How I Transformed My Toddler's Tiny and Messy Closet Into an Organized, Beautiful Space

A small closet is never ideal, but it's especially tough to manage when the space is cluttered. My daughter might only be a size 2T, but her clothes (and accessories, towels, blankets, books, and diapers) took up a lot of space.

Kids love colors, so that's where I pulled my inspiration from. I started the makeover by color-coordinating my 2 year old's clothes with a set of Sunset Tubular Hangers ($0.24 each, originally $0.32 each) from The Container Store in pink, orange, and yellow.

A quick slide of the closet door reveals how equally messy the right side was. I was using an old diaper box to store miscellaneous items like books and extra hangers, and the clothes were far from organized.

Continuing the color-coordinated theme from the other side, I used the Cool Waters Tubular Hangers for her blue and purple articles of clothing.

An extra fan, along with the diaper bag and backpacks, are a few of the items that made the closet so inaccessible. My daughter's clean pile of bath towels had clearly been dumped there and forgotten about for the third time that week.

The Container Store's Basic Blush Stackable Baskets ($6 each) can be easily stacked and moved around, making for super flexible storage units. They're also deep enough for me to store the bags in, as well as some accessories and sweatshirts. I tied the look together by laying down a rug runner on the closet floor — the SONOMA Goods for Life Ultimate Performance Supersoft Rug Runner ($30-$70) from Kohl's.

The outdated, plastic storage shelving I had in the closet before the makeover was hard to reach and almost impossible for my daughter to get to.

I placed Walmart's Mainstays 3-Cube Organizer ($23) in the middle of the closet — it's narrow and doesn't take up too much space. I added Poppin Pop Up Fabric Storage Cubes ($10 each) in pink, orange, and aqua to maintain a neat appearance.

The closet's top shelf was a hot mess, plain and simple. It was so frustrating to try and access the extra books, diapers, and other random items I was stashing up there.

Instead of hiding (read: hoarding) my toddler's belongings, I used The Container Store's Wire Storage Bins ($10 each, originally $19 each) to showcase the important items that I felt I needed easier access to, like her diapers and books. Everything else that we didn't use on a daily basis was stored away elsewhere.

Playing with colors, using smarter storage solutions, and learning how to part with unnecessary items turned my daughter's closet into an overnight success story — one I wish I started much earlier.