Totally Awesome Lego Storage Solution

Our Lego collection has been steadily growing in the past couple of years.  I wanted to come up with a Lego storage solution that would be easy to access and, most importantly, neat and tidy.  When I talked with the girls they were adamant they wanted their Lego sorted into the original sets.  I spent a good week sorting the lego into sets, putting them into containers and adding a label to the lids showing which set the pieces belonged to.

It was great … until the girls made up several sets, pulled them apart and jumbled the pieces together.  There was no way I was going to sort all that Lego out again.

Eventually I convinced the girls that it would be a great idea to store the Lego by colour.  This was our inspiration:

© iheartorganizing

While I love the IKEA Trofast storage shelves, there just isn't enough space to add extra shelves in the playroom.  We already have two IKEA Expedit bookshelves (no longer available, replaced by IKEA Kallax), and there's plenty of space in them to accommodate the Lego.  Those six compartments in the circle are where the new Lego storage is going to go.

It's not a great view, but you might be able to see that all those small containers of Lego sets are in the two bottom right compartments I've circled.  I've also got some Trofast tubs in the two bottom left compartments.  I had to put lids on the tubs so that I can stack them.

What I wanted to do was add rails of beading on each side of the compartments so that I could slide the Trofast tubs into the compartments.  Unfortunately, each compartment is approximately 2cm too wide for the tubs.

Eventually, I decided to add a piece of 10mm MDF on each side of the compartments to fill in the gap.  I bought my supplies from Ban Heng Long Trading (near Little India), and I would totally recommend them if you need any DIY supplies.  You can email them and arrange to have wood pre-cut, and then you just have to pick it up.  It was a zoo when I visited, so having the wood already cut was very helpful.  They cut the MDF to the exact measurements of the sides of each compartment.  I cut and attached wooden beading on each panel using PVA glue and small nails.

The next step was to paint the panels with white gloss enamel paint.

It took MANY coats of paint to get really good coverage, especially on the ends.  After several days of slowly adding coats of paint, the panels were ready.  My husband drilled two pilot holes into the panels, then attached them to each side of the Expedit compartments using screws.

The stark white of the new panels is a bit of a contrast to the slightly yellowed shelves, but I can live with that.  I used PowerPoint to make up some colour labels, then I attached them to the Trofast tubs using clear book covering adhesive.  The girls then helped me sort all the Lego into colours, and we slid our tubs back into the shelves.

What's the verdict?  Since I installed the new colour sorted Lego tubs, the girls have been on a Lego building frenzy.  I don't even want to show you a picture of the playroom!  They've both told me that it's so much easier to make a Lego set now.  They have no problem finding the pieces they need, they can pull out tubs and keep them handy while they're building.  This has been a great success.

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Who's First in the Shower?

I don't know about your house, but in ours, there's usually an argument when I ask "who's first in the shower?"  The discussion usually goes like this:

ME: Who's first in the shower?
BOTH GIRLS: Me!
BOTH GIRLS: But you were first last night!
BOTH GIRLS: No I wasn't!!
BOTH GIRLS: Yes you were!
BOTH GIRLS: MUM!!!
ME: I honestly don't care.  If you guys can't decide, you're going to bed without a shower.
BOTH GIRLS:  more arguing and yelling
ME: feeling a strong desire to rip my hair out

OK, I know this doesn't rate terribly highly on the "most important things that go on in my house" list, but it does drive me nuts.  So I came up with a solution.

I whipped up a quick chart in PowerPoint using some patterned digital scrapbooking paper, a yellow duck clipart and a couple of boxes with the girls names typed in them.  I laminated the paper, and used self-adhesive velcro dots to stick the names to the sign.

This sign now lives on the wall in the bathroom, next to the shower.  When the first girl gets into the shower, we swap the names around ready for tomorrow.  Since I made this we have had virtually no arguments about who is first in the shower.

As always, I'm happy to share with people out there.  If you are having the same frustrating arguments every night and would like a copy of this document, just send me an email at randomcraftingadventures[at]gmail[dot]com or leave me a comment.

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Organising the Playroom - From Total Carnage to Neat and Tidy

Like many families, we have an ever increasing mountain of toys that we struggle to keep tidy.  We recently moved from London to Singapore.  Before we left London I took the opportunity to have a big clean out of toys that the girls no longer play with.  I managed to cull lots of toys, which went off to a charity sale.

We still had toys all over the house.  There was a play area in the lounge room, another one upstairs, and the girls both had loads of toys in their rooms.

In our new house we are lucky enough to have a basement room, which we decided to use as a playroom.  Since we have a dedicated playroom in the house, I decided to send all the toys there when we were unpacking.  After the movers had finished unpacking all the boxes, this is what it looked like.

Total and utter carnage!  I was still dealing with an entire four storey house full of chaos, so I left it like this for a few days.  After several days of feeling utterly overwhelmed by the chaos and mess, I had an inspiration for how to tackle it.  We started by setting out two plastic tarpaulins in the carport.  We then divided the tarpaulins into three sections and labelled them MUST KEEP, MAYBE, and DON'T NEED.

I then explained to the girls that we were going to take absolutely everything out of the playroom, and put it in piles in the carpark.  If they were absolutely certain they wanted to keep something, it went in the MUST KEEP pile.  If the were absolutely certain they didn't need something, it went in the DON'T NEED pile, and if they were not sure yet (or I was trying to convince them to get rid of something they wanted), it went in the MAYBE pile.

When we started there was lots going into the MUST KEEP and MAYBE piles, but after a while the kids were agreeing to get rid of toys.  About half-way through, both girls had had enough, and I sent them off to play while we finished.  By the end this is what the carport looked like.

We cleaned the room thoroughly and started with a blank slate.

We then brought all the toys from the MUST KEEP pile back inside and put it away neatly.  Once this was done we called the girls back downstairs.  We showed them how much space was left in the playroom.  They were then asked to go through the MAYBE pile and choose toys they really wanted to keep.  We slowly moved a few more things back into the playroom, and they also moved quite a few into the DON'T NEED pile.  After we had finished moving toys inside, this is what the carport looked like.  We had also consigned quite a lot of junk toys (odds and ends from Happy Meals, party bags, etc) and broken things to the bin.

I sent a message out to the other residents in the condo development where we live, and invited them to come and help themselves to any toys they wanted.  Before long we had got rid of everything.  I probably could have sold some of the larger items, but Singapore isn't a great place for selling secondhand.  I also wanted everything gone quickly, incase the girls started changing their minds and bringing things back inside.

So, after all that work, this is what the playroom looked like.

And here's the before and after picture.

It's incredible.  This is my favourite before and after picture.  That mountain of toys in the first picture was so completely depressing.  I just had no idea how I was ever going to sort it out.  By taking absolutely everything out of the room, and sorting it into those three piles, I was able to tackle the chaos in stages.  Involving the girls worked really well too.  I promised them I wouldn't throw anything away, and I would give them a chance to decide what to keep.   But at the same time I set limits - they could only keep what would reasonably fit in the room.  It's worth trying if you've got a similarly mammoth tidying task.

There's still some decorating to do (pictures to hang, baskets to label, etc), but for now I'm happy to call this task done.

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Junk Drawer Tidyup

Sometimes it's the small organising jobs that make a big difference at home.

Last week I was digging around in in my kitchen junk drawer trying to find something, when I decided that it had finally got too messy.  Every random bit of stationery, ear plugs, note pads, cheque books, etc had just been piled in there.  It was impossible to find anything.

I started by taking everything out of the drawer.  I then sorted it all into piles, threw out the junk, and took out all the things that shouldn't be in there.

I dug around in my tub of plastic containers and tidied a few of the bits into containers.

Last of all I put everything back into the drawer neatly.

Finally, here's a before and after shot.

I know it's just a small tidy up, but it's made a big difference.

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Tidy Kitchen Shelf

A while ago I tidied up my kitchen bench, and removed lots of cookbooks and other mess that had accumulated.  I created my Recipe Box and I also created two clipboards with a weekly planner on one and a menu and shopping list on the other.  This system has been working well for me for the last six months or so.

Lately I have found I want to keep a few more things handy.  I've added a few folders which contain important paperwork for school, some notepads, our pocket money bank, behaviour charts and a jar of washi tape.  All this stuff gradually took over the bench and became really messy again.

This is normally where I'd put a "before" photo, but this project has taken me a couple of months to complete, and I managed to lose my before photo.  I'm really sad, because the difference in the before and after is amazing.  You'll just have to use your imagination.

The easiest solution to getting the mess off the bench, was to put up a shelf.  We used an Ekby Järpen shelf from Ikea, and cut it down slightly to fit in the space.  Once the shelf was installed I set about making everything pretty, colour coordinated and labelled.  I decided on a colour scheme of yellow, turquoise and grey.  There was lots of inspiration online.

I already had my Orla Kiely Recipe Box in yellow.  I gathered some notebooks in grey, black and turquoise.  I also used some washi tape on the spine of my KitchenAid user manual, to make it fit the colour scheme.

I created some patterned paper in PowerPoint in the colours I wanted, then I printed several sheets and stuck them together.  I glued the sheets to some A4 folders, and covered them in clear adhesive book covering film to make them durable.

I had a lockable money box for the pocket money bank.  It was in a bright blue colour and didn't really fit with the colour scheme.

I was willing to buy a new money tin, but couldn't find one in the right size and colour.  Instead I got some grey enamel spray paint and painted the money box.  I started by removing the handle and button lock (the key lock couldn't be removed), then I gave the tin a light sand, wiped it down and covered the key lock with tape.  I gave the box several light coats of spray paint all over and allowed it to dry thoroughly.  Finally I reattached the handle and button lock, added a label, and some adhesive book film to keep the label clean and neat.

Lastly, after searching for ages to find a cute turquoise jar, tin, pot or basket, I stumbled upon this really sweet turquoise and grey pot while I was at the supermarket.  It cost less than £2, and looks great.

Here is my finished kitchen corner, with everything looking pretty and organised.

I love the fact that I have reclaimed my bench space.  I also love that everything I need on a daily basis is close at hand.  I am especially excited that everything is colour coordinated, pretty and has great labels.  This has been a really great project, and has made a huge difference to the kitchen bench mess.

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Sorting Kids Clothes the Easy Way

If you have more than one child, I'm sure you know how much of a pain sorting and folding laundry can be.  It's especially bad when you have more than one child of the same gender.  All those tshirts, leggings and underpants all look pretty much the same when piled into a laundry basket.  It doesn't help that my kids are quite slim and don't fit things marked for their age.  It also doesn't help that sometimes the labels are buried in a side seam, and are impossible to find.

I recently read the most awesome laundry sorting tip. Unfortunately, I cannot find the original post where I read this, despite a lengthy search, but I did find it mentioned in a post on the Amarillo Globe News and on The Daisyhead.

This is how it works … get a permanent marker (I used a black sharpie pen, which I know from experience doesn't come off in the wash) or you could use a tube of fabric paint.  When you buy clothes for your oldest child put a single dot on the label, or on the inside of the neckband/waistband.  When you hand the clothes down to the next child, add another dot, and so on.  If you have four kids, the last child's clothes should have four dots on the labels.

Here's what it looks like:

Now stop for a moment and think about how easy it is to sort the laundry, even if someone who has never seen my kids clothes is helping (right now I'm thinking about my awesome mum and mother-in-law who are so helpful when they visit).  All they have to do is check the dots and they instantly know who it belongs to.  I've added dots to tops, skirts, trousers, leggings, underpants, socks … all their clothes.

This is so easy.  There's no need for labels to ironed or sewn into clothes and no writing names and then crossing them out. This trick is so clever and simple, that it's amazing I have never seen it before.  I can also say, from my very own experience, that it works.  It's only been a week since I implemented this, and already my laundry sorting is a piece of cake.  I hope this tip is as helpful for you as it has been for me.

I'd love to hear any feedback from you.

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Handy, Homemade Tray

I have been searching for ages for a simple tray to put on the dining room table to hold the salt and pepper, napkins and water jug.  It needed to be small (22x18cm) and I wanted it to have reasonably high sides (about 5cm).  Every tray I found was either too big, had shallow sides or was just plain ugly. In the end I decided I would just have a go at making one.

I started with this:

and ended up with this:

It was actually a very easy project, and only took a few days.  Most of that time was waiting for glue to dry.  I started by gathering up my hoarded supply of thick cardboard.  You can find this thick cardboard on the back of some notebooks (it's about 2mm thick).  I used to work in an office where the weekly supply of payslips was delivered with this cardboard used as dividers.  I saved a huge stack of them, but now I'm down to my last three.

The next step was to cut two base pieces - I cut mine 22x18cm.  I smeared a thin coat of UHU All Purpose Glue on one side of each piece, waited 10 minutes, then stuck them together.  I used this method of glueing for all the box construction.

I then cut four pieces 18x5cm and four pieces 22.8x5cm.  The extra 8mm (the thickness of two layers of card) allows the corners to meet flush.  I then used the same glue method above to make two double thickness short sides and two double thickness long sides.

Once the sandwiched layers were dry, I added glue to the edges of the base and the sides, and glued them together.  Some masking tape on the corners held the box tight while it dried.

I now had a sturdy box, exactly the right size.  The next step was to make it pretty.  I used Decopatch supplies to cover the box.  I'm reasonably sure you could use regular wrapping paper, tissue paper or fabric and Modgepodge, but Decopatch is what I have readily available at my local craft store.  I started with these supplies.

Decopatch is very easy to do.  There's a tutorial on their website.  You just paint a thin layer of glue (the pink bottle) on a small patch of the item you're covering.  You then place a small piece of torn tissue paper (Decopatch recommend about a postage stamp sized piece) on the glue, and smooth it down with a very light coat of glue.  You keep applying tissue paper in this way, overlapping each piece, until the whole surface is covered.  I ended up doing two layers, as the box looked a little patchy with only one layer.  Once the box was thoroughly dry, I used the Satiny Sealing Varnish (the gold bottle) to paint two layers of varnish on the tray.

I now have a pretty and neat tray for all the things that live on our dining room table.  One of the best things about this project, was the cost.  The cardboard was free, I already had the Decopatch and UHU glues, and I just had to purchase four sheets of Decopatch paper (£4).

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