But, these days it's been fun to repurpose stuff all over the house as more creative storage. Here are a few examples to get your wheels turning. Mine are all used for the various things our children collect, but hopefully it can inspire beyond that.
I'm a big fan of wicker baskets (shoot, just about any baskets) and chests (especially when the chest was someone else's trash turned my treasure-- which, by the way, I semi-recently spray painted back to life!) These help out by housing books and toys.
These are more baskets, but I added some letters picked up for fifty cents at a funky old shop. We keep these in the family room for each of the girls. Items like magnetic letters with a tiny baking pan to spell on, ABC and shapes flashcards, playing cards, books, and crayons are inside.
Also in our family room is this old crate. I scored it from my Mom's house, since she didn't have room for it, and used it to store the girls' collection of hand-me-down and Goodwill videos. Or, at least, I did until a certain little someone was in it all the time, so now it holds some of my fave magazines I just can't part with.
Right near the kitchen we have a number of art and other special supplies on hand for keeping little fingers busy while I cook, try to make phone calls, or when we want to do an impromptu project together. My solution for storing it all is in these cheap-o cardboard photo boxes.
Lastly are traveling cases like old suitcases, trunks, or this little thing. It holds about a gazillion tiny pieces to our wooden game sets.
Take a look around. Bet you have something out of the ordinary to repurpose too!
Happy Hunting,
Katrina
