Kids Dress Up Land Hooks – For The Kid Cave!

Increase your organization game with these super cute customizable “dress up land hooks” for your kiddos play room or kid cave! I made ours say “Dress Up Land” but you can put whatever saying you can dream up on there. Maybe something like “Imagination Land” or “Dress up Rules” or maybe “hang up your dress up clothes or DIE!” or “Dressing up is Rad.” All of these suggestions I considered!! Just kidding about the dieing one… sillies.

Anyways, Yes! We have a Kid Cave! It’s a room/closet/under the stairs area that is right in our living room! It’s awesome for the kiddos. When we were buying this home I was super excited to transform this area into a kid paradise, so that they would have their own area right in the main living area, and so I didn’t have to see all of their toys. However, the kid cave was a little dark and closed off from the living room so my little bitty kiddos didn’t enjoy being in there unless I was also in there with them. I’m hoping by fixing it up a bit and transforming it into the awesome kid cave that it can be, that they will stay in there, and their toys can stay in there, and I can shut the door, and not hear or see them all day. Just kidding… I want to see and hear my kiddos, but maybe not all of their toys. So in comes me making small DIY transformations to the kid cave to make it more inviting for the kiddos.

First I hung up some white Christmas lights in the back ceiling area to add some light to their play area. I just tacked them up with some clear tacks and plugged them into a light bulb jack (if that’s what it’s called?). Then I hung an antique school-house chalk board that has been in my family since before I can remember on the wall to the right, low enough for the kiddos to draw on. We also put the kids kitchen set in the kid cave so far.

NEXT DIY TRANSFORMATION… This small tutorial on how to DIY this “Dress up Land” hooks to hang the kiddos dress up clothes on. They love to dress up all day long… but I don’t love dress up clothes all over the living room floor. I’m hoping this solution will work in my favor!

SUPPLIES NEEDED TO MAKE DRESS UP LAND HOOKS

• 1 by 4 Wood in whatever length you want (measure a spot on your wall)
• Paint or Wood Stain (I used Ink Eggshell paint by Martha Stewart)
• Hooks or Knobs (I used 8 gold knobs from home Depot)
• Wood Glue
• Wood Letters
• Sand Paper
• Drill
• Spackle and Putty Knife
• Measuring Tape
• Level
• Clamps
• Rag

METHOD TO MAKE DRESS UP LAND HOOKS

Step 1: Gather your supplies. I got the wood and hooks from Home Depot and the paint, wood glue, and wood letters I bought at Michaels. We had the rest of the materials at home already.

CONFESSION: I was planning on staining the wood instead of painting it, hence the reason the board is stained in the photos. I ending up not liking the look of the stained wood with gold hooks, so I painted the board instead or changing the hooks. I think navy blue and gold go together much nicer, and I think these colours have a sophisticated kid look that could go in any room (if that’s a thing, lol).

Step 2: Cut your board to your desired length. You can have this done at Home Depot when you purchase the wood or you can do it yourself at home, or be like me and get your fabulous hubby to do it for you!

Step 3: Sand the front and all sides of your board and Dress up Land letters. Lay out where you want your letters to be on the board. Corbin helped me sooooo much with this step!

Step 4: Use Wood Glue to adhere your Dress up Land letters to the top edge of your board. Add a little flat amount of glue to the bottom of each letter and place it in your desired location. I marked the edges of my letters on my board so that I would remember where I wanted each letter. Push down and wipe away excess glue with a rag that may seep out.

Step 5: Clamp your Dress up Land letters over night. Place a board on the top of your letters and place 2 clamps to put equal pressure on each letter. My E was I little bigger than the other letters (not impressed Michaels!!!), so I had to add a little flat something to make sure there was pressure on the letters right beside the big E. Or you could go back to Michaels and get a different E. All the E’s might all be just a bit bigger though, so your trip back to the store would have been a waste of time (that was my thinking). You can remove the clamps the next morning and move onto painting!

Step 6: Paint the Dress up Land Hooks board with letters attached your desired colour (or you could stain it)! I think it’s fun to paint, but it can be difficult getting every nook and cranny. You have to move the board around so you get different views of it to really see the areas you may have missed. I did 2 coats and waited about 2 hours in between. I actually accidentally painted over the directions for how long to wait before doing a second coat so just follow your directions if they are not already painted over…

You could put a drop cloth down, but I don’t care about this work surface so I didn’t.

Step 7:  Add your hooks. I got Shawnikins to do the math on this one… but I had 8 hooks and I wanted the end hooks to be close to the edges to use up more of the board length. So… we started by adding the end hooks to the board first and then measured the distance between the hooks and divided that number by 7 to get the spacing that we needed.

Ivy was also very helpful!

Step 7: Hang it on your wall. We decided to drill screws right through the front of the board to the wall, because this was the most secure method. After it was attached to the wall I spackled over the screws and touched up these spots with a little bit of paint.

The location for my Dress up Land hooks is also where the light switch is located, so we put the board just above the light switch. I’m hoping that this height doesn’t discourage the kiddos from using it. I put a step stool in their for them to use. I can already hear my kiddos freaking out that they can’t get the dress up clothes off the hooks and then they can’t get it back on. Then I hear kids screaming on the floor while I’m trying to teach them not to give up (you can do it, you can do it) and to motivate them to be a little independent, but they won’t care, they don’t even hear what I’m saying, and then I give up on teaching them a lesson because I can’t stand the screaming anymore. RIGHT!!! I’m hoping not… We will see… Oh now I hear them freaking out about not being able to find the light switch…

Step 8: Hang up all of your costumes on your super awesome Dress up land hooks!! And hope that the kiddos catch on that this is where the dress up clothes now live!! NOT ON THE FLOOR!!

Ivy knows she’s not supposed to be up there!! I caught her!! You can also see the box in the corner where the costumes used to live. That can now be removed and maybe I can find some kind of storage system for toys in that area.

Monkey see, monkey DO!! And this is what the room looks like only 10 seconds after they enter it. I’m very happy that I can shut the door.

I hope this easy tutorial on how to create dress up land hooks inspires you to take on small projects to improve your kids area of the home. Now I just hope that it won’t just be me using the dress up land hooks. fingers crossed for me please. And I’ll do an update of the kids cave as I make improvements. It’s a work in progress. I’m currently brainstorming ideas for the back portion of the kids cave (the weird ceiling slanted area where only the kids can get to). I’m thinking of maybe getting one of the 3 stair shaped cubbies from Ikea to add storage to the kids cave, or maybe add some cozy chairs to create some kind of book nook. What do you think? What would you do with that awkward space? It’s so fun dreaming up new creations! Until next time, enjoy finding ways to organize your kiddos space, and enjoy creating beautiful things!

XO JCL

P.S. Check out my other home décor for the kiddos here.

P.S. The photos below are some super cute hooks that could be used instead of my gold hooks. Just click on the photos to check them out!