Monday, January 25, 2010

Suggestion from the Com Box

Bearing has been to my house and seen the school area and laundry area. She suggested I post pictures so you can see those them. DISCLAIMER: Real life here...I didn't pick up, this is what it looks like in REAL LIFE.
First the school areas
The girl's area
* The top row of shelves contain manipulatives and supplies such as extra notebooks, index cards and miscellaneous activities.
* The bottom row of shelves contain game supplies, work books, a very WIDE variety of craft supplies and some coloring books.
* The bins on the left of the desks contain more arts and craft supplies, personal storage for projects unfinished and craft books and ideas.
* The girls each have two magazine holders for their curriculum (white boxes in the center of their desks).
* There is a great time line on the wall under the shelves.
* Each girl has a desk lamp.
* On the backs of their chairs are additional pouches for personal items such as notebooks, drawings, flash cards, pencils/pens, etc.
* The white plastic drawers on the left are FULL of colored paper, chalk, chalkboards (9x12), white board markers, white boards (9x12), color crayons, colored pencils, thin tipped markers, thick tipped markers, scissors, paper punches, tape, glue, glue stick, stencils, rulers, glue dots and new writing pencils.

The boy's area:
* Desk with desk light and two magazine holders for curriculum and papers due/done/to be filed.
* Bottom shelf text books, puzzles, nerf guns and legos (this is a boy's area)
* Top shelf and bins on the left contain more manipulatives, games, personal storage for the boy and busy items for the preschoolers in my life like all the broken crayons the girls have rejected, magnetic letters and lacing toys.

I'm sorry to say I WON'T show you the area just to the right of boy's area because it is a big, fat, disasterous pile that only I can navigate. That is a 2'x3' countertop with my teacher manuals, in and out bins, file folders, magazines, notebooks and other random junk that I seem to not be able to put away ;-).

Now for the family closet/laundry room:
The changing area - on the left is 10 drawers for Wee One and Tinkerdoodle. Notice (if you can) the laminated labels hanging down with pony tail holders. That is so someone other than me can not only dress the little ones, but also put their laundry away for me. What you cannot see is to the right are 10 more drawers. Four are mine and six are Little Princess'. On top is a shelf going across which holds clothes en route out of the laundry room, destined for storage because someone has outgrown them. Behind the changing pad are diapers and supplies. Below the changing pad are the dirty laundry hampers. One for dry dirty clothes, the other for wet dirty clothes. Tinkerdoodle has been potty trained for more than a year, but still has accidents. Testy Tiger wets during naps regularly. And Wee One wears clothe diapers occasionally. The wet hamper has a lined wet bag and cover to reduce "smells".

The other storage unit has three sets of ten drawers for Little Man, Little Woman, Testy Tiger and myself. In between each set are hanging rods above and sorting hampers below. On the left are whites (non linens) and colors (non pants). On the right are pants and linens. If you want my laundry sorting philosophy, I'll write about that someday. Notice the drawers are not perfectly tidy. That is because my kids must fold and put their own clothes away. I don't do it for them. I have to do mine. All three little kids' drawers are labeled so ANYONE can put away their laundry and help them get dressed.

Other things you can't see: Washer and dryer with shelves above for storage of: paper towel (I buy in bulk from Amazon Subscribe and Save....love it!), toilet paper (same - bulk from ASandS), laundry detergent (ASandS), white vinegar and baking soda, other various laundry aids, paper plates, plastic cups, and facial tissue (ASandS).

To the left of dryer is a folding table. Above the folding table is a hanging shelf where all of my very tall dear husband's shirts hang to dry.

ON top of the washer and folding table are 4 baskets. One for dear husband, Little Man, Little Woman and Little Princess where clothes come out of dryer and into the respective baskets to be folded by the owner. I put the rest in a basket below folding table.

I also didn't include pictures of my computer desk, book shelf and preschool/toddler storage. The preschool/toddler storage cabinet is 3' wide and 6' tall. It contains: playdoh and playdoh toys, puzzles, paints, preschool activity books, lacing games, magnetic games, special toys (like Hungry Hungry Hippo and Shark Fishing), dominoes, spin paint and other miscellaneous things I pull out when I need to keep the two little boys busy. I have a paper cutter and laminator stored on top to keep little hands safe.

The other thing I'll post later is bookshelves. I have more books than the local public library. Really. I do actually have them sorted and the kids have been trained to put them back in their places. Finally.

As you can see it's all pretty compressed. I do need to do some decluttering...you know, when I'm not so busy.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, that was quick!

    The part I thought was really worthy of showing is how the kids' school areas fit into your kitchen overall. Ever since you did it I have admired how you repurposed the "eat-in kitchen" (which didn't really have enough room for everyone to eat in anyway!) to turn it into a "study-in kitchen." It has always struck me as an ingenious use of the space to fit your needs.

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  2. Hey, I aim to please!

    Thanks...when we were schooling with the table in the kitchen (no desks) it was a constant struggle to:
    a) keep the table clean enough to dine on
    b) get around with the required amount of bookshelf space required to manage the stuff that is now in bins
    c) navigate when you have a big pregnant tummy (as I was with #6 when we converted).

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