Keeping It All Together

It can be cramped when you live in a house that is no more than 1500 square feet. Throw in a husband, 2 dogs, 2 cats & a one-year old baby boy & things can get extremely hectic! It has taken me some thought & creativity in order to maximize the space that we have & to keep our house from looking like a day care center!

I want Cameron to have a place to keep his toys with room to play while also maintaining my sanity at the end of the day.


This is the "great room" of our house and what you see is what you get.



As you walk through the front door of our house, this is where you stand; other than the 3 bedrooms, this is it! Seeing as there are no far off, tucked away rooms in our house, it can be a challenge to keep the baby toys and gear in order. As much as I would absolutely adore more space to work with, that is not going to happen anytime soon so I must work with what I have! And I'm always up for a challenge!



We purchased 2 shelving units at IKEA which happens to be one of my favorite stores. IKEA is ideal for those who are working with tight quarters; they even have mock living situations set up to show you how VERY small spaces can actually work. I highly recommend ending the shopping trip with a plate full of fabulous Swedish meatballs! YUM.

The shelf on the left has 2 spots for the additional cube containers you can purchase for storage while the one on the right will hold up to eight. I plan on replacing the red storage cubes on the right with the wicker ones you see on the left since they match the room better. I'll just use the red cubes as storage boxes in Cam's closet.



I'm also loving this LED candle that I bought from Target in a set of three; it looks just like a real candle with its flickering glow & it's made of real wax so it smells good too.



I put one of the LED candles in this plastic pumpkin that Cam will use when trick-or-treating & it adds a very festive touch to the room when the lights are low.



As Cameron became mobile, I decided it would be best to ditch our large, standard coffee table & replace it with these versatile storage cubes. They can be ottomans or you can flip them over to the tray side for drinks. The cube itself acts as a storage container which is excellent. Getting rid of our old coffee table has given Cam so much more floor space to play.



Although I know that our house is far from perfect & could stand to be twice its size, it's our home, our sanctuary & we make it work!