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Organized doesn’t have to be new and shiny
My friend Kendra has two children under the age of five. They have a lot of toys, and those toys have a lot of parts. Her daughter’s dolls have small shoes and hair accessories and her son’s LEGO bricks and toy cars easily get lost in a giant toy box. The smaller pieces sift like sand to the bottom of the toy box and are difficult to retrieve without pouring all the contents of the toy box onto the floor.
To solve this dilemma, Kendra repurposed an antique kitchen cupboard to fit her children’s modern toy storage needs. Using smaller boxes for specific types of toys, now the kids can keep all their doll items in one bin and all the LEGO bricks in another.
Kendra also has turned an antique dining room sideboard into a charging station by her front door. She drilled a hole in the back of one of the drawers using a 1/4″ drill bit, ran all of her charging adapters through the hole to a power strip underneath the sideboard, and now has one central drawer to charge her PDA and cell phone.
Using the same drill bit, she converted another antique sideboard into an entertainment center that hides all of the cables for her television, DVR, cable box, and DVD player.
To be organized in your home, you don’t have to purchase the latest piece of furniture from a current designer. Find the piece that suits your needs and work with it.
25 comments posted
Posted by Dani - 09/03/2009
I think this spreads to the idea of uncluttering the world by re-purposing antique furniture rather than buying new. There’s so much used furniture, household goods, etc. that need homes, can often be found cheaply, and don’t contribute to the growing landfills. Plus, they probably have a bit more character than Ikea or other big-box furniture.
Posted by Louise - 09/03/2009
The photo is very neat and organized; I like it. I think using similar colored bins helps with that.
I just read a tip for playing with Legos or other toys with many small parts. Spread a blanket, sheet or tablecloth down on the floor before playing, and all the little pieces will be contained on the cloth. When ready to clean up, the cloth can be picked up by the corners and parts dumped back into the bin.
There are tons of cute, bright vinyl tablecloths that would be perfect for this, or perhaps a twin flat bed sheet with the child’s favorite cartoon character on it. Fold it up and place it on top of the bin for next time.
Posted by Sue - 09/03/2009
I cringed at the description of an antique being drilled like that. I hope those pieces of furniture were merely old and not true antiques.
Other than that, I love the idea of repurposing existing items. It’s much easier on the earth than buying something new and shiny.
Posted by Pete - 09/03/2009
“I cringed at the description of an antique being drilled like that. I hope those pieces of furniture were merely old and not true antiques.”
As a parent, I can confirm that any piece of furniture with any kind of monetary value whatsoever will be virtually worthless by the time your child reaches 3 years old. So you don’t need to cringe.
Posted by Sarah - 09/03/2009
I would kill to have matching, floral print canvas bins to organize everything both at home and in my on campus apt. My closet and kitchen are full of stainless shelving, hot pink milk crates, and the type of plastic storage shown above. Nothing matches, but the result is undoubtedly better than disorganization. Don’t get sucked into the Container Store/Ikea/even Target mentality that organization is about coordination.
Posted by Sarah - 09/03/2009
I put tiny toys in empty animal cracker jars, like these: http://www.stauffers.net/produ.....s/bearjugs.
Our kids are 2, so they love the bears. When the jars are empty, I just take the labels off and wash them.
I’ve used the jars to teach them to put things away in the right places. (“Put all the bouncy balls in this Teddy Bear. The alphabet magnets go in that Teddy Bear. Which Teddy Bear should we use for the cars?”)
Tacky? Maybe, but at least I’m reusing the jars, and they look just fine in the playroom.
Posted by Sooz - 09/03/2009
One of the nicest things about this set-up is that it limits the amount of stuff the kids have – when the plastic bins & drawers start overflowing, it’s decision time!
Posted by knitwych - 09/03/2009
@Sarah, I think the Teddy jars are the perfect storage container for little kid’s toys. Tacky? No way! Fun for the little ones? Sure. Teaching them good habits? Absolutely!
In keeping with the topic, I’m a big believer in repurposing old furniture. I picked up a children’s dresser at an auction for $3. It was covered with stickers and had a few nicks and dings. I spent maybe 15 minutes and about two tablespoons of cooking oil getting the stickers off, cleaned it up, and painted it with craft paints I already had. Spent $3 on new wooden knobs, another $1.80 on screws to fit them, and I ended up with a very cool dresser for my bedroom. I inherited another dresser from my late grandmother. It wasn’t anything special or valuable money-wise, but the sentimental value is priceless. I removed the awful avocado green (Grandma loved her 70s colors), and decoupaged pages from a cheap dictionary all over it. That dresser sits in my home office now, holding office supplies in the drawers, and my plants on top. Since I’m a writer, the wordy theme works perfectly in here.
Posted by Diana - 09/03/2009
I have to admit to my husbands chagrin, I am a second hand junkie. I love to find old wood furniture and refinish it. My favorite is a credenza I found for $5 dollars. After a little sanding, black paint, and nickel drawer pulls, it looks fabulous and no one knows when they come over that it only cost me $5 plus a little labor.
Posted by chacha1 - 09/03/2009
@knitwych, I’ll bet that dresser looks great.
I recently had an inspiration about an old (nineteen-o-somthing) collected works of Shakespeare I have. It’s not worth anything but I can’t put Shakespeare in the trash! When we finally have a house, I’m going to use the pages as wallpaper.
re: coordinated storage: if you have to have storage containers out in the open, for example if your house or apartment is old and has no closets, I think coordinated boxes are an acceptable solution. Much better than fugly plastic.
Posted by momofthree - 09/03/2009
OMG, my weekend woodworker dad MADE us a cupboard just like the one pictured in the article.
My dad has made us, besides the “pie safe”, my kitchen desk; shelves for in the bathroom; the kids toy box (with safety hinge); kitchen knife rack; 3 armed kitchen towel rack, with goose head ends; and the best: the dining space corner bench set with storage in the seats and table to match.
I don’t use fancy baskets inside my pie safe or desk. A copier box lid holds all the tupperware ™ -eqsue lids, and in my desk, check boxes are super for my assortment of pen, markers, pencils, etc.
In my “funky” kitchen tool drawer, (grandma was a caterer, so I have a bunch of her tools of the trade) I have cut down shoe boxes to the height of the drawer, to keep things separated.
Using what you have seems so simple a concept, and it really does surprise me to see how many get into the “It’s gotta match” concept for storage.
KNITWYCH, would love to see a picture of grandma’s dresser, gotta be cute!
Posted by Michelle - 09/03/2009
I keep the pieces of wooden puzzles in small ziplock bags and keep all the bags in a larger zip bag I got free from Cinique (when I used to buy makeup). It helps keep the pieces from getting lost.
Posted by Chris - 09/03/2009
@chacha1 I love the idea of Shakespeare wallpaper. Reminds me of a friend whose mom repurposed a massive collection of National Geographic magazines from the 60s and 70s as wallpaper in their home.
Posted by Mrs. Smith - 09/03/2009
I love the idea of turning a drawer into a charging station! Brilliant!
Posted by Loren - 09/03/2009
Along the ‘charging station’ idea, I have an old telephone chair that I snagged at an estate sale for a couple dollars that I use as my runway. It has the perfect little shelf with a hole already in it to place a couple cellphones and chargers.
In my current apartment it’s no where near an outlet, but it still makes a great place to sit, take off my shoes and leave my purse, keys, and stack anything that I need to take out the door with me.
Posted by Organized doesn’t have to be new and shiny | Unclutterer - Ashton Technology Blog - 09/03/2009
[...] Organized doesn’t have to be new and shiny | Unclutterer. [...]
Posted by Jasileet - 09/03/2009
Awesome post, awesome point.
Too many people buy more crap to organize what they already have, just adding to the mess. Use what you have. I like it.
Posted by Marcie Lovett - 09/03/2009
What a beautiful way to hide kid stuff! We have an old three-drawer dresser, which belonged to my grandparents, in the living room. Top drawer is for big-kid games, middle is for little-kid toys and the bottom is for dress up. The kids know where to find everything and, more importantly, where things go when they’re finished playing. When you have a small space that has to do double duty, using “real” furniture in creative ways is the way to go.
Posted by WilliamB - 09/03/2009
Hurrah – an uncluttering post that doesn’t directly or indirectly advocate buying anything new.
A couple I know keep their kids’ toys in oversized drawers (2-3x as deep as a typical dresser drawer) in the common room. This works really well for them.
Smaller items or sets are kept in containers when then go into the drawers. Shoe boxes, mini shopping baskets, oversized tupperware; it doesn’t matter because they live inside something else.
The drawers are low and easy to open so the kids have been able to help clean up since they were 1.5 or 2 yo. If there’s time pressure they can throw everything into the drawers in no time.
Perhaps best of all, they use the drawers as a measure of “enough.” If the toys can’t fit then it’s time to make choices.
Posted by Rue - 09/03/2009
@Sarah (the first one) You’re right, organization isn’t about coordination. But, you do have to admit that when things coordinate they look a lot more organized!
Posted by Michele - 09/03/2009
@Sarah: You’re killing me with the animal cracker jar idea, now that my daughter is 10 and way too old for me to use it! LOL
Posted by Laura - 09/04/2009
Regarding puzzles: We are a puzzle-addicted family. When my kids were young, whenever we bought a new puzzle I would mark the back of each piece with a marker and a sign … e.g. $ in green. That way, when pieces got mixed up, we just had to look inside the lid of the box and all matching pieces went into that box.
Now that the kids are grown and the puzzles are 1,000+ pieces, I don’t do that anymore. : P
Posted by Zee Marks - 09/04/2009
My wife found this site where there are great organizers on sale. There are also shelves that can be used to “compartmentalize” the closet. It’s amazing cause today when they look for something, they only have their closet to look into.
Posted by Sarah - 09/04/2009
Please, everyone, share your pics. All your furniture sounds great!
Posted by Kendra - 09/04/2009
I love the idea of repurposing furniture. I have an old dresser, with new paint and hardware, that serves as a buffet in my dining room. Plus it provides extra storage for miscellaneous stuff, gift wrap in one drawer, extra school supplies in another, tablecloths and placemats in another.
Also, the popcorn tins that are popular at Christmas are great for storing kids toys that have lots of parts or for using as a trash can.
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