I feel REALLY on top of my game lately.
And it’s all thanks to Modular Closets! Let me tell you why…
Our home was overflowing with toys, stuffed animals, and crafts. Despite regular purging, a small avalanche would happen every time we opened a cabinet!
I finally came to the conclusion we needed more storage. And I’m not talking more baskets.
I needed DRAWERS and ADJUSTABLE SHELVING. I needed to SEE everything at once without taking up a lot of square footage.
Insert Modular Closets. Custom cabinetry and closet systems that change your life!
WHY MODULAR CLOSET
There are a lot of custom closet companies out there. But where Modular Closets differs is the saving you major dollars. Same result, just better pricing!
There are two ways Modular Closets achieves this. First, they are direct manufacturers. So you get up to 50% off over other closet companies. Secondly, you handle the installation yourself.
HOW TO USE THEM
When you hear “closet company”, I feel like your mind goes to walk in closets with floor to ceiling shoe racks and handbag storage. But the world is truly your oyster! Think playrooms, laundry rooms, office areas, pantries and linen closets. And you can customize it ALL – from style, to hardware, to function.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Once you decide you need Modular Closets in your life, you have two options. You can either design your space yourself with the online closet design tool or work with a complimentary designer. They even have pre-designed closets where you simply insert your space’s dimension and wallah! Your design is done.
our measurements // before
I personally lean towards trusting the experts so I worked with their design team to create a small playroom area in our basement! I sent over measurements, inspiration photos and communicated my major needs. Then they took it from there.
I truly appreciated their suggestions too.
inspiration
PRO TIP: Christina, one of Modular Closets professional organizers, gave me the BEST advice. When designing your closet system for kids, think of a space that will grow and evolve with your child’s ever changing interests, age and SIZE. Sure the majority of the storage is for toys, but eventually will store sports equipment, backpacks, art/ school supplies, and more!
design plan
Since this play storage area would be the FIRST thing you see when you walk down our basement stairs, I knew I wanted lots of closed storage to disguise clutter and mess. We wanted something that looked “adult” but still an indicator that Penelope would know this was her space.
Drawers were especially important to me as we have close to none in our home. The benefit of drawers is you can easily see what’s in the back without rummaging around.
After some fun meetings, I received my design plan and my order was placed!
INSTALLATION
Your closet system arrives on a pallet packed in several boxes. Initially looking at the boxes I was like “how are we going to do this?!”. But I’m telling you, Modular Systems has got it DOWN. Between the directions, the well labeled boxes and breaking it down into sections, one step at a time, you quickly realize “this is completely doable!”
All in all, this was a full two day project. The first day it was just little ‘ol me. The second day I brought in the troops – my mom, dad and Sean – to speed things along.
I put together the three tower frames all by myself!
As for the second day, it was a team effort. Sean and my dad handled all things drill related – like the hanging of the units to the wall and drawer and cabinet door installation. While the boys did their thing, my mom and I tag teamed taking things out of boxes, building the drawers and organizing the hardware.
LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE
All in all, Modular Closets is easy to put together! I can honestly say almost ANYONE can do this. But as far as time goes, it depends on the scale of your project, your skill level and amount of help you have.
At first there’s a learning curve. But once you get going and get a feel for how things work, you start humming along.
We regularly referred to Modular Closets instructional videos (they are GOLD). I also watched this handy YouTube video before starting that I found to be SPOT ON.
Sean is pretty handy and we were thankful to have my dad assist who is quite experienced. So again, this helped move things much faster and more efficiently.
ORGANIZATION
Now for the fun part! How we utilized the space and organized Penelope’s toys.
Books
Penelope’s books were taking over her bedroom. So I could not WAIT to transfer a good portion of them to her new toy closet. I organized the books by color – a little tip I picked up from The Home Edit. This freed up an entire bookshelf in her room which is solely dedicated to library books (we go almost every week!). Her room is so much cleaner and uncluttered now. It makes me sooooo happy!
Toys
As for toys, we grouped all her Lovevery items onto shelves. They are by far here most loved toys and since they’re so beautiful and all coordinate, they look great in one spot! (You can get $20 off here with my affiliate link!).
I know it won’t stay this beautiful for ever, but being able to hide her toys behind doors and adjust the shelf height to accommodate all sizes without waisting space is just a beautiful situation!
Art Supplies
This is where all those tiny little items like crayons, glue sticks, glitter, magnets, etc. get a home! As mentioned earlier, every time we opened one particular closet in our kitchen, these items would topple on to the floor. It was truly frustrating.
I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a specific space dedicated to these tiny pieces in DRAWERS. You can EASILY find any color crayon or a specific coloring book!! You know those important items your toddler demands at a moments notice 😉
Styling
The middle column, I wanted a little “statement” nook. We hung this custom artwork from Merinda Studio front and center {I won it in a giveaway and could not wait to show it off}!!! We paired it with this tiny cordless lamp c/o Fete for a bit of mood lighting and one of her LoveEvery toys as an ode to declare this is P’s space!
The bottom wire baskets are a great way to showcase stuffed animals, extra books or anything your child reaches for on a regular basis. So handy!
Last but not least, this custom ottoman c/o The Inside was the cherry on top! Penelope uses it as a table, a step stool (with our help of course!) and sits/climbs on it alllll the time. The Inside has a ton of custom furniture in top notch fabrics with a SPEEDY delivery – unheard of right now!
EXTRA STORAGE
One thing that shocked me is the amount of left over storage we had! Thanks to Modular Closets well designed systems, you can fit A LOT in a small area. It goes to show you function is more important than space. So we dedicated a couple drawers and shelves to office supplies and overstock of paper towels and other home supplies.
Since these items are now more handy, I can easily tell when we are running low.
FINAL OUTCOME
WE are THRILLED. I can’t even begin to put into words how happy we are. Sean pre-judged this project as one of Nicole’s “big, crazy jobs” and he’s now more obsessed with the final outcome than me!
Aesthetically, it took our basement up a notch. It’s custom to fit the space exactly and the functionality of it is even better. I am so happy because it’s freed up so much space in our main living areas.
As far as Penelope goes, I’ve found we play with MORE of her toys and utilize her art supplies! We actually had a painting day and I attribute it to to easily accessing her paints, brushes and paper. Before I had to go on a small scavenger hunt just to get these supplies out!
Thank you Modular Closets for making our well loved home even better!!
If you are ready to get your home in order too, head to Modular Closets website today.
Photos by Chicago Andrea Creative
A huge thank you to Modular Closets for sponsoring this post!
