If you want to see chaos theory in action, you probably don't need to look further than your child's closet. In homes across the country, it's an all too familiar sight: clothes hung willy-nilly, a top shelf jammed with who knows what, and shoes, hats, and toys strewn across the floor with no place to call home. But don't be too quick to blame your child; the real culprit could be the closet itself. "If it's hard for kids to put things away, they'll be reluctant to try," says organizing expert Ilene Drexler. With that in mind, we enlisted Drexler and two other tidy-up queens to help us design a kid-friendly makeover that can be adapted to any closet (no expensive construction required). Before you begin your makeover, work with your child to clear out anything that can be tossed, stored elsewhere, or given away. Then use the ideas on the next page to transform the remaining chaos into a thing of beauty.
Our Clean Team
• Ilene Drexler specializes in quelling clutter for families and kids and is the wiz behind The Organizing Wiz.
• Crystal Sabalaske, a frequent guest on HGTV's Mission: Organization, is the founder of Cluttershrink.
• Deniece Schofield is the author of Confessions of a Happily Organized Family (Betterway Books) and other related books.
