Loving What You’ve Got: Finding Storage When There Is None To Be Had
I have to admit, we are not short on closets. I know some have it worse (*cough* Jes *cough*). But four people living in a two bedroom apartment… two of whom are constantly growing out of clothes and toys and equipment in general. And then needing more. I find myself coveting attics, basements, and garages.
In my quest to love my apartment regardless of what others may have that is better, newer, and more spacious, I have had to be rather creative in storing all the little onesies, bouncers, and blankets.
Then I ran out of space. The closets were full of old clothes and a stroller that only seats one (Ah, those were the days - when I could fit down an aisle in Penny’s!). Underneath the bed, you’ll find maternity clothes, off-season clothes, air mattresses, and more. Under the crib is where we keep the baby bath and random baby toys that Benjamin has outgrown.
And you’ll never guess what’s under the couch. Tools. Yep, that’s where Josh stores his tools.
But where do I put the diapers that no one was using? I must have circled the apartment a good dozen times before realizing the gold mine that was in front of me the whole time:
The pack n’ play, a.k.a. changing table (Whoa, that’s a lot of punctuation for a fragment of a sentence.).
With the bassinet feature in place, it is a two-tiered storage unit. On the top we have baby blankets and a wide assortment of pants that are not quite clean, yet not dirty enough to be thrown in the hamper. In the lower level I found my solution to the diaper-storage-quandary. And bonus: The bottom of the pack ‘n play is the perfect place to store dangerously non-edible diaper creams.
For all you family apartment-dwellers out there, I hope this helps. Of course, you probably thought of this ages ago. And if that is the case, I ask you, “Why didn’t you write a Works-For-Me post so I could know, too?!”
Filed under: Loving What You've Got, Works For Me on December 11th, 2007
Take this from someone who just spent the last several hours cleaning the basement in a holiday preparation cleaning frenzy…
The grass is always greener.
Now, granted, I do love having a basement. BUT! It seems to be the catch-all for all the “stuff” you don’t know what to do with.
I just bagged up 5 bags of stuff destined for the dump. 6 boxes for Freecycling. And another 4 boxes of old toys for the women’s shelter.
Sometimes it just seemed easier when we had a small 2 bedroom apartment. We knew our space limitations and that was that.
You’re very ingenious with making your space work! I’ve enjoyed reading your blog. You’re one smart cookie!
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Beth, you’re amazing, why don’t you come visit me and inform me of where I should set my pack and play up so it can hold things?
Oh, and thanks for the tip on where to store tools. I’m going to try that. although it doesn’t look like my couch is high enough to put the drill under…. Hmm, I may have to rethink that one.
I always get envious of storage sheds. Especially the big wooden ones on permanent foundation. Which of course would never work for us, because we live in an apartment for one year then move because there’s always something wrong… Ok, not always.
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Yeah, we have a pantry, a wardrobe in our bedroom (just one shelf on the far bottom, and a clothing rack), and the same in the baby room. And that’s it as far as closets go. So, we def. know about finding random places for storage! I love your ideas! We’ve done some random things like using suitcases for storing clothes (under the crib for a while), making “selves” out of boxes in the wardrobe, making cinderblock shelves, and hanging our bikes from the ceiling in our hallway (the ceiling goes up pretty far in the small hallway area, so they’re “hidden.” Daniel says at school he stores his lab equiptment in an old refrigerator that he took the door off of.
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Ingenious! We had four children in a small bedroom for a few years and I can attest that it is a big challenge. You should be proud that you are doing a good job making a home from what God has provided for your family at this time. I know it’s not always easy.
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Now that is genius! Well done…
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Hmm, I’m not sure I appreciate this post. Maybe I’ll start a super-heated debate: to keep up or take down. The Pack n Play that is…WE JUST TOOK OURS DOWN thankyouverymuch. And we did it so we could have more storage space! But everything is on the floor where the pack n play was. So it’s just one layer of stuff, no handy bassinet level shelf. Oh man…I better cool off before I write something nasty :).
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love it!! Love it, love it!!!!!!!!!!
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While this topic can be very challenging for most people, my belief is that there has to be a middle or common ground that we all can find. I do value that you’ve added pertinent and intelligent commentary here though. Very much thanks to you!
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