Cubby Storage

Using Cubby Storage In Your BedRoom

I LOVE cubby storage, as most of you know who have followed me for awhile, so I decided to utilize them in our bedroom. I am in the process of slowly making over our bedroom.

We don’t have the finances to go into a beautiful bedroom set (that happens when you have eight kids right? Everything else like college and food come first! lol) so we do the best we can with what we have.  I also love Ikea, and I found some tall cubby storage units that we could use to help with our clothes storage.

We were storing our jeans, sweaters and sweatshirts on wire shelves in our closet. I tend to be more practical & functional than decorative, so I didn’t have a problem with open clothes storage in our room.

We have three of these cubby storage units in our rooms.  They are five shelves tall, with Dave having two of them and I have one.  This one is on the other side of the room from the top picture.  I got him two baskets also to help out with socks and T-shirts.

We also got two smaller cubbies that are on either side of our bed. We each have two baskets in them.  Yes that is my gun safe if anyone is wondering. You can see my cool pink gun on my pinterest board. (no nasty comments about me having a gun please)

There are plans to paint and also plans to make one of the cool headboards that I found on Evolution of Style  blog. Isn’t this awesome? I pinned it on my DIY pinterest board . This is in her little girl’s bedroom.   I loved it because it is right inbetween two windows which is the exact set up we have in our bedroom. I am still trying to decide on a paint color (not pink, I love it.. but poor Dave) and think my headboard will be the brown/black to match my Ikea pieces. Thoughts?

 

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Shelf Organizing – Mission: Office

Here Is How I am Using The Cubby Shelves In My Office

I already had these cubby units, so I was going to put them to use. I have the large Ikea Wall unit now, but these will still be used.

Top Shelves

I already had the pink and green cloth drawers also.  Top shelf I have a couple boxes with video equipment (green box) and business cards from conferences. I have them divided into separate conferences and labeled.  I do admit there have been very few times that I have gone back to them after I have done my initial contacts following the conference.  If at any point this box becomes full, I will have no problem purging them.

On the other side I have 2 baskets with computer DVD’s and the other with photos backed up.

And the the photos in this one.  I have obviously had them in here for awhile. I do most of my back ups now on my external hard drive.

But I did label these with color coded (per year) labels.  The baskets I got at The Container Store several years ago.  The label on the front obviously isn’t the best. Against the wire basket the label didn’t stick, so I used tape. It’s been on there awhile, and serves the purpose, but I’ll fix it at some point.

I know.. these would look much nicer with labels from a label makers. But… I don’t get in here very often, and that would be an expensive venture. These work just fine.

2nd Shelf Down

The 2 cubby baskets are on the next shelf down. I have padded envelops in each of them. The pink one has the larger ones and the green one has the smaller sizes. I used these to ship out my pouchees and card cubbys.

3rd Shelf Down

I have tried a couple things here. The first thing you can see in the above picture. I had stapler, pencils etc.. on the shelf, but it seemed to cluttered. Then I tried this but decided I didn’t like it either.  I had a lazy-susan and thought it might work good to get to the things I would need to mail out my pouchees. I tried it for several days and decided I didn’t like it. The labels were falling off, it just didn’t work for me.

Sometimes you have to experiment.  Don’t be afraid to say… this isn’t working, I need to change it.   Currently I now have a picture of the kids and a pencil holder on the shelf. I’ll show you what I did with the other supplies in another post.

On this other shelf I have a basket for scrape paper. The kids can use it for what ever they need, I can use it.  I like to cut it length-wise in half… get about 10 sheets thick .. staple the top and then I have this little note pad to take notes on.  Good way to recycle it.

I used this basket because I already had it.  I didn’t want one of the cloth cubby drawers because I wanted the kids to see the paper easily so they would use it.  Again.. a cute label would be nice on this basket. I am going to have to check out some of those tutorials on making cute labels.

4th Shelf Down

This cubby is for anything that the kids leave sitting on the desk when they come in to use it.  I would like to say they never leave their things out. LOL  But let’s get real.  I have told them, anything they leave on the desk… (CD’s, papers, mp3 players etc..) will go into this bin.. and they can find it there.  Once it gets full, if they haven’t claimed it.. it may get donated.. depending on what it is, or trashed. But I’ll give them a chance to get it put away first.

Next shelf over is the “kids” shelf.  I put all the supplies they should need to do anything for school.  They have their own scissors and tapes on the desks in their room, but they are forever borrowing mine.  I have realized I am a bit of a “Archie Bunker” when it comes to my area.  I guess you would say I’m a bit territorial.  I think I have so few areas of the house that I can claim as just mine that when I have one… I like it.  I don’t want to have to worry about coming in and not having my things where they should be when I need them because someone has used it and not put it away.

Yes.. I labeled everything.  I want to figure out something better than this arrangement. But I had the clear shelf… and underneath is a red tray that has dividers in it … for like a desk drawer. As you can see I labeled most of it. So there is no question what they can use, and if it is left somewhere else in the house – we know exactly where it should belong.
There is:
1) Pencil sharpener
2) Tape
3) Tape Measure
4) Stapler
5) Hole Punch
6) Thumb Tacks
7) Eraser
8) Staple Remover
9) Calculator
10) Ruler

5th Shelf Down

This post office scale I used to weigh things I’m shipping.  It is down below the level of the desk.  I don’t use it real often and I do have an extension cord so that I have plenty of “give” to pull it out and put up on the desk to use it.

The other side of this level is school supplies.  I have notebook paper, spiral notebooks and envelops that the kids can get to.

Shelf 6 (below desk level)

Why waste the space right?  I have 4 more shelves under here.
The left top is more CD’s and computer files that we won’t use as often. The basket is one that I have had.

I have extra school supplies in here.  If I have them out where the kids can see them real visibly, they would be gone… and scattered all over the house.  When they need them… we can get them out.

7th Shelf Down  (Bottom Shelf)

The bottom shelves have my TomBoy Tools (tools that are high quality made especially for woman. Not like those cheap ones you can find at discount stores.)  Nice thing about them is that I don’t have to worry about my husband or the boys taking them!  But I like having them at hand if I need to do something.  I don’t go into the garage or basement much, so for me, even though they aren’t “office” related, they work best for me in this space.

I actually sold them for just a little bit.  Although my friends evidently weren’t into pink tools.

I have used them plenty to do little jobs around the house.

On the other side of the shelf is a bin of photos. I don’t print photos out very often anymore and haven’t scrap booked in several years, but these are more recent. The kids like getting them out and going through them, especially if they need one for something.

So… you have seen my shelf.. and what I have on each one of them.  This might not be something that will work for you.  But it didn’t cost me anything to set this up. I already had everything.  I wanted to utilize that space between the wall and the desk. Because of the angled wall the desk could not go flush against the wall.
The cubby unit slid in the perfectly.
I don’t expect anyone to do the exact same thing I am doing. I just hope that maybe I can give you some ideas to use in your space.

Your Mission if you chose to take it is: Utilize shelf space!

Link up Your Office Mission Post

You can find the linky by clicking on the button above. Feel free to keep linking up your different office projects that you accomplish during this Office Mission. I am ok with also linking up organizing projects that aren’t office related. This link will be up until Feb. 24 so you will have time to add your office projects in

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I am linking this post to:

Organizing the Cubby’s

Organizing needs Maintenance.

I use these cubby’s at our front entry way for a “drop zone”. But they needed some organizing in a bad way.  I am in a cleaning and reorganizing mode… so I decided that instead of letting the kids go through them…. and leaving too much in them – they were getting a total dump and clean!

Each child has their own color cubby. They can use them from a drop zone (supposed to be temporary drop zone) for little things, hats, mittens etc. They routinely clean them out. But.. that has gotten a little lax lately and they were all stuffed to over flowing. Time to clean them out.

Look.. an empty pop bottle in my teenagers. I mean.. really?  I guess he decided this was his temporary trash can!

It must be contagious.. because my other teenager had one too.  ugh..

At least there is no trash in this one.

In come the trash bags…..

Don’t worry… I am not doing what I felt like doing… and trashing it all.  That is why I used clear plastic bags. For one to tell who’s bag is who’s before I put it in their rooms. Also so that it didn’t get thrown out by accident.

I just dumped the cubby content into it’s own clear plastic bag.  Then I distributed them to their rooms… and when the kids got home, they went through them.

Ahhh… so much nicer.

Doesn’t that look great?  The only thing in there right now are my shooting gloves in the purple bin.

Organizing requires maintenance. Just like most any task in the house…. once is not enough. It is best if you keep up on it and not let it get out of hand… and it’s much easier to deal with.

If you let it go too long… it becomes this monster that you are scared to deal with… so it keeps growing and growing!

Linking this post to:

Playroom Organizing – Part 4

More Storage Solutions

I am going to take you on an Ikea shopping trip with me.  These are all pictures I took when I went the year before last.  I love this store, but I am not getting any kind of affiliate, commission or any other compensation by telling you about them or posting this.  I just love some of the solutions they have for toy storage.

Keep in mind that there are many other alternatives for where to purchase like items. Target has great cubbies, and is where I get mine.  So look around, this is just meant to give you some ideas.

If you read me at all you know I LOVE cubbies.  There are many different styles and inserts you can get for cubbies.  Many stores have them, although not a lot of others have the full wall units like these.
Like OMG isn’t this the cutest?  These are slide out bins.  I do wish the colored ones were clear though.  But I still love it. You can mix and match and make your own set up with this system.

Here is another option with the same kind of units.

To have an art desk or homework desk would be awesome in a playroom. (Keep in mind that doing homework in a playroom is not a real good idea unless your child can really focus).

Here is another desk idea for a playroom. These also would be great in a child’s room if you had space for them.

This is a cubby unit that hangs on the wall. Then you can have storage space underneath it.  You could also use this above a desk or higher on the wall to keep the games away from the little ones.

These hanging net cubbies are cute for those little stuffed animals or trinkets.

Here are some other little cute storage ideas for the walls.  Of course these are fabric and you couldn’t hand anything too heavy in them, but wouldn’t they decorate a wall cute?

Here is something for the little bit older group.  A locker.  They could use it for game storage, DVD or CD storage like pictured. But they could also put books, have fun decorating it inside and out and use all those cool locker gadgets you see at the stores (but a lot of schools don’t allow).

I also saw these cute colorful frames there. They were only $1.99 each. What a cute way to showcase their most special artwork!  It would be another cute way to decorate the walls of the playroom and make them feel really special.

So I took you on my Ikea shopping trip.  It is to give you ideas. If you see something you like…shop around for it. There may be other places you can find it…or try ebay or amazon too.  Or you can do like me….garage sales, dollar store and Target & Walmart. Really Ikea’s prices are not bad at all….I want to take a shopping trip down to the one in Ohio again soon. The only one I went on was with my husband….and how fun is that?  LOL

Front Cubby Drop Zone

This is the cubby system that I have in my front hallway. I have a different color cubby for each child. I use those cubbys for all the little things that you find around the house of the kids when you are cleaning up. We also use them for hats and gloves for the kids.
My husband has a charging station on top for his cell phones and keys.
The kids have to clean out their cubbys and put away their things every week or two.
This system might not work for everyone, or may work in another area of the house rather than the front hallway. Use your imagination!

Ikea Expedit

Ikea Bookshelf – Great Organizer

I love this piece! It is so functional. The cubbyhole’s can keep your books neater than a regular bookshelf. You either need bookends or you have all your books fall over when you take out several on a regular bookshelf. You have spaces to display things and the size of the cubbyholes are big, so that taller books and albums will fit.
I would love to see this in a playroom. It does come in white so that it may go better in a playroom with that.
You can add either doors (like on the bottom ones) in different colors, or you can get the little bins to go in to hold little things. It would work especially well if you have several ages of kids. The younger ones can use the toys at the bottom but would be unable to access the upper levels (where games that had small pieces and books could be kept).
If and when I get a different office, this piece is going to be in there! (At least I hope so).

You can get this at Ikea.com