My two youngest share a bedroom. It’s a nice-sized room with a great walk-in closet. I’d been hanging some of their clothes in the closet, using the shelves and floor for toys and cramming undies, socks, pjs, leggings and the like into their cute, but very small dresser.
When we recently purged a scary amount of toys, I decided I needed something in the closet to store more folding clothes, so I could rescue those four small dresser drawers from chronic overcrowding. I decided I’d go with an inexpensive 9-cube Closet Maid storage unit from Target. I was kicking myself because I’d sold two (plus all the trimmings…a.k.a. baskets) for a song at my last garage sale. I was estimating that I’d probably spend close to $80 on a new one and new fabric cubbies.
Then it hit me that I had a 4×2 Expedit I’d been planning on using to create a table base for a new worktable. That plan depended on also using my older son’s 4×2…and he didn’t really want to part with it. So I took mine and created an instant (and free!) storage solution after I scrounged eight unused fabric cubbies from various recesses of the garage and hall closet. The cubbies aren’t pretty, but I plan to cover them with cute fabric and hangtags.
One advantage is that the Expedit cubbies are larger than the Closet Maid ones, so score. Similarly, I re-appropriated a neglected set of Closet Maid shoe shelves that had long sat unused in the hall closet. So in an afternoon and for no money, I created a veritable TON of storage space for my little ones’ clothes and shoes. Undies and socks stayed in the dresser. Daughter and son have the following cubbies:
K – Nighties/PJs
D- PJs
K – Leggings and Jeggings
D – Shorts
K – Shorts
K – Skirts
Both – Hats/Gloves/Scarves
Both – Misc.
I might even repaint both with chalk paint in a soft color, so they better fit with the decor of the room.
What little-used gems, waiting for a new purpose, do you have around your home?
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