Fabulous Fort - total closet overhaul

I have many, many gripes about my house, but one thing I will give to it, is the fact that the closets are huge. For the most part I take full advantage of the extra square footage; the master bedroom closet is loaded with my massive amount of clothing and my stepdaughter's closet is basically an extra storage shed. However, I felt that my son, Drake's, closet was being under utilized. Awhile ago I moved his dresser in there to free up some room for toys and had a few things on the shelves but, overall, there was a lot of wasted space.

While cleaning out other areas of the house, I came across Drake's old crib and tried to think of some way to repurpose it. My first thought was to use the mattress to make some sort of reading nook. I placed it on the floor and moved the dresser into the corner, giving it a boxed in feel. Then I folded an old king size down comforter in thirds and wrapped it around the mattress to add some fluffiness.

 On the back wall, I hung a flat twin sheet to soften up the appearance of the wall and I folded a extra blanket and laid it on the overhead shelf so you wouldn't have to look at the bottom of the boxes.

 

I used shower curtain rings from Dollar Tree to attach a plain white shower curtain to the clothes rod.

 The side rails from the crib wedged in perfectly on the either side of the mattress and by flipping them on end, I was able to use them to hang the overflow of stuffed animals. I also added the small mattress off his old changing table against the rail for added padding.

 

 By tying yarn onto the top and bottom slats of the side rails I could use clothes pins to hang smaller stuffed animals that normally end up lost in the toy box and some I was able to just weave in between the bars.

Some sort of tieback was needed for the shower curtain and I got to repurpose part of Drake's Captain America Halloween costume! The belt already had velcro on it so all I had to do was nail one side into the wall, wrap it around the fabric and attach it to itself. Easy!

To keep the form of a tent, and not have the material falling in on the bed, I placed the adjuster bar from the crib across the top. There was already grooves in the metal that fit the slats likes a glove so I don't have to worry about it slipping and bopping someone in the head.

Lastly, I hung up a touch light with stars and a moon on it on the back wall. When turned on, the shapes shine directly on the white curtain making the entire fort alight.

Drake decided he needed to add more stuffed animals on the bed itself and after a couple of extra pillows and blankets, this fort was ready for playtime!

To finish off the closet, and make sure I made the most of every possible inch, I brought in a small Little Tikes shelf for more, out of sight, storage (I know it looks empty but there are a lot of games and puzzles coming for Christmas). Hanging the Aqua Doodle mat on the wall will give Drake the opportunity to draw whenever he wants without hunting down mom and a couple nails gives the awkward foosball table a place to call home.

I even hung a poster that was starting to get ripped hanging next to the bed. For less than a couple hours work, I have set up a place to make countless hours of great memories with my son and it only ended up costing me $2 (shower curtain and rings).