have a plan for. We love taking items that have served their purpose but could then be repurposed. Instead of buying new storage containers or paying someone to install some shelving, you can try these simple DIY projects for your kids’ bedroom. Just using one or two of them can make a big difference in how clean the room looks and how easy it is to tidy.
Planters on the Wall
Did you buy some garden planters for use with a specific type of plant and now have no further use for them? That can happen when your plants outgrow the planters they started in, but you don’t have to toss those planters away, especially if they are made from durable materials. With nails or hooks, you can hang planters onto the wall and create storage spaces for your kids. Make sure to clean up the planters well and perhaps paint them to make them more attractive. Ensure they are properly secured to the wall, and then get your kids started by picking out some items in their room that can be stored in the planters.
Magazine Holders as Book Storage
Those cardboard and plastic magazine holders (as well as file storage products) can be used to store small books in your child’s room. If your kid doesn’t have space for a bookcase, then this can be a good alternative. Many kids have thin, soft books or comic books, and these can store nicely in magazine holders. They will take up very little space this way and stay organized rather than be scattered across the kid’s desk or floor.
Pallet Bins
We love pallets here at DIY To Make because of how inexpensive and versatile they are. You will see pallets used in so many of our DIY ideas, and we just had to throw some in this article for kid storage ideas. You can take used pallets and repurpose them as storage bins, using just a few boards to create a base and some sides. Old crates work well too for this concept, but you do need to be careful with using rough wood in the kids’ room. Be sure to sand down the wood and consider adding lacquer or other protective layer to keep the wood from scratching your kids. Painting the wooden storage bin can help to reduce splinters and make the bins safe as well.
When making a storage bin for your kids, ensure you are making it big enough to hold whatever will go into it. For kids who like to be really organized, you may want to make several smaller bins and label them.
PVC Pipe Racks
If you have some PVC pipes sitting around doing nothing for you, why not put them to good use as storage racks for your kids’ room. They can hang in the closet, behind the door or along the wall and serve as a place to store clothes on. Hangers fit nicely over small and medium PVC pipes, so there is no need to pay for an expensive wooden or metal rod. To hang the pipes, just run some wire through the inside and then hang the wire on a couple of nails or hooks- instant clothing rack!
Board and Brick Desk
You can take some old, flat boards and a few brisk and make a very serviceable desk for your kid. Just make two columns of bricks and rest the board on top. For a deeper desk, simply add another board or two behind the first one. As we mentioned earlier, you will want to use smooth wood in your child’s room, so sand down the boards on all sides and paint them for a nice finish.
The desk can be a great storage space for your kid, holding books, stationary items, figurines, and other knick-knacks. Adding furniture like a desk to the room may mean you need to clean the space more often, though, since dust and debris can accumulate underneath and behind the desk. Joey with Imagine Maids in Denver, Colorado says “You may want the help of a professional cleaning service occasionally, but consider doing regular cleaning in the kids room to help keep things tidy and organized”. It doesn’t make sense to add organizational items to the room and not work at keeping the space organized.
Make Custom Dividers
Bins and bookshelves can start to look cluttered very quickly and make it hard for your kids to find exactly what they are looking for. If these storage items are overcrowded, you can make some simple dividers to go into them and create a sense of organization.
Dividers for your storage bins can be made from something as simple as a piece of cardboard. You can take cereal boxes and other food boxes and cut them up when you are done with them. Then, place these cardboard dividers into the bins to make separated storage compartments. This will help your kids pack away neater and find things faster.
Repurpose Old Lockers
You can buy used lockers for pretty cheap sometimes, and these can serve as excellent storage cupboards for your kid’s stuff. Lockers offer tidy and secure storage, leaving nothing poking out when the door is closed. If the lockers still have operational locks, that can be a superb way to separate personal items for kids who share a bedroom with one another.
These are just a few ideas you can use to take old or used things and turn them into storage for your kid’s room. Don’t toss out those old boxes, pieces of wood, and planters when they could be turned into handy storage that makes the kids’ bedroom stay organized.
