If I have one major complaint about our house--we have no extra storage! All we have are the bedroom closets. While they're good sized closets, things still tend to struggle to find a logical home. We have very little bathroom storage (one under the sink cabinet in each), no coat or linen closet, and no pantry. I've had to get very creative in placements--and things still tend to overflow.
But now that we have the baby bug, things had to change. Especially now that she's getting old enough for us to venture into the land of rice cereal and baby food, her supplies were multiplying in my kitchen. Without a pantry, I was already using my largest single cabinet and two double doored cabinets for food, as well as my largest double doored cabinet for appliances (crockpots, blender, George Foreman grill, toaster, etc.). And they were bursting at the seams. I had to do a major purge this summer to get all of that to work when we took over our previous appliance storage cabinet as an impromptu desk/office space--AJ's bedroom took over our office. So now I needed something for all of her things.
I finally was able to get my hubs to get me a storage cabinet :) We debated on him building one; paying a fantastic woodworker to create us a built-in desk/pantry/storage area (would have been amazing, but way out of our wise budget); buying one at a furniture store; constructing one pretty much exactly like this with shelves from IKEA (this will probably happen in our next house...or this one if we stay here long enough); or just going cheap with the little cube system. All I really needed was a simple cabinet with doors (I have to be able to hide the cluttered look). But we couldn't find something that seemed so simple... Well, when Hunter went to Target (you know, that addicting store of wonderfulness?) to get the cube system we had decided to settle on, he found exactly what I had been looking for--not sure how we missed it the night before!
It fits perfectly in our skinny little corner by the windows. Nothing fancy. And it was cheap (even better). But it gets the job done. Just a simple cabinet with doors.
a peek inside...
I also attached a 3M hook to the side of it to hold her eating bibs. This gives easy access for table eating without the mess :) Or at least without as much mess...
Since the extra cabinet is now the panty, my kitchen cabinets are filled with Bella's supplies. They are usually more full than this, but we're packing for her weekend at Mimi and Papa's so they're a little bare. Normally, that formula shelf is full all the way across (that's after pay day at least, and then it slowly dwindles it's way across), and that big hole on the right of the shelf below it is usually full of bottles. There's also our dishwasher basket, bottle liners, and formula containers there, as well as extra nipples and bottle lids inside the bowls (another Target find--$2 for a 2 pack of the big ones and for a 4 pack of the small ones...great deal!) The cabinets in the bottom picture hold her sippy cups and bowls, cereal/food/snacks, and all the components to my Baby Bullet (super excited about that! Christmas present from my madre).
I'm still making tweaks here and there as I adjust to having everything in its new home. With the move I was able to clear off my countertops (the previous home to all of her bottles and their accessories) as well as two shelves in her closet (which held all of the formula and unopened cups/bowls/spoons and the Baby Bullet). All in all it has been a great adjustment! I love having everything so easily accessible :)
Oh and while I was at Target, I couldn't help but snag up these little gems. I have no idea what I'm going to use them for yet, but they were just too beautiful for me to pass up!
I may live in organized chaos to other people, but I really do love for everything to have its place (I just don't always do the best job of making sure it gets back in it!). Loving my new storage space!
love, angie
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