closet

Styling your family for pictures can be challenging and break the bank if you aren’t careful. One of my biggest goals for family pictures is for everyone to be comfortable, family pictures can be awkward so the more comfortable everyone is in their clothing the better chance you have for more relaxed photos.

In our house I am the pickiest dresser, imagine that. Because of this I recommend starting in moms closet. Many times we think we need to buy the perfect new outfit for family pictures but I’m willing to bet almost all of you have more than one article of clothing in your closet you feel good in. If possible give yourself a few options so when it comes times to choose a color scheme you don’t feel stuck.

Next determine what type of clothing dad is comfortable in. In our house this is jeans and a polo, super easy! More than likely this is already in the closet as well. Consider what colors you find most flattering on your spouse, again try to give yourself two options here.

Dress the kid(s) last because their clothes are usually the least expensive, so if you need to buy a piece it’s affordable. Once I decided I would wear a white top with black shorts and jean shorts (yes I am high maintenance and require at least one outfit change), I looked in Sumner closet to find a shirt with white and a blue to match one of Josh’s polos. I didn’t find one but I was lucky enough to find one on Target from Cat & Jack for $10, so I only spent $10 on clothes for our photos (score!).

This outfit was for our “nice” photo. I decided last minute I also wanted to do a few pictures that captured how our family is on a daily basis, jeans and t-shirts. I had the boys wear matching t-shirts but it was important for Sumner to wear overalls to break up the color blocking. I then chose a shirt for myself that was in the same color tone as the boys with jean shorts. Everyone had jean bottoms and darker tops. I think overalls are awesome for family pictures because they can break up color blocking easily but still allow for people to match, and they’re in style right now for a wide age range (I mean Sumner and I both have a pair).

Last year in our larger family photo everyone was to wear white, yellow, blue and jean (see below). While the boys all wore button up shirts each were different in color, pattern and sleeve length. Two of us ended up in full white, one long sleeve dress and the other a short sleeve romper. You’ll notice overalls in last years picture too. Side note: shoes were not a big consideration in any of these pictures.

I find the key to a well styled family picture is have color tones or fabrics (such as jean) match while putting pieces together that share a common element without being the exact same. I love helping people style their family for photos so please reach out if you want help!

Kelsey

I love to organize, I love finding the simplest, neatest, and cleanest way to keep our home. I don’t store things we don’t need, in fact I purge every season. I hate having a full house.

In light of us all being stuck inside with this extreme cold I thought I’d share with you how I have organized our son’s small room.

First off his closet. We purchased this storage cube at Target along with the bins. I keep clothes that currently fit him in the top two bins, bottoms on the left and tops on the right. In his shirt bin I have four stacks: long sleeve onesies, short sleeve onesies, long sleeve t-shirts, and short-sleeve t-shirts. Sweatshirts, sweaters, vests, and button-ups are all hung up. Hanging on the left are tops that fit him and off to the right are his next size to grow into. The bottom two bins in his storage cube are clothes for him to grow into. The left is the next size up, the right is the size following it. These two bins are important for us because I love to pick up clothes for Sumner when they are a good deal. I don’t go beyond the next two sizes as you never know when a growth spurt will happen.

To the left of Sumner’s storage cube we keep extra diapers and to the right a skinny clothes hamper we put his outgrown clothes in. I fill this basket until he is ready to go into the next size then I will go through everything and donate any items that weren’t my favorite or didn’t work well i.e. were not easy to take on and off. It’s all about convince and quick dressing for us.

We use the top shelf of his closet to store a couple keepsake boxes, books with paper pages he’s not ready to use, and wipes. I like to keep diapers and wipes visible incase the babysitter needs to find them. For the most part his closet holds all the essentials. Missing from his closet are his pajamas and socks. Sumner has a twin bed in his room with 2 drawers under it where you will find these things in our house. If you don’t have this option I would suggest keeping a small shoe box on top of the storage cube to put socks in and pajamas could go in the three drawer plastic storage I’ll mention next or in a drawer/basket under the nightstand. Be creative and choose multifunction pieces! Target has tons of great options.

This 3 drawer plastic storage isn’t exactly pretty but it works. His radio for sleeping piano music on top, then the drawers host outfits, books and an extra diaper bag. Whenever I do Sumner’s laundry I put together about 10 outfits to keep in this drawer. I find this to be a time saver in the end because I don’t have to think about what he’s going to wear each morning when we are trying to get out the door to daycare. It is also nice for babysitters because we can tell them where the drawer for extra outfits is rather than explain my whole closet system.

Lastly, we do not have a changing table as we use the twin bed. The shelving on the headboard has diapers, a wipe warmer, cream, and hand sanitizer.

Happy organizing!

How to style your family for photos

Organize your little ones room easily & affordably