Tales From the Box

A little while ago I promised that there were some more projects I was yet to complete in Widget’s room. Well, I have successfully completed said projects (almost – more on that later) and here are some pics.

This one is the Bekvam shelf I had already bought from Ikea.

I have used it to display some of the cute little toys that the Widg received from some of his “uncles” (John and Buzz), a lovely little handmade jacket and booties and some special stones from a dear friend of mine (thanks Rhi) and of course his first Swannies attire (thanks Grandpa). I have a few more items that I would like to put here too, but I will rotate them so that the Widg has some variety to look at. The hooks are just basic ones from Bunnings.

And the reason I said this project was “almost” finished, is that there is still some debate among the grownups at the Box about whether to paint the shelf white or leave it as is. Stay tuned (but don’t hold your breath).

This idea (below) I had seen in many variations on heaps of blogs and in magazines, and thought it was a great idea, so I had to rip it off.

I plan to hang different things from it over time. At the moment it has a selection of cards that we were sent or given on the birth of our dear Widg, welcoming him to the world. But I also plan to display things like Christmas and birthday cards, photos and his artwork.

I am using old-style wooden pegs to hang the cards. They were given to us as part of a gift at the Not-a-baby-shower-shower (it’s a long story), and since I don’t have a clothes line (another long story) I decided that this would be the perfect use for them (thanks Tony, Amanda and Ivy).

So as you can see, the decoration/completion of the Widget’s room is a moving target, as is the rest of the Box really. Keeps me out of trouble. Most of the time.

Any fan of Ikea knows who Billy is. It’s their standard, inexpensive bookcase.

(from Ikea)

And we have many Billy’s at the Box. They are a great size for storage as they are quite shallow and don’t take up a lot of valuable floor space. They also have handy height extenders so that you can make the bookshelves go all the way up to the ceiling (depending on your ceiling height of course).

We have 2 Billy’s in the lounge room. They house books, odds and ends, vases and magazines.

We have a wall of Billy’s in the office/study/spare bedroom. They house books, stationery, art supplies, work equipment and random odds and ends. For example, all of those white Kassett boxes are full of things like extension cords and power boards, small tools and craft supplies.

The contents of our Billy’s are regularly rearranged depending on what we need to store, what we are using on a regular basis, and how bored I am. Rearranging bookshelves is actually a great way to scratch your “need to redecorate” itch without actually buying new stuff. Plus it means you go through your belongings every now and then and assess whether you need to get rid of or replace anything.

So when we were designing the renovations to the Box, we needed somewhere clever to put a laundry. There wasn’t a lot of free space (as with everything about the house) so we had to be smart about where we put things, and how much space we could allocate to the different areas and uses of the house.

We ended up deciding on using underneath the staircase for the laundry. It’s only a small space, as you can imagine (about the size of a cupboard. Actually, it is a cupboard). But it serves its purpose. There is a washing machine, a dryer and a sink, plus a bit of room for storing cloths, detergents and the like.

As I said, it serves its purpose. However, if we had more space, I would love to have an actual room dedicated to the laundry.

(from Apartment Therapy)

I would love some space to hang things while they dry, somewhere to store clean linens and towels (we don’t have a dedicated linen closet either), somewhere to leave the ironing board set up, and even a bench top to use for folding large items like towels and bed sheets.

(from Apartment Therapy)

But for now, a cupboard is what I have. It’s okay, it works. But one day…

Yes. You read that right. A landing strip. Not the long stretch of tarmac that a plane lands on. But the area located somewhere near the entrance of your home where you dump stuff.

Most people have an accidental landing strip. The kitchen bench, the sideboard in the living room, even a chair in your bedroom. It’s that place where, when you walk in the door, you drop your keys, handbag, phone, jacket, or whatever else you discard upon entering your abode.

And then there are those people with fancy houses and fancy landing strips to match. These people usually live in magazine-land and have fairies that clean and polish their houses at night while the residents sleep.

(from Apartment Therapy)

(from Apartment Therapy)

Well, it always bothered me to have the accidental landing strip – probably because our house (and our use of it) lends itself to several of these drop zones. We would casually drop stuff wherever we happened to walk, and then this would inevitably lead to me running around picking stuff up and putting it away on a regular basis. Rather than this, I decided that one central area would serve us better (and limit my tidying-up time).

So I set about setting up the perfect landing strip. We have quite a large entrance at the Box, so I had plenty of space to work with. We simply moved a Lack shelf (previously used above the TV in the lounge room) and mounted it at about table height. Then on the shelf I just put a container for keys and small bits and pieces and a jar for random coins (they always seem to accumulate). I make sure there is empty space on the shelf for dumping the mail when we bring it in, or for putting things there that I need to take with me when I go out next.

There’s also a chair for my handbag, and there’s usually a few pairs of shoes or thongs under the chair. In winter there are often a few scarves or a jacket or two thrown on the chair as well.

I have added a few decorative items to pretty it up a bit and we hung some artworks to fill the space on the wall above the shelf.

I have plans to hang some hooks on the wall opposite the shelf – these will be used to hang shopping bags, scarves, jackets, etc. And I will probably put a basket under the hooks for chucking shoes into (just so it doesn’t look too messy).

So that’s a landing strip. A place where you “land” when you get home. (Ok, I didn’t make up the name, I’m just trying to explain the concept.)

I always had this ideal that your bedroom should be a sanctuary – somewhere you can escape to at the end of the day that feels calm, serene and peaceful.

(from desire to inspire)

Of course the reality is that most peoples’ bedrooms fall short of this ideal (mine included). I’m sure that the majority of us would sheepishly admit to clothes strewn over chairs or the end of the bed, wardrobes stuffed to overflowing or with clothes falling off the hangers, chests of drawers with clothes stuffed in rather than folded, laptops or paperwork piled up on the dresser or bedside tables, and shoes and socks thrown about wherever they landed. Possibly even some dirty dishes, a coffee cup or two and maybe even a stained, empty wine glass.

Well, this year I vowed to maintain our bedroom as the sanctuary I craved, even if the whole rest of the house went to ruins. I would always make the bed, put away my clothes and keep all surfaces tidy and clutter-free. And I have to say, I have almost always succeeded. There have only been a few days so far in the whole year that have failed to live up to this standard, and all of those have occurred since the arrival of our dear son.

How have I managed this, you ask? (Well, maybe you didn’t ask. But it’s easier to write these posts if I imagine some people on the other end reading this and conversing with me as I write. Crazy? No!) Well, firstly, it’s all about storage space. Have enough of it, use it correctly, and everything else pretty much falls into place.

Now, I have no problem confessing to my shopping addiction, and the excessive amount of shoes, clothes and accessories that have resulted. So I have always needed more storage space than most in the bedroom. We have (thanks to Ikea) a large wardrobe (Pax), 4 large chests of drawers (Malm 4 drawer) and 2 bedside tables (Malm again).

All of these are very full, but very well organised. I have dividers inside the drawers to keep everything neat, and I make sure everything is neatly folded and stacked. I also have dedicated storage for my copious amounts of accessories, scarves and the like (little boxes and special hangers). And I make sure to purge every 6 months or so and get rid of things that I no longer wear, thus making room for the new things I buy.

The main thing I do to keep our bedroom schmick is to have a place for everything and everything in its place. That means putting things away as soon as I am done with them, and reworking my storage if things are no longer fitting. It’s really not a lot of work, and all I have to do every day is make the bed. The rest has just become habit.

But even if it took more work than that, I would still try to do it. Because at the end of the day, when everything else is going nuts, there’s nothing more satisfying than dragging myself up the stairs, walking into my room, and seeing that all is right with the world.