that's how i roll: a skinny shelf for the bath / laundry room

I've mentioned before, I think, that we live in a little mid-century-era ranch-style house that measures under 1000 square feet. With a toddler. And some cats. Space gets a little tight sometimes, and creative storage ideas are always in high demand. So when, a couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about the problem area that is our shared bathroom / laundry room, I did some storage brainstorming.

There's not much room in there, but there is a space about a foot wide next to the stacked washer and dryer where I'd been stashing extra boxes of detergent, catfood, bleach, and a wastebasket. These had to be moved whenever I needed to get the broom or mop out. Not very convenient.

I thought about building a narrow shelf for the space, but a trip to Bring for some useable lumber instead turned up this: a narrow shelf (probably part of a desk) with sliding drawers on either side. (Cat not included.)

I picked up this pile of old casters there, too. Knowing they wouldn't be visible, I didn't mind the rust; they were a buck each, and the shelf was $10 or $15 I think . . . less than I would have spent on lumber and drawer hardware, anyway, and since I don't have professional carpentry skills, anything I would have built wouldn't have looked as finished.

What I can do is attach casters with a hodge-podge of leftover wood screws. That's how I roll.

Honestly, the hardest part of this project was finding four matching casters in the pile. After all four casters were attached, I just stood the shelf on its end, and rolled it into the space.

It's a bit hard to photograph in the cramped quarters of my bathroom, but I took some shots head-on and from the hallway to give you a bit of an idea.

There's a storage bin on top, and the wood rectangle is the front of a nice, deep drawer for storing dryer sheets, bleach, extra soap, etc.).

The shelf is deep enough and tall enough that I was able to stack three boxes of detergent powder in the back, with the cat food and in-use detergent containers in front. The mop and broom still fit behind everything else, but the casters make it easy to roll everything out of the way first.

Right now, because the shelf is technically on its side, the drawers open on their sides, too . . . but I'm pretty much okay with that. What I would like to do soon though, is to add some drawer hardware to make it prettier. As soon as I find the right ones I'll take a little photo for you.

What have you been organizing or simplifying lately? I love visiting your (non-spam) links in my comments section, so feel free to tell me where to visit!

Thanks for reading.


p.s. you can make these photos larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.

bright red book racks go faster

We have a bit of a book storage issue around these parts. Not only do I still have some of my childhood books hanging around, but I've collected illustrated kids books since my late teens . . . and things went from bad to worse when I started working in bookstores when I was twenty-one (a bookstore discount is a dangerous thing). And then, when you add in the kiddo's books and my husband's collection, the place has been pretty packed.

I actually have culled things down quite a bit in the past year or so, getting rid of between 10 and 20 percent of my own book collection (not counting the illustrated books, which I've passed on to the little dude). But still. Books everywhere. Which I like, but I've been searching for new solutions. Pinterest abounds with ideas on book storage, and I've tried a few different ones (which I'll share in different posts coming up). Today, though, I want to share this one with you.

First, I found a beat up old magazine rack on 1/2-off day at St. Vincent dePaul's (actually, I found two. I'll share the second with you in another post).

I sanded it lightly and then wiped it down with a little deglosser.

I hit the bottom with some cherry red spray paint, the after it dried, put three light coats on the top and sides.

Because it was raining or humid all week, I left it outside to de-fume for three days, then brought it inside to cure for another three days before finally filling it with books.

Now it's prettier, and, as everyone knows, anything red is automatically faster. It also handily wrangles a dozen often-requested books face out, so they're easy to find.

Thanks for stopping in! If you've seen some other awesome book storage ideas, you can post them in the comments section and I'll add them to my book storage pin board.

(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)


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