secret storage

BEFORE

AFTER

This client just finished remodeling her home and asked me to brainstorm storage solutions for her new space.  The beautiful china cabinet shown above was completely wasting away as decoration in her dining room because she doesn’t use formal china and stores her casual dishes in her kitchen.  I took this opportunity to store her everyday craft and office supplies since the home lacks a designated home office. We started with the three drawers by adding organizing trays with several sections.  This was a perfect way to store small pads of paper, crayon boxes, spare dice (this family LOVES games), and other miscellaneous supplies.  For one of the drawers we created a mailing station by stacking all the envelopes together and using dividers to separate the different sizes. With stamps and an address book to finish, this drawer is a one stop spot for all the families mailing essentials.

Some of the client’s favorite hobbies are crafting and scrap booking, so we took advantage of the spacious cabinets to store the materials needed for her projects. On the left, clear shoe and sweater boxes are perfect for storing markers, scissors, and ribbon.  On the right, we used a rising letter sorter to display all her paper (which was a TON!). Finding a paper solution was a challenge because scrapbook pages are generally 12X12 and most sorters and trays allow for only 81/2X11. We decided on an acrylic open ended sorter which fits an array of sizes, allowing her to see the variety without having to pull everything out, as well as keeping everything in good condition without dents and tears.

This project was a great demonstration of getting creative and storing things in an uncommon area.  Who says you can only store office supplies in a desk or toys in a toy box??  I challenge you to take a walk through your house and see where you have empty space just because you don’t really have what’s “supposed” to go there.  Then turn around and use that new location to store things you really need!

Copyright 2011 Get It Together Professional Organizing