Organizing your little one's nursery / bedroom!

When I saw the link-up hosted by Mandy at House of Rose and AP at I Love Your More Than Carrots was about all things "organization", my little type-A heart skipped a beat.   I knew I HAD to join in on the fun.

 And then reality hit.  Here recently, I feel like we've been the exact opposite of organized..... as in somehow our ONE "junk drawer" in the kitchen has morphed into TWO junk drawers.  That's SO unlike us.  But, we do have a toddler running around and sometimes we just throw things wherever they might land or, really........to be more accurate, said toddler gets his hands on everything in arms reach and ever so politely "rearranges" things for us. ;)  Nonetheless, I have certainly seen more organized days and this was just the motivation I needed to do some serious cleaning and organizing today!  {Yay!!!  Insert giddy squeal here that only fellow type-A'ers can fully understand}!

So, here we go...... these are a few things that really and truly helped keep Jackson's nursery organized when he was a babe and now into toddler-hood as well. 

These closet dividers [they come in several designs and colors] have been wonderful.  In the early days, I used them to organize Jackson's insane amount of clothes by age (newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, etc.).  Now, I use them to separate sweaters, long-sleeve t-shirts, jackets, short sleeve t-shirts, etc.  On the other side of his closet, I have fall / winter clothes for next year that I just bought [on mega sale] in size 3T.  I love having all of his clothes organized --- it's easy to see what all he has and grab what I need!

This built-in bench with storage [built to fit those rattan Ikea baskets] has given us so much extra storage room, which is always a plus considering our house is definitely on the smaller side.  I use it to store extra diapers, wipes, toys, blankets, etc.  

Ikea does it again!  Their drawer organizers are a dream come true.  And, I have to say that I'm SO happy that we decided against getting a separate changing table and just put the changing pad on top of his Ikea Hemnes dresser.  Everything you can possibly think of that you'd need for  diaper changing, hair fixing, after-bath lotioning-up, pajama dressing , temperature taking or medicine giving is right there and easy to find. :) We've loved using this dresser as a changing table and the drawer organizers have made many a late nights or frustrating mommy moments much, much easier since everything is within arms-reach.

   

Here's a close-up of the drawers before he was born.  They aren't nearly as organized as they were then, but everything still more or less has a place and saves us a lot of time. 

And last, but not least, these boxes and baskets from Ikea are a great way to keep toys and books organized {or more often than not, give mama a place to HIDE misc toys and such when you're in a hurry to tidy up}.

After writing all of this out, I can't help but laugh because it totally sounds like Ikea paid me to promote all of these things.  Not.so.much.!  Ha!  I guess I was just on an Ikea kick, trying to decorate and organize Jackson's nursery affordably without sacrificing the look and overall design.  I hope these items & ideas might help a mama currently working on a nursery for their new bundle or a mama who just really wants to get their child's room a little more organized!  Having things organized really does make life so much easier --- and for some of us, it just makes our heart happy!