The original post on the Impressionistic Chart Storage in our home.
Background:
I have had this over-the-toilet unit since Legoboy was a baby:
Sample at Amazon (not an affiliate link) - I bought ours locally
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| haha! yeah right we have that much space around our toilet! |
At the time, I did not want to put baby locks on everything - I had a swing gate at the kitchen door and a variety of outlet covers (mostly ones that could allow things to be plugged in but still locked - child couldn't pull the cord from the wall either).
For daycare licensing purposes I did need a safety handle on the pantry door (because I had to keep the cleaning chemicals below the food - despite that most of the cleaning chemicals WERE food such as baking soda, vinegar and cornstarch... I digress).
When it comes to safety equipment, that is all we had. Our lower drawers/cupboards contained only child-safe items; lower cupboards in the bathroom held cloth diapers, mom's cloth items, towels and washcloths, cup of extra tooth brushes, and toilet paper. All else was stored in the cabinet or on the shelf shown above. It was high enough for daycare licensing, but I still kept "attractive and somewhat dangerous" in baskets on the shelves to minimize attention.
Times have changed. I now have few consistent young visitors to our home - and for them I can close the bathroom door, keep them in arms, or mom is with them.
And I needed the shelf somewhere else:
This shelf fit perfectly (I had to disassemble portions of it to get it to fit under the upper shelf in the closet, but once in, it fits perfectly) and is currently the only place I can safely store the long division with racks and tubes. The charts fit perfectly underneath it - almost like they were made for each other! The bonus is I can now use that space between the charts and the upper shelf much more efficiently. While I am still trying to be cautious what I bring home permanently (from our rented co-op) - to only bring home what we'll use - now I have found a bit more space I didn't know I had!
One bummer: our blue lamp we use for the sun still doesn't fit. I'll get it figured out.
In the bathroom, I was able to place a very low shelf in the corner that held all the things I thought I still needed this tall shelf for (and it has empty space! AND my bathroom looks so much more spacious now!!!). We're obviously far from cloth-diapering at this point and we've gone even more food-based and all-natural with our cleaners, etc. that we just don't have as much as "stuff" in the kitchen and bathroom anymore. Plus in this apartment we do have a small bathroom closet to hold towels and washcloths and art supplies.
I remember having every nook and cranny crammed in with nothing but STUFF. I wish I'd known then what I know now! But it's a journey, that's for sure! And we're not entirely where we want to be just yet.
Hm. Perhaps a photo of our bathroom is in order. Only because this bathroom is actually larger than most and it is the primary place to do artwork. Sounds strange? I'll get photos ;)
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