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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Need Suggestions For Small Space
dEHmom 10:29 AM 10-19-2011
I have 3 kids of my own, 2 are in school. I have a few daycare kids, and with licensing soon coming up, hopefully, I will have a total of 8 kids including my own.

Right now I have a low strip of 6 coat hooks that all the kids can reach. But this isn't even big enough to allow for my 2 kids school bags, and all 3 kids coats. They are always falling off, and the hooks just can't handle it.

I have a very small (approximately 5.5 ft x 4 ft) entry way. The back door (5.5ft side) faces the basement door (5.5ft side). and another side (4ft) is the doorway to the kitchen. so 3 sides basically are doorways. on the wall with the basement door there is about a 2ft space between the basement and kitchen doorway. and about a 1.5 ft space between the backdoor and the extra wall.

Right now the extra wall has coat hanger bar (shower bar?) hung above the doorways from the backdoor and the basement door to hang all the big coats (mostly adult jackets). the kids coat hooks are actually inside my kitchen under a big chalk board.


I know this is probably really hard to picture. But does anyone else have a very small entry way sort of like this, that can offer some advice on how they deal with all the backpacks and coats? It's difficult because the doors still need to open and so it limits me on how much space I can actually utilize in the entryway.
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SilverSabre25 10:47 AM 10-19-2011
Could you hang hooks in each child's room for their own coat and their backpack, or at least the backpack?
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daycare 10:56 AM 10-19-2011
I have the kind that go over the door with three hooks...One for their showering towel, one for jacket and one for back pack..

My kids have to keep their stuff in thier rooms
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dEHmom 10:58 AM 10-19-2011
you know, i did think about that, but i have a hard enough time trying to keep their rooms clean, without having that added to it. My house is super small. I wish we could move or build up and put the bedrooms upstairs.

Either way I would still need to figure out something for the entry way, because licensing requires that I use that door, and those kids are going to have boots and jackets too.
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permanentvacation 11:16 AM 10-19-2011
Check out IKEA. They have some really neat stuff for organizing. Also, check out places online or if you have a store around you that sells daycare furniture. Some of it can be really expensive, but you might find something that works. You can google daycare furniture to find websites for that. Another idea is to google dorm furniture. College dorms are always small but the type of furniture they use allows alot of stuff to neatly fit in the room.
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NiNi.R. 11:22 AM 10-19-2011
what about custom built cubbies?...that's what i have for my small entry way and in each cubby there is a plastic basket that each child can leave their shoes and jacket in.

I don't know if that will work or not for your space.
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permanentvacation 11:22 AM 10-19-2011
I purposely put the lower hooks for my daycare kids just out of their reach so they couldn't pull on them and rip them out of the wall. I have 2 sets of six hooks each. The hooks are already attached to a wooden board that has 2 holes for screws in it. I put one fairly high about the middle of my forearm when I stand with my arm in the air. The second set of hooks, I put below the top set allowing enough space for the kids bookbags and coats to fit under the top set of bookbags and coats. I don't know if you have to put yours within the children's reach though. My way, the parents must hang up their kids' stuff. I know it would be more appropriate for the kids to hang their own stuff, but in a small area, you do what you have to do to make it all work!
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permanentvacation 11:25 AM 10-19-2011
You said that you have adult coats hanging in the entrance way, you might want to have all of your family's items located in a different part of the house (each person's bedroom for example) so you can have only daycare things in the area that the daycare kids will be going in/storing their items in.
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dEHmom 11:41 AM 10-19-2011
my house is just way too small to have separate daycare space. and the bedrooms are too small to put our stuff in each bedroom. plus with my dh snowmobiling and with work, my bedroom would stink like snowmobile exhaust and paint. yuck!

I'm hoping dh will build me cubbies soon, but knowing him that won't happen for another year or 2.


i just had a neat idea, not sure if it would work or not. But I'm thinking, because we have lots of dressers kicking around, I'm hoping one of them will fit on it's side nicely in the back door way. Then I'll screw a couple hooks in each drawer, and then it'll be like a slide out closet for each kid. Hmmmm.....hoping that works!
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Meeko 11:53 AM 10-19-2011
Look up!

Most of us have wasted wall space.

Remember that not everything must be at child level. Maybe put some narrow shelving up and use cute baskets etc for outerwear. It will actually stay neater if the kids CAN'T reach their backpacks etc.
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Michael 01:46 PM 10-19-2011
Originally Posted by dEHmom:
I have 3 kids of my own, 2 are in school. I have a few daycare kids, and with licensing soon coming up, hopefully, I will have a total of 8 kids including my own.

Right now I have a low strip of 6 coat hooks that all the kids can reach. But this isn't even big enough to allow for my 2 kids school bags, and all 3 kids coats. They are always falling off, and the hooks just can't handle it.

I have a very small (approximately 5.5 ft x 4 ft) entry way. The back door (5.5ft side) faces the basement door (5.5ft side). and another side (4ft) is the doorway to the kitchen. so 3 sides basically are doorways. on the wall with the basement door there is about a 2ft space between the basement and kitchen doorway. and about a 1.5 ft space between the backdoor and the extra wall.

Right now the extra wall has coat hanger bar (shower bar?) hung above the doorways from the backdoor and the basement door to hang all the big coats (mostly adult jackets). the kids coat hooks are actually inside my kitchen under a big chalk board.


I know this is probably really hard to picture. But does anyone else have a very small entry way sort of like this, that can offer some advice on how they deal with all the backpacks and coats? It's difficult because the doors still need to open and so it limits me on how much space I can actually utilize in the entryway.
I know you must have a smartphone. Can you provide a picture of the space?
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DaycareMama 02:11 PM 10-19-2011
Could you just put another row of hooks above your existing ones? Use the higher ones for your kids stuff and book bags? Book bags here need to be out of reach.
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dEHmom 03:43 PM 10-19-2011
alright, so i worked on it a bit, and this is my end result for today (although my kitchen is suffering MAJOR right now because I pushed everything out into my kitchen.

I had a little fun on the chalkboard before I took the picture, just for ****s and giggles because I was last on the thread about private parts. it'll be tomorrows lesson plan hahaha

I opened the doors just so you could see where they are.
Attached: IMG_7212.jpg (41.8 KB) IMG_7214.jpg (57.7 KB) 
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Meeko 03:56 PM 10-19-2011
Originally Posted by dEHmom:
alright, so i worked on it a bit, and this is my end result for today (although my kitchen is suffering MAJOR right now because I pushed everything out into my kitchen.

I had a little fun on the chalkboard before I took the picture, just for ****s and giggles because I was last on the thread about private parts. it'll be tomorrows lesson plan hahaha

I opened the doors just so you could see where they are.
LOL at the chalkboard!
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Michael 04:01 PM 10-19-2011
Funny with the blackboard, I was about to say, WTH! I am thinking that you could better use that space if you use bins going horizontally and not stack them. You should be able to get three rows. Also suggest Storage Pulley Hoist for the backpacks/etc. Looks like you have some headroom you can utilize.

Storage Pulley Hoist


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dEHmom 04:03 PM 10-19-2011
Originally Posted by Michael:
Funny with the blackboard, I was about to say, WTH! I am thinking that you could better use that space if you use bins going horizontally and not stack them. You should be able to get three rows. Also suggest Storage Pulley Hoist for the backpacks/etc. Looks like you have some headroom you can utilize.

Storage Pulley Hoist

actually not really! because both those doors swing in. it's actually so bad that I get trapped downstairs a lot because the kids or dh open the backdoor while i'm downstairs and I cannot open the basement door until the other door is closed. if I hung anything above, the doors wouldn't open.

Also, to be able to open the basement door just enough to get through with a laundry basket I can't really have anything behind that door either. if the basement door were all the way open it would be flush with the wall behind it. kwim?
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Michael 04:06 PM 10-19-2011
It's hard to judge that second door in relation to the wall. I found this shoe storage device that made me laugh while I was looking for remedies.


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dEHmom 04:08 PM 10-19-2011
lol that would be sort of cool, but it's almost that time for the big winter boots. I try my best to keep them lined up along the wall under the chalk board because there's no where else to keep them. We used to have those shoe rack shelves, just the basic 3 tier shelves that fit about 3 pairs of shoes across, but it was always in the way of the doors, so i had trouble getting through the basement doorway.
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MyAngels 08:54 PM 10-19-2011
Originally Posted by dEHmom:
actually not really! because both those doors swing in. it's actually so bad that I get trapped downstairs a lot because the kids or dh open the backdoor while i'm downstairs and I cannot open the basement door until the other door is closed. if I hung anything above, the doors wouldn't open.

Also, to be able to open the basement door just enough to get through with a laundry basket I can't really have anything behind that door either. if the basement door were all the way open it would be flush with the wall behind it. kwim?
I couldn't really tell from your pics - but would it be possible to change any of the doors to pocket doors? We did that at the top of our basement to get more usable wall space.
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dEHmom 05:43 AM 10-20-2011
pocket doors as in sliding doors? I honestly don't think so. My thought was to change the basement door to swing the opposite way, but because it's a basment door, I wouldn't dare. I think that would be more dangerous than anything.

What I am thinking though, is once you open the basement door, there is TONS of wall space. If I can get DH to rig up some sort of shelf that's on a sort of pulley system idea like Michael mentioned (a shelf that can be pulled down to grab stuff and then put back up after) then that would be awesome. Unfortunately, it's goign to be very difficult to build any shelves or anything on some of it because it's not within reach, and over top of the stairs.
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DCMom 06:59 AM 10-20-2011
Could you take the basement door off the hinges?

Until we changed it, we had the basement door, the laundry room door, a bifold closet door and the garage entrance door all in a 4 x 4 space. Eventually we took out doors and removed walls to make the largest closet in the house (aka the laundry room), but until we did that, I took all the doors off (except the garage door, obviously) ~ it really helped. I didn't have three doors hitting each other and it just freed up the space that they took up.

Then a safety gate or half door at your kitchen entry?

As far as hooks, I switch to curved rather than the straight, peg-type hooks. The hold alot more and they don't break off! Boot trays underneath for shoes and boots. I used this http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...&Brand=&Price=
until I went to my cubby/coat hook unit.
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dEHmom 07:06 AM 10-20-2011
Originally Posted by DCMom:
Could you take the basement door off the hinges?

Until we changed it, we had the basement door, the laundry room door, a bifold closet door and the garage entrance door all in a 4 x 4 space. Eventually we took out doors and removed walls to make the largest closet in the house (aka the laundry room), but until we did that, I took all the doors off (except the garage door, obviously) ~ it really helped. I didn't have three doors hitting each other and it just freed up the space that they took up.

Then a safety gate or half door at your kitchen entry?

As far as hooks, I switch to curved rather than the straight, peg-type hooks. The hold alot more and they don't break off! Boot trays underneath for shoes and boots. I used this http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...&Brand=&Price=
until I went to my cubby/coat hook unit.
I've considered that. Except our basement is 3/4's crawlspace. You can't see the crawl space, but sometimes its sort of smelly. Just that wet dirty type of smell. And that's why we chose to keep the door on this whole time. Plus the kids all know how to climb the gates, so it scares me. But I will see what DH says because I have wanted to take off that door before.
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Tags:entry way, utilizing space
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