May Challenge: Project "Projects" {Boy's Bedroom - Part 6}

We let our little P's live out of a box for about two weeks.  Not in a box.  Out of one.  As in their clothes.  When we sold our bunk beds we lost Peyton's dresser.  And we were left with Parker's which we removed asap since it was huge and bulky in their new space, and offered little wiggle room to get around the ends of the beds... here is a reminder of what we were dealing with:

So I threw all of the kiddos clothes into a giant box in their closet and started the closet brainstorming process...  This didn't take too long.  I had a vision when we started this project, but I really wanted to be certain...  We could have just moved the dresser into the closet.  But that would leave little to zip hanging or shelving space.  We could have purchased a dresser that wasn't so bulky and could either fit in the room or closet better... but that would have broken our little itty bitty budget, so that wasn't going to happen. 

Remembering to shop my home and use what we have, I recalled I had an Expedit bookshelf from our previous lower level office space.  Bingo!

First things first, we used anchors to secure the shelf into the wall, just in case...

Then we just used simple wood dowels, again, anchored into the wall and then screwed into the Expedit, for the new clothes rods:

The thought was to give each kiddo a side of the Expedit, and have them share the shelving unit for their socks, undies and pj's.

When we picked up the dowels, I also spied some Martha Stewart canvas bins, that I figured would be the perfect solution!

Sure, could have left well enough alone, but I have no clue how to do that.  So I didn't.  The handles and label boxes just weren't doing it for me.  To quote Despicable Me, "Lightbulb!"

Let's play with the new Silhouette!  See what this baby can do!  When I received the kit, it came with some fabric transfer in white, so I knew that would be the most fun way to quickly whip up a new label system for the canvas bins!

With the Silhouette, I cut out two moon's for the pajama bins and two socks for the sock/undies bins.

I just followed the instructions and ironed the transfers straight onto the bins!

Giving them four new "drawers" in their closet to the tune of about $20!

And those bins hold a boatload!  Ton's of room to spare for their belongings!

And they can reach their drawers which is the most important thing.  And they are light and kid proof and clothes proof.  A win win combination!

And I wanted to consider what to do with their dirty clothes when they are changing at night, so I reused an old stuffed animal bin....

Tried to use some chalk to write "Laundry" on the side, cringed at my sloppy handwriting, and revisited the Silhouette one more time to make stencil out of cardstock.

I just used some double stick tape to hold the stencil in place while I used some liquid chalk to color in the letters:

All done!

Wonderful!

I just reused some small plastic hangers we already had to hang up all of their laundry.  I ran a little low so for now, the rest of the clothes are folded and popped into a basket in the cubbie until I can snag some more from the store.

And for a quick final peek at the end result of our kid's closet install!

We used two dowels at $3 each and four dowel kit's at $1.20 for a total of almost $11, plus the four bins for another $20 making the grand total of the whole closet install $31!  I would still like to add one more shelf across the top and maybe even one across each lower dowel to add even more storage, but for now, it's working out swimmingly, and much better than a cardboard box!!

Within the last couple days, custom order doors just went on sale at our local home improvement store, so we ordered new white bi-folds {since I couldn't bring myself to paint the oak ones}.  The previous oak doors will head to our local habitat store.

And my favorite part, the before and after of the project:

So what do you guys think?  Anyone else go the canvas bin route in their kiddos closet, for their itty bitty pieces?  Did you know it's a holiday weekend?  What does that mean for you... projects?  Play?  A little of both?

UPDATE:  We added a shower curtain rod cover to enhance the wooden dowels a bit:

I decided a little challenge would be fun! This month we are getting all those projects done!  Any project big or small counts!  Wanna join?  Take photos and blog about your awesomeness as you go!  I am hoping to do a giant, "We did it!" celebratory post where we can all link up our project completing success stories at the end of the month!