A Cupboard of Organized Space

Our short cupboard has been so functional for us over the years we’ve been married. In our first two homes it was used as additional food pantry space. In our last house in Germany, it was used (as intended) to hold clothes, but we added 2 rods going side to side to hold our daughter’s clothes (baby and kid clothes fit that way) rather than using the nifty slide out rod going front to back that came with it.

Our new house in Portugal came with closets (very different from Germany!) so the cupboard has been sitting in our hallway waiting for some good purpose. Meanwhile our girls’ art supply box in the living room was busting at the seams. Finished “art” and supplies were a nightmare to get through!  This came to an end with the decision to keep our vacuum system hose in the house in that box. All the supplies went to the hall cupboard, mainly using the side shelves we’d left in it. Everything else stacked on top of a metal office paper stacker.

Last weekend my husband added adjustable shelving on the inside so the organized mess would no longer be a mess (and hopefully stay that way!). Real pleasure came when the girls looked inside after I had put all the boxes of supplies back in, and they said “Wow!”

It is not perfect, but it works for us. The things I have in different containers: markers, crayons, colored pencils, Color Wonder markers, broken crayons, twistable crayons we grab for the car, glue sticks, scissors, stickers, paints, glitter, little notepads, and the girls home school supply boxes. I lined up all the coloring books on the bottom. The metal paper stacker has blank paper or construction paper on top, Color Wonder books in the middle and water paint books on the bottom. Other random supplies like stencils have their spot too.

It is a great feeling to see my girls put their supplies back where they belong. Amazing to have a working solution to something that once seemed out of control! If I can do it, you can too!

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