keeping the house organized vs. a pretty house

We live in a tiny little house. About 1000sq ranch. No basement. We have three bedrooms and five kids. So as you can tell things are tight. Anyway, at what point do you give up the pretty living room and go with functional? I'm getting ready to buy a cube organizer for our living room. I'm going to be using it for the kid's stuff. Each of the kids will have two cubes. One they keep their school bag or little bag they carry when we leave. As of this fall DS will have a bookbag for K, DD1 will have a preschool bag. Then the other cube they will keep their hat, mittens, and whatever else. I'm thinking I'll get fabric bins to go in those cubes and put their names on the front. Ok so that won't look bad since everything will be organized. I'm also thinking I'm going to get one of those strip of wall-mount hooks. You know the block of wood with like five or six hooks. I'm thinking I'm going to put it down level with the top of the 9 cube organizer. That way the kids can hang up their jackets. Below that is going to be a little shoe organize shelf that sits on the floor where all their shoes will be located. It's not going to be pretty but more look like a daycare center. lol Just curious if that sounds crazy? I've pretty much gave up on the idea of a pretty house until the kids are basically grown. At this point I'd rather have organization and less stress than a beautiful house. We rarely have company over to the house anyway. I'm going to do it because it's what makes my life easier. I guess I just need to hear it's not stupid.

 

nope not stupid. I have 7 kids and I don't have anything breakable out where the little ones can reach. Why make more work for myself? I want one of those hook things too. I'm tired of all the backpacks and coats laying on my floor.
I think an organized home is beautiful by the way!

 

Thank you! I think an organized home is beautiful too but I'm OCD about being organized. I guess I have to be with kids! lol

I didn't think about hanging the bags. That would be better than sticking them in a cube. Well at least once they're in school which won't be long because DS starts K this fall and DD1 starts preschool. Next year I'll have three in school. I think I'll get the small cube organizer (6 instead of 9) and get one of those heavier duty hook strips so they can hang their bag and coat on the same hook.

 

Sounds smart!! I agree that an organized home is pretty. Sounds like you are creating an environment where the kids can participate in keeping things tidy, which is a great idea. They will learn respect for their belongings and surroundings.

BTW, I relate to living in a tiny home! We live in a 600 sq foot bungalow near the beach. But it's just the four of us (and a kitty). I used to live in SF, so I guess I'm just at home in tiny places.

 

I'm hoping I can get them to start respecting their stuff. Right now they could care less. If something is broken their attitude is well we'll just buy another. My oldest two are 5 and 4 (in two weeks) so I know they are at a point where they can start helping! They have been good about going in and getting their jackets, hats, and shoes on when I have everything ready for them. They are also trained to come in and take off their shoes. Now to only get them to put them on the shoe tray. My DD likes to unload the silverware from the dishwasher. I'm going to set up a chore chart for them to earn TV, Wii, and computer time. Baby steps though baby steps! Right now I just want the crap around here organized! lol


EDITED I clicked post before I was done...

I really like my little house. I can't imagine having to keep up with a bigger house. I have a hard enough time keeping my little house clean. I was just thinking last night I would be more open to just expanding on our current house than moving. We're sending the kids to private school so we're not dealing with the school system. I would just like another bedroom and a bathroom. I already have it figured out. We can make the bathroom we have now a hallway and put a room and bathroom on the back of the house. I know easier said then done. lol. It would probably be cheaper to move than add an addition. We keep fixing up the house and I keep thinking it's going to be exactly how I want once we get ready to move. lol Why not just stay here with our cheap mortage and expand in a few years instead. I also keep thinking this house would be perfect for DH and I in about thirty years when our backs and knees ache. No stairs and not a lot to deal with. Perfect!

 

I think your ideas sound great. Ikea has great prices on the cube organizers. I'd check it out if you haven't already. You can even order online. I bought one for my office at work and it looks so good I'm thinking of getting one for home too.

We live in a 2 bedroom condo, and fortunately our rooms are really big, but our closets and storage space are not. My husband and I have put a lot of effort into de-cluttering over the last month or so. It feels good to get rid of things we no longer want or use but the extra space we've made has already been taken up with baby things. We are also adding two additional shelves to our bedroom closet. They'll be pretty high up so we'll need a stool to reach them, but it will provide lots of extra storage for things lIke extra blankets and pillows that we don't use every day.

 

Organized sounds pretty to me too We actually took our coffee table to the basement for awhile to make more room in the living room. We will eventually move all their toys to the basement (its finished) but for now we look like a daycare center too. like you, we don't have company alot (other than my sis) and when they do come they all have kids and understand too

 

Sounds like a great plan! We live in a 1100 sq. ft. ranch and space is limited. We hang backpacks/jackets on a hook behind where the door opens. They were instantly trained! The family room is now toy free, but before that, we had the toys concealed in baskets on a nice bookshelf. We also had baskets under the entry table for shoes, hats, etc., but then we got a dog and he ate those baskets in no time!

I am a firm believer that if everything has a place, then it is easier to have the kids help to pick up the house and keep it clutter-free.

 

I plan to buy the Closetmaid 6 cube organizer from Target. They're $40 or $50 but go on sale. So I'll wait until I can get a deal on it. I also want to get five fabric bins as well. I have some fabric paint so I can personalize them myself. I found a great wall mount hook strip (not sure what it's really called) on Amazon.com. It's a Prime item so free shipping! It's five double hooks!!! Perfect. It's expresso with silver hooks which is even better. Our furniture is expresso and I plan to buy the organizer in expresso. I'm thinking I'll buy the Closetmaid shoe rack too. It's two shelves so I can put three lines of shoes. Boots on top, nice shoes in the middle, and play shoes on bottom. See I got it all figured out! Now I just need $100 to pay for it all! Luckily that is the nice thing about having a birthday...you get gifts. DH always gets me a gift card so I'll tell him to get Target this year.

 

Ok, I know you've found what you like at Target, but I still suggest you take a look at Ikea before buying. I've seen them both and think the Ikea turned out to be better value for the money. I don't mean to sound pushy, sorry if I do, just trying to be helpful and don't want you to miss out on a great deal. You can get an 8 cube at Ikea for $69 in espresso and it really looks like a nice quality piece of furniture. I only say this because I bought one online, and was so happy with the quality when it arrived. I also bought some wooden inserts with doors for two of the cubes, they were $19 each and loved those too. If you don't have Ikea near you, then maybe the shipping charges aren't worth it, but check it out. It's called Expedit.

 

I LOVE Ikea!!! I do plan to check out the cubicals at Ikea before going to Target. I live about an hour away from Ikea and will be going there in the next couple weeks. Weather permitting of course. If it would just stop snowing already! I have a couple of the Closetmaids cubicals so I can compare it to the Ikea one and decide. I'm thinking I'll probably find a shoe rack I like there too. Or something I can use as a shoe rack. I love love love Ikea.

 

I honestly think now adays you can have both. Our living room is super orgnanized but is still "pretty" its just a matter of changing your idea of what pretty is. Does it look like a Martha Stewart artical no.Does everything have a place you bettcha. And our storage solutions are pretty.We have a 3 br 1 bath 1000sqft ranch and 3 kids. The cubes at Target are AWSOME! Our oldest has 3 in her room, 2 9cube and an 8 cube. The 8 cube is turned so its tall and thin instead of laying down so its long, then is flanked by the 9 cube. She has cubes for all her small toys, arts and crafts and one for mittens and hats and scarves which will turn into swim wear and small pool toys in the summer. Then some of the shelves are open for things like her horse collection, her piggy bank (which is a giant pig with a crown and tutu LOL) stuff like that. Then I have another 9 cube in the babies closet that holds blankets, diapers, wipes, shoes things like that. Its in their closet only because with the dresser/changing table and 2 cribs the room is full. For our living room I didn't want to 100% give up and turn it over to the kids so I bought furniture that doubled as adult and storage but was still kid friendly. Yep that is possible. Our coffee table has 3 BIG baskets under neither that we use for books and dvd's but you could use them for anything(my husband just happens to have an obnoxiously large dvd collection, we have a tv cabinet that holds our flatscreen, our dvr, wii and playstation are behind doors and has 2 deep drawers that can be used for anything from dvd's to toys or books or whatever. We have the household paperwork binders in one drawer and our oldests art work from Kindergarten 1st and 2nd grade plus her baby scrapbook and our wedding album. Then flanking the sofa we have 2 floor to ceiling bookshelves that while the twins are still babies have photos and books etc on them but also have fabric covered boxes on them for storage and I can add baskets or whatever to them. I almost got another 9 cube for by the front door for what you suggested shoes backpacks etc but thought that would be one to many pieces of heavy furniture so we just have a small table there with 2 black baskets with lids for the babies toys. So it can be done. And none of it cost that much. The 2 big pieces were the tv cabinet and the coffee table and those were $500 together then we paid 30 each for the bookshelves at Target and 20 for the small table at Kroger. My point is with thought you can have both. I agree that organization is pretty. We are planning on building a 4 bedroom home in the next couple of years because we just really need that extra bedroom but I will keep the same furniture because its pretty and does what I need it to.