Toy Tower Labelling

My daughters toy tower sits nicely right at the end of the bed in her room and mainly held a jumble of different toys. There was jigsaws, stuffed toys, and generally things that my daughter never thought about on a day to day basis.

I decided that it should be sectioned and labelled so it also made things easier for her to put things away and also to find what she wanted. After deciding what to put in each drawer (together and after a few disagreements with a 5 year old) we sorted what we wanted to put in each drawer. We decided on these categories

• DVD's And Remotes
• Beauty
• Baby Doll Items
• Dress Up

I got some PINK labels made up with pictures and words. She is starting Primary 1 in August so I want to teach her to coordinate these words with the items I suppose. I printed them out on glossy photo paper and stuck them on with ordinary Pritt Stick so if we need to change them around with other toys it is easily removed and is easy to clean off if labels aren’t required anymore.

We then popped everything inside the drawers.

Her DVD’s were sorted out and remotes were put in here with her notebook…. She’s a budding list maker like her mummy.

She really enjoyed helping me out organise her toys and went on a hunt to find other items that she had lying around in her handbags for her beauty drawer

And got all her baby dolls (named Janessa. Origin=unknown) things and put them in the baby dolls drawer.

And we put her dressing up clothes, shoes and handbags in the bottom drawer. 

I definitely have a budding organiser here and future heiress to the blog.

Getting her involved helped her to feel part of what went on in her room and since she is Miss Independent, and her mothers’ daughter, she didn't feel shocked as when I un-expectantly change something when she is at nursery.

What ways do you involve your children to feel involved and teach them to organise?

Garden Shed Challenge

This post today is about a challenge I took from my other half to sort out his shed. Usually the shed is left to him and I stay well clear. Its also usually a dumping ground for stuff I really don't want in the house. I said to him before to let me organise it and yesterday he asked when I was going to do it, also adding “I don't think there is much you can do though” and I swiftly responded with a loud “HA” and “I'll show you”  (does he really not know me?).

I lifted from my seat, headed to the shed and opened the door to this....

[Insert Scream here]

OK so I know it is a shed after all but it is a nightmare for an organising queen fanatic to look at. You can see there is left over blocks from the path he just paved, tools and paint on shelves and everything else just thrown/tossed/chucked inside. I of course had to take into consideration that this is a “man” space and that my normal array of baskets and cute displays would not cut it in here.

He already had sufficient shelving so I didn't have to worry about that. I started by completely emptying the whole lot out, to start with a blank space and think about what I needed to do. I still cannot believe the amount of stuff this small space was actually holding - A major fail on my part for not taking a photo of everything outside the shed.

I had already given him some jars to keep the nails and screws he had, but was not being used and he had some things in butter tubs but I don’t think these are the greatest of storage solutions as they just look untidy. I used jars instead and now must remember to keep more in future for him.

So now things had to go back in the shed I started by sorting through all of the screws and nails and labelled the jars the best I could with my label printer. I used old Oxi clean tubs for the odd ones. I put these on the top of the shelves he had already put up. I also put 3 little tin buckets on the bottom shelf for other bits and bobs he may be using and I think they look lovely.

For his power tools I thought about just placing on the shelves and leaving it but that would not be in my nature just to leave it just like that. Grabbing the label printer again I got to work creating little homes for each tool by labelling the shelves to where they should live. An old basin held his sanding sheets nicely.

For his fishing hooks, reels etc I put it in the big wooded box (that he made himself) which is under the pink box which I put his spare hand tools inside. 

On the top shelf to the left of the picture above, I put his drill which he uses a lot with his box of assorted screws. Beside that is car fluids, fence paint and the lawn feed is in the black container which used to be protein shake in there. Another basin on the shelf above the ladders has gardening tools like the trowel, fork and gloves.

I placed all the other equipment like his workbench, hose reel, spades and power washer he has around the shed.

Coming home from the park with our daughter he looked in the shelf and smiled. Asking him what he thought he asked “what's missing?”. He's pleased with the space he now has and the test is to now see how long it will stay this way.

What do you do to keep your shed tidy and organised? 

Perfect Happy Home


Linking to: 
A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Say Not Sweet Anne and Family, Home and Life

  

Furniture Move In the Bedroom

As I mentioned before, I bought some new living room furniture and gave some of the old furniture for my son’s room. I really, really didn't want to get rid of any of my furniture I had before. My coffee table was ruined so that went to the recycling centre. The Desk we had but never used as a desk was a piece I have had for 13 years that I got as a present for my Christmas when I was around when I was 14 years old.

When the new furniture arrived I put the desk in the cupboard that goes under the stairs which is filled with my daughter’s toys (my sons has petered off now that he’s gotten older). It’s funny but the toys she never played with often and the ones I put at the back and was stuck, was the ones she always wanted for the week I had the cupboard. Extremely annoying having pull the whole lot out including her Step2 kitchen and desk.

I decided that the desk was to valuable a piece to just have in a cupboard so I made a decision to put it in our bedroom instead. There was a TV unit in it at the time which iv never been truly happy with and my OH kept some of his weight equipment behind it.

This is the before photo.

(Excuse my OH trainers, he was out cutting the grass at the time.)

 I measured it out and I started clearing out the bedroom. I got the desk from the cupboard and then got it upstairs. Placing it in the corner I arranged the TV and my new printer on the desk and a basket under for my partner’s weights in. I also labeled the plugs under it for the printer, television and extension with my label maker.

I'm so delighted with this idea I have decided to do this all over the house.

And here is the set up now. 

 I'm so delighted that I never had to get rid of a piece of furniture and it looks so much better now as well.

Just incase anyone is wondering what happened to the TV unit that was in the bedroom before. As it was narrower than the desk ( by about a foot ) I put it under the stairs in its place and put some of the storage tubs on top and inside. I actually prefer it and the toys at the back can actually come out without pulling the whole lot out! YAY! I may show in a future post once I get the cupboard painted

Did you ever find a piece of furniture fitted better somewhere else?

Linked to City of Creative Dreams, A Bowl Full of Lemons and Say Not Sweet Anne

Perfect Happy Home

Surprise Wardrobe Sort!

I'm really proud of myself for this cupboard organisation! It was a complete accident.

 I was actually looking for a black vest top that I wear under my work shirt that I thought might have fallen into the pile of shoes I have here. I was in shock at the state the cupboard was in....again. I've tried multiple attempts to organise this space and I’m failing miserably. So I pulled the whole lot out.

Here is the before photo

The crate on the left held my shoes and the crate on the right was boots. The pile at the end was my handbags and the shopper bag on top has Christmas presents I bought early for this coming year (organised!)

I started by donating/binning the boots, shoes and handbags which were not used in years or I didn't want anymore. I recently bought some new living room furniture and put our old furniture into my sons’ room to create an entertainment centre so he no longer had any use for an old bedside cabinet that held his controllers and headsets. I put this up to my mums’ garage a few days before and thought this might fit in the cupboard. 

I popped up and got it and with a little bit of wood underneath the feet it fitted perfectly! I have now put my under garments in the top drawer, vest tops in the second and my Christmas jumper in the bottom at the moment.

I think it looks perfect! 

The bottom crate now holds my handbags and the top one now holds ALL my footwear (yes I got rid of quite a bit). The OCD in me also cannot resist keeping my clothes in order of colour so that is how it will stay but I did also sort through it and put them to the clothing bank. I always used to chuck my work clothes over a chair or on top of the crate of shoes so I can now fold it neatly on the cabinet. I think this looks fantastic and is working well so far. Not bad organising by an accident and cost £0.

Perfect Happy Home

Linked to A Bowl Full of Lemons Link Party and City of Creative Dreams

My Second Drawer

In my kitchen, my second drawer down in my kitchen housed my dish towels and things like tinfoil, sandwich bags and black bin bags. 

Unfortunately it looked like this

Grrrrr....I hated how everything moved around. I also apologise for the lighting in my photos. I'm learning, but unfortunately my kitchen has not got the greatest light in this area.

So I was trying to come up with a solution that rolled around my head for many months before eventually finding the perfect thing! I considered tension rods which came in at around £3.99 each. I also thought of dividers that might keep the towels etc separate. None on them seemed like an easy solution to maintain in the long runs. 

So instead I got one of these!

Yes! A cutlery divider! I got my partner to bend one of the sections round so to create a longer section as the tinfoil didn't fit in it so a little snip, a bend and a knock with the hammer and 

TADA!

I'm so happy with the end result! I placed a piece of gripper mat underneath so it wouldn't shoot back and forth when opening the drawer. I now have a section for each thing! I have my clingfilm in another drawer with my grease proof paper as I don't use it as often. Its been a few days now and it appears to be working and is still staying neat and tidy.

Does anyone else have another solution to this problem they can share or perhaps I'm not the first to do this solution. 

Leave a comment of what you think.

Linked to I Heart Organising

Earphone Storage Idea

So while I'm fixing up some of my posts , I'm itching to post something that will get the ball going.  So I thought I would show you my neat and tidy way of storing earphones

I'm sure everyone can agree that tangled, messy earphones are a common find in our drawers in most homes. I got fed up of finding them all over the house as well.

After sorting through the damaged ones and also the ones for phones that we don't own any more I used sandwich bag ties to twist them round together which I have loads of as I don't use them for the sandwich bags.

.

I love reusing coffee jars like these with the sealed lid.

I popped all the tied earphones in the jar, printed a label for it with my wonderful label maker and placed it in my bookcase. Now everyone knows where to go and won't have to spend extra time untangling them.

More posts like this to come! I would love your feedback and suggestions.

See you soon!