The End of The Big Unit

This is the end

Beautiful friend

This is the end

My only friend, the end. 

Actually, you weren't that beautiful Big Unit and you're certainly not my only friend. Cause that would be remarkably sad of me, and I'm sure there will be a medical name for people who personify and feel affectionate towards furniture.

Although you were an amazing gift of storage, you were an imposing, dark hulk. The Ikea Besta TV and Storage Unit overshadowing our living room with your large squareness and never looking tidy for longer than half a minute. You became the ultimate catch-all for clutter, your shelves being so far out of the reach of children. It was too easy to place things atop your tallness rather than seek out the proper, neat placement of items.

So we took you apart.

Each time we took a section away we had to wait until that piece was in its new location AND find a temporary home for all the mountains of stuff that was contained therein before we could take the next section away...

 But we persisted until there was naught but the little TV section in the middle left...

Aw, isn't it cute! This is the only section we got rid of - we just gave it away. The rest of the sections were used in other parts of the house. After all, good storage is as vital as breathing! Well, it is in our house where clutter seems to breed of its own accord. 

But look! When I painted the living room I didn't move the Big Unit, I simply painted around it. And when we took out the fireplace Scott just screwed a big piece of plywood across the hole. In fact, part of the reason why the Big Unit was so big was because we needed a unit that would cover that fireplace hole so we didn't have to sort it out properly. 

Alas, these things have to be dealt with eventually so we got a professional in to plaster it up for us. 

Yes, that is a patch of mismatched carpet where the hearth used to be, but thankfully the new unit covers that up. Also, Scott patched in the skirting board. 

I have an actual real office space now with an actual DESK and everything. 

So my beautiful friend the Big Unit is no more. Former office in a cupboard, ironing pile storage, crafting stash holder and clutter catch-all. Gone. And in its place...

Why it's an Ikea Besta TV and Storage Unit of course!! 

Hidden Mini Home Office - In An Ikea Besta Unit

Can you remember Big Unit? Well, we have now moved our home office-y type of things inside it. Like so...

This was born out of necessity really. We used to have a full room for an office space which housed a desk and all of my crafting things. I would craft in there and I would also work from home (before I was made redundant - boo!) Now obviously we don't need the office space for me to work at my now none existent job, and I haven't done any crafting in a looooooong time.

The room which was once the office is currently being cleared out to make way for the kids' things. Sigh. These blinking kids take over don't they?! :) More on that later though. I am sure I will let you know how that transformation goes.

So this is what the inside of this cupboard looked like only a couple of days ago.

AAAAAHHHH!!!! Does that make your eyes itch? It does mine.

The top shelf held some of the kiddos crafting supplies, and the bottom space was home to my husband's gibble. It was never really planned that way particularly. We just needed to put glue up high out of their reach and my dearest husband decided that he needed to put his deodorant on and his contact lenses in while standing at the Big Unit. As you do.

I cleared away all of that stuff and gave the shelves a good old clean. The crafting things are in a box in the old office just waiting to be re-homed somewhere more sensible, and my husband's gear has been stored somewhere more appropriate.

Here's what it looks like now!

Proud as punch I am! Let me go through everything with you.

Starting top left...

These drawers used to sit on my desk for crafting bits and pieces in. I bought them from Wilkinsons. Although I'm pretty sure they don't do these same ones anymore. However, they might do something similar.

Pretty AND functional. I keep my clips, pins, Tippex, date stamp, USB pens and blu take, etc in there. 

I made practical labels for my magazine files (from Ikea - Kassett i think). I had a huge stack of magazines in the cupboard opposite.

So I thinned them down, choosing only magazines dated within the last few months, or those with particular articles or tutorials I am interested in. 

The current projects file contains paperwork for whatever project we happen to be focusing on right now. Then the Address and Birthdays file has my birthdays book, my address book and any greetings cards I have waiting. There is one spare magazine file with nothing in it. I am sure it won't be empty for long though!

To the right of those are a few books and a super cute pen pot.

The pen pot was also from the Wilkinsons Nostalgia range of stationery supplies. I love that whole range, it's so pretty!

Guess where my family organiser calendar was from? Wilkinsons - you got it! Can you tell I love that shop, almost as much as I love Ikea? The calendar doesn't start until January and I need to go through it and add all the important dates, but for now, it just looks cute. I used a calendar hook from Wilkos too and it was really simple to stick on. The instructions said to wait 24 hours before hanging on it, but I got excited and did it right away. It seems to be holding well. 

Okay, so here's the bottom shelf. The "catch all" box is where we throw all those things that you can't be bothered to deal with straight away. Previously everything used to land in two wicker baskets on the open shelving. That was okay, but it was too out in the open. I really need to keep that kind of thing hidden away. No one wants to be confronted by a display of take away menus, till receipts and wires when they come visiting. 

See? No one needs to be seeing that.

As you can see I am not too good at stamping, but I put the wording on here myself none the less. I am telling myself I kinda like the crazy, splodged look... 

The black folder you can see behind the box is where I keep receipts. I dump them all in here out of my purse and out of the catch-all box every now and again. Then periodically I will go through and throw away all the ones I no longer need. Neat!

Lastly, but by no means least. Here is where I keep my spare office folders (punched pockets, presentation folders, etc), my gift wrap supplies (sheet wrap, tags, tissue paper) and my printer supplies (ink, sheet labels, paper). 

And that concludes the tour of our shiny new hidden home office space. I know it's compact, but it works for us right now. 

And because i like em, here's a before and after...

Thanks so much for visiting me! 

I've linked up to these super parties:

Making the World Cuter - Monday Link Up Party
Debbiedoos - Power of Pinterest Party
We Are That Family - Works For Me Wednesdays
New Nostalgia - Anti Procrastination Tuesdays
A Bowl Full Of Lemons - One Project at a Time
Adorned From Above - Wednesdays Link Party
The Artsygirl Connection - Pinspirational Thursdays
Between U & Me - Crazy Cute Link Party
30 Handmade Days - Friday Pity Party
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating - Flaunt It Friday
French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday
It's a Hodgepodge Life - Hodgepodge Friday
It's Overflowing - Overflowing With Creativity
Positively Splendid - Saturday Seven Party
Too Much Time - Get Schooled Saturday
Lovely Crafty Home - Lovely Crafty Weekend
Funky Junk Interiors - SNS

Storage Problem - We Have Too Much Of It!!

I know what you're thinking... How can a family of four possibly have too much storage?! Well, it is an integral part of my nature to be pragmatic. Especially when buying furniture. That's why I love Ikea so much! It's cheap, because what's the point in spending lots of money on beautiful furniture pieces that will likely end up crayoned on? But, I also like it because the furniture is so functional. I never buy anything without first considering how much stuff we can hide in it.

Because of this, I have ended up with lots of empty drawers in the living room. Storage in the living room presents a problem anyway, as I can only store things here which are child friendly. My kids are old enough now that I leave them playing in the living room while I cook in the kitchen next door or run some laundry upstairs. We all know how little time it takes for kids to wreak havoc on some fun new "toy" they just found.

I'd really like to store my wrapping and parcel papers in the long drawers of this bureau. Those little drawers would be perfect for pens and tape, and the drop-down section could hold stationery, cards, and things. Can you imagine the fun the kids would have with that?! For now, one drawer keeps our fleece blankets and throws neat, because although it is irritating to have to fold blankets several times a day it's a better option than trying to re-roll paper onto a dented telescope.. erm... megaphone... erm... paper roll.

The wicker baskets in this IKEA Expedit would hold lots of things, but the kids frequently go in there and pull out their contents. So, for now, they just hold bibs, scruffs, mopping up towels and hats and scarves. Half of them are empty and a couple only have one or two things in there.

Expedit number two holds some of the kids' toys. We used to have all their toys in the living room, but we changed that for our sanity. I'll talk about that later.

Lastly, we have the "Big Unit". My relationship with Big Unit is a love/hate one. I love that we can store things up high out of the children's reach and I love that no one can see what clutter lies behind those doors until they open them. I hate it because it is massive and dark and takes over the room. It's also a clutter attractamatron. Everything gets put here. I am working on a solution to that though, which I am pretty excited about.

So my mission of the moment is to streamline the things we have in these cupboards already - I am sure there is a TON that can be relocated or thrown away. Then I will work on finding childproof items to store here which will free up space elsewhere. It may not be ergonomically ideal, but I guess you have to make concessions when you have young kids.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to let me know what you store in your family living room.

I linked up to Furniture Feature Friday