There are spots in our house that, no matter how hard I try, seem to be magnets for clutter piles.  Two of the biggest culprits are a corner of Ada’s room next to her reading chair and the space in my office between my desk and an upholstered chair.  Both spaces are sort of shielded from the doorways so things could be pushed there and be hidden from view. 

In Ada’s room the pile tended to be made up of any little toys that had migrated up there during the day, little doll blankets she had been folding that day (seriously, just about her favorite thing to do is fold towels and blankets), and other odds and ends.  We’d walk in before bed and I’d kind of shove everything over next to the chair and think, “We have to take care of that tomorrow.”  The limitless promise of “tomorrow!”

In my office, goodness, what wasn’t collected next to my desk?!  Mending, fabric scraps, tools, nails, you name it, it probably has inhabited the space next to my desk at some point in the past year.

I didn’t feel like I needed an extensive organization system here, just something to hold the stuff in a neater way until I could get to it.

I’ve been mooning over these lidded storage baskets at Serena and Lily for a good long while now, but there was just no way I was going to drop $300 on two baskets.

 

Sometimes it’s so nice to just pop something into place and be done.  Well, pop into place, deposit contents of floor piles, and be done.

Ada’s room before

Ada’s room after

Office before

Office after (notice how the cords are now hidden too!)