Storage solutions: Hidden shelving

Back at the start of the month Matt had a couple of weeks of holidays. It rained and rained and rained so that pretty much canceled the idea of getting anything done outside. Happily for me that meant that some inside projects got done! That included adding shelving to an underutilized corner of the closet in the girls room.

Since we only have the two bedrooms, and now the two kids, storage is at a premium. I have a fairly low tolerance for having toys everywhere, so I wanted to be able to designate a set area for the toys, which would also help us set a limit on just how many toys they can have. If they outgrow the space, some toys need to be passed along to other children. This can also help us work on the one-in one-out rule.

I felt this was the perfect place to put in some shelving. They are at just the right height for Desana to be able to reach everything, and the exact depth to be able to fit the photoboxes that I use as toy boxes! Plus at the end of the day I can just pull the curtains shut and everything is out of sight.

It's kind of cute, sometimes Desana sits in there and plays with everything! When she wants to play with something from one of the boxes she can bring them out to the living room.

Were you wondering what is kept in the boxes?

• O.R.E. Originals Bath Learning Shapes, we don't use them as bath toys but they are great for Desana as she learns her letters and numbers. She loves lining them up and building towers with them, so they are quite versatile
• A variety of HABA and Plan wooden blocks - stacking blocks, mixed shapes and colors, sensory blocks - literally hours of entertainment building things, learning shapes and colors
• Mr. Potato head. I wasn't a big fan of this toy initially because of all the pieces, but being able to keep it all in one box sure helps. Desana loves making crazy monsters!
• Green Toys - Tea Set - I can't tell you how excited I was to get Desana her first tea set! We have lots of fun imaginary play with these toys.

I have another basket on the dresser in the girls room, and two baskets in the living room that hold the toys that are being played with out here the most often. I'm setting that as the limit, and with birthdays and Christmas rapidly approaching we'll have to figure out if they really need anything, and what those things might be.

Now I just need to find a few more out of sight places to add some shelving to!

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