Storage Solutions

Welcome to a new week!  I wanted to share a little project journey I just encountered.  We are fortunate to be able to use a shrunk, a German shelving system that usually takes up a lot of space.  Good, because we have a lot of space to fill.  Since we are living in our friends' home while they are out of town, they left the house partially furnished, including the shrunk.

Ooh, strong affinity for this piece.  However, it's not mine, and I don't have the freedom to refinish it.  I don't yet have time to tack paper in the back of the shelves.  Still I had a more serious need:  to create storage a bit out of the children's reach and divide their toys into smaller containers.  We're not doing so well with keeping a ton of toys in one big basket, emptying it, and having so much to clean up.  I'm optimistic that we would do better by getting down a little at a time and putting it away before making more messes (duh).  I like to think of myself as a recovering hoarder, so sometimes the organizational ideas come a little slower to me.

I have a lot of baskets.  They are all shapes and sizes and vary somewhat in color, and the matchy-matchy baskets are the current trend in storage.  I could spray paint these all the same color, but chances are I would spend more on the paint than the baskets are actually worth.  I was determined to spruce them up using something I already had.  Checked my decorating notebook, that thing I put together with pages from magazines before Pinterest came along.  Hey, print still has its place.  It dawns on me:  I have quite a few starfish and shells!  So, I spent a little time arranging the baskets and then gluing on the marine life.  Either I'm delusional, or it did create a relevance for the baskets.  And, now I'm excited...  making what I already have work.  Please pardon the folded laundry and napping dog; we're keepin' it real here.

Sea treasures work here because we live near the beach.  Here are some other inexpensive items that could also unify baskets:

• chalk labels
• small frames/ornaments with pics representing what's in the baskets (great for pre-reading kids)
• small frames used as mini dry erase boards
• larger silk flowers
• wine corks
• antique/repurposed knobs/pulls
• spoons (maybe my favorite and quirky pick)
• drift wood
• little wreaths
• bows

And, my mind keeps going...  Blessings!