Storage solutions

Many friends have commented over the years how organized my house is.  When they say this I want to take the compliment and run.... If I chose to show them what was inside some of my creative storage options, I would have to take the compliment back!  If you have been to my house you know I have a collection of armoires, book cases, baskets, etc.  The best thing I ever did was invest in baskets because they hide everything and make things look neat and organized.  Here are a few examples:

When I found this cabinet on Craigslist I fell in love.  Just look at all of the storage!  Each of those baskets holds my collection of books to be read:)

Each basket holds many books and the best part is that you cannot see them when the doors are  the doors closed.

I have already shown you the top part of this coffee table with the shells.  There is also a second drawer that is really long.  It holds a lot of my junk.

My family loves to use blankets to put over heat vents in the winter.  I found a wonderful basket to neatly store them.

A few weeks ago I showed you the basket I found at Goodwill.  It stores all of my Coastal Living Magazines:)

A great feature of this basket is the lid.  It hides the magazines and makes everything look clean and uncluttered.

I seem to have a lot of pens and pencils running around my  house.  I found a simple piece of pottery to store them.  This serves two purposes, it stores them and it looks good:)

I volunteer at the school often teaching health.  I store all of the curriculum in one long basket:

In my dining room I have a buffet that has many cubbies.

Each of these cubbies has baskets that hold my kids books:

I found this cool coffee table at a garage sale for $15.  It is solid wood and has cool cubbies with numbers. 

We store all of our colored pencils, crayons, pencils, pens, markers and paints in the drawers.

This is Big Bertha.  She came from a loving home off of Craigslist.  I love that I can store soooo much stuff in here and no one can see it:)

I cannot imagine having the doors always open!

Many antique stores are selling these metal baskets for $30.  I found mine at Goodwill for $3.99.  It is a perfect place to store shoes.  The best part is you can see all the way to the bottom to find your shoes:)

In my front entry I have two sets of storage.  The first I numbered 1,2 and 3.  Each basket contains my kids shoes.

The second piece of storage is a bench as well as storage for all of our hats and scarves.  I know, I think we have enough:)

Last but not least is my .25 old wire gym basket I found from a garage sale.  These babies are $20 at antique stores.  I have put my unread magazines in mine.

So, now you know that when you come into my home it IS NOT neat on the inside:)  Just open a few pieces of furniture and cringe!

My biggest suggestion to those who want to get "organized" is to buy furniture that looks good and can hide your treasures.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to you!

Dena