As others have said, I would lose lots of the toys and books. Rotate them regularly and store them in the shed. Make sure people don't give you new stuff, and use libraries and toy libraries. Maybe you could store some items in net storage near the ceiling. It could be accessed by a pulley. I am suggesting this as a last resort because it is not attractive or uncluttered, but maybe as a short term solution until your circumstances change.
Respect JuliaJayne
Lol pkilmain! I know what you mean, ikea is a great shopping experience (well, till you reach the checkouts and find a billion people in the queue in front of you!). Then after you have a couple of shopping trips, buy unsuitable furniture, have to build the #<>^<<%# stuff and realise it's not that cheap when you have to replace it with something more suitable, then next time you take a list :)
I would honestly be ready for murder if I had to live in such a small space with my entire family, I don't know how Usagibuffy does it whilst pregnant too :) It seems like a good idea to make any purchases adaptable for any future house, like the elfa system suggested.
Ok ok, Jackthetiger. Although I chose a poor way to insinuate the elephant in the room, the elephant is still in the room. I'm not going to point out the elephant, either. Different strokes, right? This is not a judgement, just a lot of head scratching.
pkilmain....our closest IKEA is 1700km south.
thank god.
but i have shipped stuff home....particularly when we built our workshop.
if i had a truck, i'd be driving it there, possibly right now, lolol!
Remember, IKEA does ship their items. I love the suggestion of building the wall of IKEA cubes and having everything behind it being clothing.
I completely agree with the suggestion of the platform and a bed guard on the side so no one falls out.
I recognize that you are living in your parents' house and must live where they let you.
To me, the bed is the biggest obstacle in the room
If possible, I would get rid of the mattress/bed and replace it with a futon or inflatable air mattress that you store in your husband's study area (or some other room except for the one you are living in) and put out just before bed. Better yet, if your parents let you, sleep on the futon or air mattress in the study (or some other room except for the one you are living in).
Jay, that would be unsafe for sleeping with a baby. They need a proper firm surface.
love cheesehead's idea of the curtain and putting stuff behind it. Seems like this would be best if it were a) as opaque as possible and b) light colored (white or cream) so as not to darken the room too much. You could make one entire wall into a storage area (seems like one wall is already used for much of the storage) and just install hooks or something and hang a wire rod or so and some inexpensive curtains from them (personally I'd go for the kind of curtains with grommets, like these: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=117017. I'd try and put as much stuff behind it as possible- the books, the videos, the bulk of the toys, etc. You could also use the curtains in the new house.
Charity, you may be right if you are talking about a cheap camping mattress.
However, a high quality air mattress (like an Aero bed) can be as firm as a regular mattress. A futon would likely be firmer than a regular mattress.
I don't know about a blow up mattress, but my cousins used to sleep on bed rolls. They had to roll them up and put them off to the side every day and roll them out at night. That gave them much more space in a shared room.
Also, I don't know much about co-sleeping, but why does DD need separate mattresses? It seems like you would all fit together on a queen/king mattress. Maybe you could lean it up against the wall, like a Murphy bed, during the day?
Lots of folks have mentione all the toys, but what about all the books? You don't have to own all the books you read. Could you narrow it down to one shelf of books you own and maybe another shelf of library books or something?
Maximizing hanging space in the closet, with a system or at least an extra rod is a great idea. (I think someone else linked to one; they just hang from the top rod and give you double the hanging space for short things like shirts/pants. You could still have plenty of room for dresses, as needed.)
I don't know about getting rid of the shelving on the walls, although it is looking a little over-loaded. It looks cluttered, but I wouldn't want to waste all that vertical storage space, either.
I assume, if you planning to live with the folks for several years, that the relationships are good. You're not all confined to that one room (plus desk and sewing area) ONLY, right? I hope you're able to "live" in the rest of the house, too. It seems like you could spread a few things around the common areas of the house--books in the living room or on the shelves near the desk; a bin of toys in the living area; etc.
Best wishes!
Usagibuffy: What is holding you back from cleaning out the clutter of your daughter's toys?
http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Baby_Friendly/Leaflets/3/sharingbedleaflet.pdf
if anyone is particularly interested in bedsharing with babies.
Jay, I think what I would do is send the husband and toddler off to sleep elsewhere as you suggest, and have the baby on the regular floor mattress. I couldn't have my toddler in the same bed as me and baby as she got jealous, and was better off in a separate room with her father all to herself.
s, it depends how much she wriggles! My 3 year old generally sleeps sideways, which is very irritating.
if you went with shorter curtains you could utilize the space under the window with shallow shelves (maybe for the child friendly items like folded clothes, soft toys, kids books, other things little prying hands won't mess up too much).
Don't underestimate earthquakes- I live in california as well and please, please don't hang heavy items above the bed and replace those rickety shelves. especially with two small kids in there. what is an uncomfortable smack on the head to an adult can really hurt a small child or infant (such as a book coming down from some distance)
Off the track, but I must say I do not understand the Ikea thing. The time I went I felt as though I was on a conveyer belt with consumption crowding at me from all sides. It was horrible and I left with nothing. I really hate shopping centres too. The give me the irites because they are so noisy and bright and the air is not fresh. I only enjoy shopping when you can go in and out of shops and feel part of the street environment. I especially love Melbourne's lanes.
I am a huge fan of Elfa storage because it is so clean, flexible and it allows for air flow to keep items such as bed linen and towels fresh. I imagine that Ikea have similar products, but I could not see them because of the avalanche of unitaskers and other stuff.
It would help if you had all the wood painted the same colour like a white or cream and had light colored lined curtains, it would bring consistency and a lighter feeling in the room. Also, investing in a whole wall shelving system with semi transparent containers to store objects by category would make better use of the wall space currently being occupied by the dressers.
Doesn't sound like the advice given has been very helpful, I see more criticism here than anything. I know exactly the challenges you are facing with storage and space. My husband was laid off last September and we made the choice to move in with his parents. Four of us now occupy a small spare bedroom, our kids are two and four so are room runneth over with toys as well. All of our large items we do not have room for our housed in a storage unit and we visit it at least once a month when i do a really good clear out of our closet and bedroom. (i get to a point where i get sick of tripping over everything and have to clear a lot of it out.)Both my husband and i have gone back to school full time, so neither of us are working so money is tight as well.
As you were planning on doing I would do a major sort out of everything you need and don't need. I would clear out your daughters toys, leaving only open ended toys(which are toys that can be used for more than one purpose) like blocks. I would keep shelves on the wall and even add more shelving above the windows, instead of underneath. Here you could keep books and photo frames, and things that are used seldom. I would purchase mesh baskets that can be hung on the wall, and in these you can keep toys and stuffed animals.IN our closet I used two large diaper boxes stacked on top of each other to maximize the space on the top shelf of the closet. I purchased an adjustable hanging rod for the kids clothes,and have plastic dressers for their clothes and hanging canvas compartments for ours. you could use shoe holders for your daughters barbie dolls and smaller toys.We have a eight compartment cube shelf that houses are children's toys, that is on the floor, but we will be mounting it to the wall so we can use the floor space underneath for more toy storage.
At first we had three beds in our bedroom, but we decided to buy a bunk bed, so my 4 year old sleeps on the top bunk and my husband and i sleep underneath(it is a twin over full bunk bed)and my two year old has a toddler bed. We do not have any dressers in our room all of our clothes are stored inside the closet, so this frees up the floor for play. I would also recommend buying a bulletin board for your daughters artwork.
This has been a hard time in our life, which I am assuming for you all as well. So, I am wishing you the best of luck. I am sure by now you have had your baby, so congrats!
gee amelia, that is a fairly sweeping statement, that you see more criticism here than anything helpful.
i see loads of excellent advice for a fairly tricky situation, and an OP who never bothered to come back and say thanks or anything else.
I apologize if I offended you bandicoot. There ARE some very helpful tips here. I was only calling what i saw; a number of people pointing out the same thing to this woman again and again. As I was reading the posts the repetition became frustrating for myself, and in response to that I wrote my own.
Earlier on in the forum she did offer her thanks to those who had posted.
amelia,
This thread had no action for 7 months, I think the OP is not coming back to it now.
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