What exactly did we use in the closets?

I ordered the ClosetMaid Suite Symphony organizer from Lowe's Canada, along with four of these drawers for each closet and additional shelving to put above the lower closet rod. I knew we would be customizing these since both closets are narrower than the 6′ minimum sizing. It worked like a dream and was really easy to adjust, so don’t let that deter you if you have a really small closet. Since this was made over during Covid-19, I used my house to shop for all the storage and decor pieces (but I would love to get some matching baskets for the top shelf!).

How we customized the closets:

We worked on one closet at a time, starting with my daughter’s. First, we emptied out the closet and removed the rod. I decided to utilize the top shelf that was already there instead of removing it and using a ClosetMaid shelf.

Kiel and I built the closet system starting with the middle tower. It was easy to put together and took no time at all. We did need to customize the middle tower though, so that took a minute to figure out. Since we were using the top shelf, we cut about 10″ off the top of the tower to fit underneath our pre-existing shelf. The middle tower was secured to the wall.

I measured the rods out and used our circle saw to cut them down to size as well. My son’s closet is 50″ wide and this closet system is made for closets ranging from 72″ to 108″. It was a cinch to customize!

After the closet was built, I did go through and caulk the seams (I just love how it makes everything look more professional). I quickly patched the holes where the original closet rod was and built and installed the drawers.

I wanted to personalize it a bit though…

I found some cute decals on Lowes.ca and thought they would add a fun pop to my son’s closet. The walls in here are textured and the decals have held up amazing! I made sure to really seal the edges so they would stick well. I also switched out the original drawer pulls for some gold ones I found. Since my daughter has a fun Mr. Fox wallpaper in her room, I repurposed these little fox drawer knobs and love how fun they are.

I filled in the pre-drilled holes with some wood filler, drilled new holes in the center for the new pulls then sanded and touched up the wood filler spots. It looks pretty cute! Adds a personalized, fun touch to her closet.

So far, the new closet system has been great! The kids are picking out their clothing in the mornings (which they’re so excited about!) and their rooms just feel more organized and spacious by having a tidy closet space and no dressers jammed in there!

A few final things:

• We keep all of the kid’s toys in their rooms. We don’t have a playroom or anything so their rooms hold what they play with (extra toys and toys in rotation are kept in the basement). Everything needs to be organized or else their rooms end up a hot mess! I use bins and baskets to keep the toys sorted for my kiddos.
• I live by the rule that everything should have a home. Bins and baskets are the perfect way to store little odds and ends.
• Smaller toys are kept (somewhat) organized in the storage I have in the kid’s rooms. Larger toys I’ll store in their closets.
• I like to keep visual clutter to a minimum if I can, especially at bedtime. We clean up their rooms with the kids every night so everything is put away for bedtime.