Weekend organizing

I thought I'd share a few organizational projects today since that's how I've been spending my time recently.
I always take the opportunity while my mom is in town to tackle one or more long-been-a-pain-in-the-rear projects around the house. Projects that I either need physical, mental, financial, or parental help with. Wow, that includes so many things, it's a wonder I get anything done on my own.
This time, since we just moved our 3rd child in with the older two, I needed to do some bedroom rearranging. I've decided to sell the vintage dresser I've been using as changing table and clothes storage for my daughters. The drawers are difficult for little hands to maneuver and that's becoming more important as the kids learn to choose their clothes and dress themselves. Plus, three beds, 2 dressers, books and random toys are a lot in a medium-sized bedroom with multiple walls interrupted by doors, windows, and a potentially scalding hot radiator.
Anyway, my mom treated me to these great collapsible fabric boxes from The Container Store (they are having a nice summer sale) and I filled them with my daughters' clothes and slid them under the crib. Perfect fit. And easy for the kids to pull out and open themselves. My oldest "organized" her clothes box herself which has helped make her excited about the new system.
Oh yes, we used to have nice crib clothes on the bed including a lovely bed skirt, but it was removed after an unfortunate incident last year (mentioned at the end of this list). I imagine this wouldn't work quite as well if it was still in place.

I also chose to rearrange their book collection. We've had them shelved in one of those hideous stackable plastic cube things you get in college (which I did get in college) which is a safety hazard (they try to climb it) and awkward for sliding books in and out.
I was recently reminded that there's a very reasonable explanation for young children emptying out their bookshelves. They choose books by looking at the covers, not by reading the spines. After having one of those, "Ohhh, right" moments, I decided to place their books in bins so they can reach them without climbing, return them easily, and make their selections without carpeting the floor with books. It's nice to be able to conveniently cart a load of books to the other room, too.
These are plastic collapsible bins from The Container Store.

While at The Container Store, we couldn't pass up these crunch bags (which I have found very handy and sturdy enough for kids, also on sale) for storing some items in the living room.
I wanted them to have access to all of their own games and be able to put them away. That has been key in much or our reorganizing. These bags now house some of their games (the others still reside on a low shelf), and their train collection. The vintage basket is housing random baby toys.

Last, but by no means least, we finished organizing the outgrown clothes that have been nagging me for years. This was a huge project (though due largely in part to my not being organized from the beginning) and I felt a massive sense of relief when we finished.
We've been saving all decent outgrown children's clothing to pass on down the line, big sister to little sister (and to my husband's chagrin, sometimes to little brother). Every time the season changes, we have to hit the storage. For one reason, we can't store a year's worth of clothing in the dressers, and also the kids outgrow and need new sizes practically every season.
We finally sorted every item by gender, season, and size, labeled them all, and shoved them in the closet. I used small clear garment zip bags for storing small chunks of clothes-like Girls, 0-6 months, Summer-and then put 4 of these small garment bags into a larger one, labeled something like Girls, 0-6 months-2T, Summer. Making sure all labels and zippers were facing the same direction and easy to read and access, no zippers hiding on the bottom of the bag, but all right at the top where the large bag opens in case I just need to just stick my hand in and grab a few items.
Now when I need to pull out or put away clothes, I can see exactly which bag I need instead of dragging out the seemingly thousands of bags, big and small, and rifling through to find exactly what I'm looking for and then likely missing articles that could have been worn.
This summer, I was so happy to find that my baby didn't need any new clothes (thanks to hand-me-downs) and my older 2 needed very little (thank goodness they grow a little more slowly now).
I'm interested. How do you store your hand-me-downs? Or do you? If you have an idea that is far more outstanding and efficient than mine, tell me at your own risk. I may find out where you live. Or perhaps I'll just be grown-up about it and decide to pass it on to some other plagued parent.

Vintage metal child's chair

I found this little green chair at a thrift shop one time and fell in love with it. Way before I had kids. Then, surprisingly, my mom and I found a red version at a shop near her house. Of course, she had to have it.
These little chairs have a lot going for them. They're cute (a must, right?), sturdy yet lightweight, they have that unique vintage charm, and are the perfect size for wee ones. Fun and functional.

Double your fun

Like my desk, this is another two-seater item that appears in many of our family photos. My kids often sit here while completing projects at the dining room table. It's not good for containing small children during mealtime, but works well for crafts.
I have no idea what the story is behind it except that it's old and may have been used in an Elks Lodge. No matter, it's unusual and colorful which always attracts me.

My Good Old Desk

I thought it was time I took a couple pictures of my little school desk as it usually goes uncredited as the backdrop in my other pictures. I purchased this vintage double school desk before my first child was born thinking (first of all, that it was really cool) that it would be great for kids to work on at home and that it would be an easy piece to use for other purposes before they grew into it. It has been used for toy storage, as a diaper-changing station, keyboard stand, and finally, work/play station. I looked online, briefly, to try to find out when/where this desk is from, and I only found 2 similar ones on the UK Ebay claiming they were made circa 1930. (The chairs came from a neighborhood school purging). This desk appears so often in my photos because it's the one uncluttered, large, flat surface near a window in our apartment and, additionally, I have always liked the feel of worn, honey-colored wood.

Favorite Things

This is where I keep my coffee birds and other happy, functional collectibles. So far I've managed to keep the kids from doing any damage here.
This cabinet has joined our family recently since the little ones were pulling things off the baker's rack I previously kept here. I love the glass doors (with charming bright color decals) to show off colorful craft supplies and my favorite storage boxes, antique refrigerator drawers.