Parent Time

It doesn’t matter how big your front closet is (or if you even have one), there always seems to be more jackets, shoes, backpacks and purses than space to store them. With the season of bulky outerwear on the doorstep, we decided it was time to tackle the ultimate household challenge — organizing the front hall drop zone.

We limited the number of stores we’d hit (who wants to power shop with kids in tow?) and the time and cash we were willing to put in. The result? Functional, family-friendly storage spaces.

No closet

Older urban homes may offer a lot of interesting features, but closets generally aren’t one of them.

Solution: Fake it.
Cost: $356

We head to Ikea, drop the kids off in the ballroom, and grab a cart. We nab the Leksvik shoe rack ($129) and its companion hat rack ($99). One umbrella stand, two pillows and a chalkboard later, we’re good to go. And no one’s even paged us yet to pick up the kids.

The barely there closet

Small closets are a bit of a tease: Sure they’ve got a door, but try to stow more than a few coats and you won’t be able to close it.

Solution: Pare down and store only this season’s necessities.
Cost: $167

We box up the summer gear and find another place for the soccer balls, hockey sticks and helmets. (We stick the stuff in a big bin at the bottom of the basement stairs and put hooks above it to hold the headgear.) Next step — shop. We get the shoe rack from The Home Depot ($28), but notice similar versions at Canadian Tire, Zellers and Home Outfitters. After scouring the store for something to hold hats, mitts and scarves, we remember the Allamåla wall box unit ($25) from Ikea.

The colossal closet

Who’s kidding who? More space just means more junk to fill it.

Solution: Make it easy to be organized.
Cost: $287

With a closet this size, we could spend the weekend putting up an organization system. But with schedules jammed with soccer practices, swimming lessons and birthday parties, who has the time? We hit The Home Depot and find a nifty vertical closet organizer ($99) that simply unfolds. No tools required! We grab it, along with two shoe racks ($30 each). At Home Outfitters we find jazzy over-the-door hooks ($27) and small self-adhesive hooks ($6, 2-pack). At this rate, we’ll be done in time to watch the kids hit the playing field.

Originally published in Today's Parent, October 2007