Organizing Baby

Here are a couple of the projects I've done recently.

 The first one is a chest-turned-changing-table. I used to have a changing table pad on top of a large, old record player Darlin got at an auction years ago for $5. Diaper supplies was near by in a large, white basket on a stool. And that worked great. Until the day I moved the record player to sweep behind it (as I hadn't done so, since it was moved there over a year earlier!). The whole bottom of it just started to crumble away! I tried to salvage it, but the bottom was so messed up, the whole thing teeter-tottered side to side. Not good. So, out with the record player :( and in with...well...hmmmm. It forced me to be creative, since I wasn't keen on lugging my now 22lb son upstairs every time he needed a diaper change. That gets exhausting when you're six months pregnant.
 In the kitchen, next to the table, I had this chest with two compartments and a drawer. I had craft supplies for my siblings and our games and such in it. Things that are normally used at the table. I downsized on the craft stuff, and relocated the games to a nearby room. Then I moved the chest to the livingroom and got to work.

 I covered the bottom of the drawer with pretty contact paper from Dollar Tree. The red basket was re-purposed from the downstairs "office". Inside are diapers, of course, wipes, rash creams, lotion, Germ-x, a small toy to keep him occupied, and tucked in behind the wipes is an extra pad cover.

 Then, because our bathroom is ridiculously small, I took this opportunity to move all of Jackson's bath things out of the bathroom and into the chest.

 Hooded towels and washcloths

 Another re-purposed basket to hold shampoos, toys, nail clippers, and baby oil.

 The downsized craft compartment holds a can of crayons, paints, playdough, cards, paper, etc.

Project number two: For Jackson's birthday and for Christmas, he got some gift cards and cash. The gracious givers told me to get him "something he needs". So after taking note that he had more than enough clothing and a bunch of new toys there was really only one thing he did need. A place to keep all his toys and books! The stuff was everywhere, floating around the house. I tried in vain to keep them in baskets, but it was such an overwhelming assortment, that Jackson didn't play with them much. Not to mention the cluttered mess of it all, leading to me scooping and tossing into random baskets in an attempt to keep from tripping on everything. (He liked to dump out all the baskets and crawl away to play with pots and pans and the like). After doing some online browsing, we got him a set of cubbies and fabric totes at Target (some totes from Walmart) and ta-da!





I can't believe how much this has helped. We've been using it for almost a month now, and it is still functioning the way we hoped it would. He still has some books downstairs, but this is the majority of them. I like that there is still room to grow, because that is just inevitable.

 The totes on the very bottom have (left to right) cars, trains, trucks, things with wheels. The middle has an assortment of misfits; phone, shape sorter, weeble wabbles, etc. The last has stuffed animals.

 Then above the stuffed animals are all the ''lego'' blocks. The other two are empty for now. He has a small basket of toys in his playpen in the kitchen, and a toy box in the livingroom. That way, no matter if I'm cooking, folding laundry, or cleaning upstairs, he always has something around that he can play with.

    My favorite part, besides it looking neat and tidy, is that in the mornings when Jackson gets up, I put him on the floor in his room (with the gate up) and he will play with his toys! And I get to have a cup of coffee, quiet time with Jesus and read my Bible. Some days I don't get as much time as I like, but he does pretty good most of the time. Afterwards, sometimes I make a game out of clean up time and he helps for about 30 seconds lol. He will put stuff in the totes and we clap and say "Yay! Good job!" But then he is more interested in emptying them out again :)

The cubbie cost 39.00 and the totes were $5.00 each. But it is so worth it. I'd love to replace the broken bookshelf in our livingroom some day with a four compartment cubbie. When it comes to getting organizing products for the house, I often think of Johnny Cash's song "One piece at a Time", but only, I wish it just cost a dime!

Coming up: How I made my own vanity.