Nifty Storage & Organization Ideas

Here are some super cool products that actually relate to the great suggestions offered by Rebecca when she assessed our home's storage and organizational needs.


Art & Creativity Center and Storage
This Elfa Kids Workstation allows maximum flexibility for keeping puzzles, art supplies, and other inspirational objects close at hand while providing adjustable height table tops for different size kids.

Vertical Storage for Entryway
These free-standing components from The Container Store starting from left to right can create an instant mudroom where none exists. Like at our house.

Underbed storage

Providing way more underbed storage than those tiny risers, these rackraisers are just one of the many space-saving ideas from dormbuys.

Enhanced lighting without rewiring

This handy switch allows you to add convenient light switches wherever you need them.

Yet another way to stack and store shoes

These stacking see-through Shoebby's have drawers so you can pull out just one pair of shoes without having to unstack the boxes.

Felt Pasta

Inspired by all that Fabulous Felt Food, I've been channeling my inner "Waldorf wanna-be" homeschooling mom to create magical creations of nature.

So I have been trying to replace our pile of plastic play food with felt versions.

Okay, those real Waldorf moms like this one and this one would probably raise her own sheep, shear them, spin and felt her own wool and then hand-dye it with vibrant vegetable dyes from her organic garden.

But that's not me, except in my day dreams. So I've got craft store felt to use.

So, voila! Here are our healthy tri-color farfalle and fettuccine pastas, dutifully stored in glass storage jars (gotta keep the play kitchen pantry organized as well as our own!), and lovingly prepared by our 3 year old.

It was so much fun (and easy) to make. And now the kids want to make more things! So stay tuned for more...I've been dreaming of felt sushi :)

BTW, I didn't realize Haba has a version of this farfalle as well like this sold by Petit Baby.

Here's the

Fabulous Felt Food

I must confess. I love felt food!

These Twinkle Cakes started it all when I first saw them a year or so ago. Aren't they just scrumptious???!!!

There are so many delicious source of inspiration from Etsy moms who sell patterns for felt food items like these from Gulf Coast Cottage. Even McCall's has gotten into the act.

No worries....there are even healthy items like these Biofina toys from Haba and on sale at Kidsurplus--one of my favorite online stores for great deals on high quality toys.

The kids got these Biofina items in their Christmas sock this past year and really love them!! The petit fours are especially wonderful for playing with our many tea sets.

The ice cream cones are fabulous for playing store because the "scoops" can reverse to alternate flavors if you flip them upside-down.

If this isn't great motivation and inspiration to get rid of plastic toy food I don't know what is!

Play Kitchen

Gotta organize the play kitchen while we organize the grown-up kitchen too, ya know?

Here's a cut little DIY kitchen from stuff around the house from ApartmentTherapy.com's kid's section "ohdeedoh". Check out ApartmentTherapy's other winter jump-start projects submitted by creative DIYers.

MMMMmmm...delicious inspiration for making that pink kitchen Rosalie wants.

Can I start with something like this from (above) and end up with something like these kitchens (below)?

They're cute, bute expensive and made from particle board as I understand from the disappointed consumers/reviewers.

Left to right: KidKraft retro pink kitchen (different retro styles in red and also in silver!), KidKraft pastel kitchen.