If you’re an avid blog reader, you’ve probably heard of the #40bagsin40days challenge from White House Black Shutters. And, if you’re a mom, you might also find yourself perusing Pinterest for ideas for how to get or keep your house organized. Maybe you are looking for ways to display treasures your family loves or squeeze more storage into a small space. All that describes me, which leads me to sharing some ideas for adding shelves for storage, display, and organization to almost any room in your home.
This post may contain affiliate links. Which means, if you click the link and buy something, I may receive a percentage of sales at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Domestic Deadline.
First, I should tell you, I’m home sick. Since moms don’t take sick days, I’m attempting to still do something productive in between nursing myself back to health. It’s just a cold, but I’m trying not to push myself too hard and have this drag on longer than it needs to. Considering the illnesses that have been circulating through my kids’ schools this winter, I think it’s the smart choice.
I’m still trying to fill at least one bag a day towards my 40 bags of things to get rid of (read more about it here). In between the things I have to do, I’m trying to at least rest, so I started cleaning up some things electronically. Yes, I cleaned up the DVR and watched a bunch of shows! I also deleted the duplicates and triplicates of all my pictures my computer somehow managed to make. Pictures are also now sorted by year and month and rid of other junk I didn’t need. This led me to start to clean up my Pinterest boards, organize my email (try SaneBox) and clean up some older posts on this here little blog. Hmmm, this might be Deja Vu to the last time I was sick…
Somehow, it’s a bit foggy, I ended up thinking a lot about shelves. Where I could put them in my house, how to use the ones I already have better, things like that. My foggy brain can’t come up with a better transition or explanation, so…
Shelves in Kids Rooms
Moving meant each of my 3 children finally had their own room. Now, all 3 have at least one wall with shelves to help them display their treasures and organize and store other things they need (or think they need!).
JuneBug has a collection of purses and makeup. She is my super organized child. IronFish likes to go into her room and move something ever so slightly… just to see how long it takes her to figure it out. The scary thing is, she usually notices immediately. We recently put shelves above her two dressers and vanity table.
Periodically she rearranges everything and changes up her display.
Tasha is my book worm, she wanted to fill her shelves with books but since this is right over where she sleeps, we thought she should stick to lighter weight things.
Obviously, we need to get to painting her frames to go with this bedroom’s color scheme of mint, coral, and gold. Hmmm, might be a good project this weekend.
O-Man, on the other hand, will never have his shelves looking as good as they did when we first put them in.
We intended for him to keep his toys in the boxes and his lego creations on the shelves. Usually, IronFish and I are just happy if we can see his floor. I’m happy he hasn’t knocked down his Minecraft pictures.
Shelves in Bathrooms
In our last house, our powder room had to hold a lot, the cabinet under the sink was occasionally used kitchen supplies. Shelves made a big difference in the room and helped corral first aid supplies, extra toilet paper, bottles of sunscreen and my makeup since I often did my hair and makeup on the first floor while the kids got ready for school.
Sorry for the small picture, I think the originals got left on my old computer. But, the DIY floating shelves are still a favorite of mine. It’s also one of the posts I edited and fixed up today so the pictures show up again!
This house has much more storage, but the girls share a tiny bathroom. Shelves above the toilet help them to organize all of their nail supplies
They are actually pink painted spice racks from Ikea.
Shelves in Craft Rooms and Offices
My craft room is an ongoing struggle for me. But, I keep chipping away at it hoping to one day (soon) have it functional. Recently, I added shelves above my dresser turned cutting table to hold baskets of scraps.
My makeshift labels need to be replaced with something more permanent. IronFish thinks I should just line the room with shelves, floor to ceiling… or get rid of everything!
He, of course, has his space almost done (missing doors on his office) and his shelves look nice almost all the time.
It may have been his design and project, but I am the one that put his display together for him.
And dusts it.
Typical mom move to put everyone else’s needs first.
Unless it comes to a new kitchen… then it’s all going to be about ME!
While I wait for the new kitchen, I am considering removing my useless upper cabinets and putting in open shelves. My kitchen design has open shelves, so I would actually like to build these now and just move them when the kitchen is finished.
I’m also contemplating adding a shelf or two around the television in our living room.
But not today. Today I’ll just think about it. And sip my peppermint tea.
If you need me, I’ll be curled up under a blanket, watching Gilmore Girls reruns waiting out my cold.
Oh, but feel free to pin this for later!
Or tweet if you’re so inclined
And just in case you are interested, the Shelving Store has a sale going on right now.
10 Comments