Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Organizational Genius Strikes The Furious House



BEHOLD THE GENIUS:


BEHOLD THE ENJOYMENT:




So for those of you who don't watch the video... I'll break it down:
Dress up has long been the bane of our existence. I want to encourage them to play with their costumes but our hoarding and inability to weed things out has lead to a large and unwiedly collection. When kept in a bin the kids would make a huge unmanageable mess digging through it all looking for that other high heel... and the Furiouses being the Furiouses that mess would sit around and attract other mess until Mr & Mrs F wanted to shoot themselves in the head. Anyone with kids knows two things...
#1 Out of sight out of mind... if toys, dress up, etc aren't easy to see and easy to access they won't play with it... and it is just more clutter.
#2 If every item doesn't have a clear and consistent "home" your kids will not be able to pick them up... which of course will quickly lead back to #1.

As I've been trying to decorate the girls' room, which is small and shared, I've been stymied by all the "useless" space in the room. The area behind the doors to the room and to the closet, the space in front of the radiator, etc. I want to make the room an inviting space, a place with a purpose for them BUT also a room that is organized and beautiful. It has been challenging to fit it all in and balance the differing interests of a toddler and a 6 year old. What one thing unites them both? Dress up. While wistfully looking at the 4 feet of useless wall that is completely blocked by the girls' open door and edged in by their shelving unit the genius stuck. I could hang a good majority of their dress up costumes on kid height hooks on the wall and on the back of the door... which would keep everything close at hand... and (the genius part) completely out of sight with the door open. This might be the best organizational idea I've ever come up with. I'm just a little in love with myself right now.

16 comments:

justme said...

oh i love it, baby N Frass could hang, i swear to go that girl carries purses around and puts crazy things on...and we go out in them. whatever works to get out of the house.

Mrs Furious said...

Oh believe you me... you're talking to a woman who is routinely seen with a baby wearing Kid's underwear over her clothes and a bike helmet... on backwards of course.

Mary Poppins said...

forget about becoming mary popppins. i want to be you.

Piper said...

I'm an OCD organizer. With regard to the stuffed animals and your girl's beds...I'm not sure how tall your girl's beds are, but I raised my kiddos beds with little wood blocks (nailed in - not moving of course) and they each have bed skirts on them. Each girl has three or four laundry baskets that match the color of their room that fit under the bed. They are filled with stuffed animals and teacups and the like. They slide out SO easily (on carpet area rug) and they play with that stuff ALL the time. When I say it is time to clean up the room, it is a breeze! Pull the baskets out, dump the stuffed animals in, push the baskets under the bed skirt and voila - instantly spotless room and stuff isn't just jammed under the bed. Not sure if it would be an option for your family's situation, but I thought I'd share. =) <3

Piper said...

P.S. I just noticed you have wood floors (raging jealousy and drooling here *grin*)

You might be able to still do the laundry baskets if that appealed to you - just adhesive carpet remnants cut to the shape of the bottom of the basket upside down (carpet nap to wood floor)and they'd slide really easily and not mess up your floors.

Kiki said...

Memories of Kid dressing up at the castle in Charleston...I had no idea Baby was into it too....she was precious!!!

Those 3M hooks are genius and something to be proud of, especially since the girls are LOVING it!!...I can't wait to see how the hallway turns out..I'm intrigued!!!

Anonymous said...

Love that idea...we have the same "door against the wall" with our girls room. I think I may be stealing that idea!

As for the stuffed animals, we keep ours in a princess pop-up hamper (you know, its round and comes flat, but then it "pops" up to be a hamper). Its taken us about a year and a half, but we finally have just the "favorites" in there (and its busting full, but they all fit!). So now when it gets overflowing, we just wean out whats no longer played with. Easy to clean because they dump out, play, then throw back in when they are done!

(mind you, this does not include their 2 large stuffies they sleep with, or 3 cabbage patch-type dolls because "they can't breathe in there and they will DIE!!!!")

Shirls said...

I'm in love with you all time ;0) those small spaces RV and home pictures really help a person gets some freaking great ideas!

HC said...

Fantastic idea! But you know the little tiger COMPLETELY upstages you in that video. Never work with kids or animals, right? And when it's a kid-animal hybrid, forget about it. Cuteness squared.

Andrea said...

stuffed animals are taking over our house I love the idea of keeping them under the bed and pipers idea with the bed skirt and baskets I think I might have to do this now what if they dont all fit under the bed oui...I cant wait to see the hallway this sounds fantastic.

P.O.M. said...

I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate this serious stroke of genius into my tiny-ass apartment.

Julie said...

And when it's a kid-animal hybrid, forget about it. lol!!

Mrs Furious said...

MP,
of course you do ;)

Piper,
great idea! We can't raise the beds since Baby is already a head injury waiting to happen at this height... but I'm going to measure the space and look into the carpet squares idea! genius!


Kiki,
I have high hopes for the hallway... we shall see...


Marie,
"they can't breathe in there and they will DIE!!!!")
LOL!

Shirls,
Aw... thanks :)


Haley,
note to self never work with "kid-animal hybrid"... hilarious and true


Andrea,
if you do it... post a before & after on your blog!


P.O.M.,
where there is a will there is a way! I too am trying to see what else I can do this with since all our doors open to the end of a room like this.


Julie,
agreed.

Anonymous said...

I just thought of something. We have the same beds (but in white metal), and when we got them they had wicker baskets that rolled underneath (actually had little wheels on them) and fit under them perfectly. I want to say that they were $40 or $50 each, but they were pretty big. They were at Ikea. Might work for you if there's an Ikea around there!

Mrs Furious said...

Marie,
awesome... I'm checking into it. My dad is coming down from Philly next week so he could (in theory) bring them to me!!!

Missives From Suburbia said...

Can I send The Ambassador over for an afternoon of play? I can't put a Halloween costume on him this year without him screaming like he's being skinned alive. An afternoon of cute blondes and dress-up games would transform him. (He's got a thing for girls, especially blondes, already. I'm in trouble.)

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