JustLearning - Sweater boxes for Expedit shelves is brillant

[niccig]

I have to post a thank you to Just Learning for figuring out which containers at The Container Store fit the Ikea Expedit shelves.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin...d.php?t=338539

DS's toys are a mess, and he has trouble finding/putting things away - we needed less toys and a better system. I purged and reorganized using the sweater boxes that JustLearning posted about.

I used a deep sweater box and got 2 shelves worth of big cars/trucks into one container. That opened up an empty shelf for displaying DS's project items.

I used 2 of the normal sweater boxes to organise all of DS's matchbox and other cars. One has the smaller matchbox size and the other has the bigger die-cast cars/trucks. DH said DS won't be able to keep them sorted, I think he can as he's 5 and even if he doesn't, I don't care as long as all the cars/trucks are in there.

I have a deep sweater box for the big duplo bricks. 1 regular sweater box for the smaller duplo that are sets and another normal sweater box for the smaller legos. I didn't divide these up, just threw all the legos in. I just want them all together for now. As DS gets more smaller legos, I will need more containers or to put them in bags within the sweater boxes. But for now, they have a home that works.

A few other combinations that I find work together.

I can get 2 accessory boxes side by side and then stack them on top.

I can get a shoe box and a medium multi-purpose bin in one cubby

I think I can get a man's shoe box and the small multi-purpose bin side by side, but I didn't have a small multi-purpose bin to try.

When I have a cubby with 2 sweater boxes stacked, I have to pull the bottom box out a bit so the raised edge on the bottom is pulled out from the shelf, then the 2nd box will stack on top and then they can be both pushed all the way back into the shelf. DS can do it, but a younger child might need help putting the top box away.

It looks so great, I want to take the tinker toys out of their container, so it can be in a matching Container Store box. I kept all the price tags on the boxes, so I can return any that didn't work. I've already made 2 trips to the store, and I need to get a couple more of the regular sweater boxes, so I'll go back again tomorrow.

I've explained the system to DS and we'll have to see how it works. DS plays with several different toys at once, so it does mean we'll have a few boxes out - tonight he had the box with the big trucks, the box with the smaller legos and the box with the matchbox cars, but everything went back in and then he put them away on the shelves. I know I need to make sure he continues to put everything away, but I think we've got a good chance of that now that everything fits so nicely. I still need to label and put a picture on what goes where.

So JustLearning, thank you so much for doing all the hardwork on this. Our Expedit shelves have never looked so good, and with my sister arriving tomorrow, it was just in time. I still have to do the closet with the art supplies/board games/puzzles, so I'll see what I can fit in there.

[deborah_r]

I love that thread. Thanks for bringing that back up. I have some new Expedit shelves and haven't yet organized them to their full potential. I'm a little burnt on the IKEA offerings that fit that space.

[niccig]

Maybe I'll see you at the Pasadena Container store. I'm local, if you want to see what containers I used. I can fit twice as much in one cubby than I could before. Eg. I had one trofast container of duplo sets in a cubby and that was all that would fit. Now I have a sweater back of the duplo sets and a sweater box of the small lego in the one cubby.

I'm motivated to keep organizing...I really need to do my hallway closet that is the "Whatever fits in here" storage space.

[KrisM]

I read that post a dozen times after getting our 4x2 at Christmas. We left some open, but have 4 regular and 2 deep sweater bins and I love it! And, for whatever reason, the kids are really good at putting stuff back where it goes in these. One of the regular size boxes holds smaller stuff for DS1 and it's on the top shelf. It holds Uno Attack, Rush Hour, a dice game, etc. It's great to have that contained and out of DS2's reach.

I'm totally impressed with how well they fit and how much they hold.

We're planning on getting more Expedits for the basement and will order more of these.

[lowrioh]

FYI- these fabric bins from Target fit perfectly into the Expedit shelves.
http://www.target.com/Fabric-Storage...s=fabric%20bin
We have a 2x4 shelf unit and have 4 brown bins. It looks great.

[Snow mom]

Yes, that thread is awesome. I went and got two of the regular sweater boxes to see how it would work. I need to go back for more!

[jgenie]

Originally Posted by niccig

I can get 2 accessory boxes side by side and then stack them on top.

I can get a shoe box and a medium multi-purpose bin in one cubby

I think I can get a man's shoe box and the small multi-purpose bin side by side, but I didn't have a small multi-purpose bin to try.

Would you mind posting a link for the bins bolded above? TIA

[spunkybaby]

Originally Posted by jgenie

Would you mind posting a link for the bins bolded above? TIA

Here's a link to the multipurpose bins:
http://tinyurl.com/yaenw45

We also love justlearning's thread. Our Expedit shelves look tons better since we started using the sweater boxes, multi-purpose boxes, and accessory boxes. Everyone who comes to our house has commented on how great our storage looks now. Thanks again, justlearning!

[spunkybaby]

Originally Posted by lowrioh

FYI- these fabric bins from Target fit perfectly into the Expedit shelves.
http://www.target.com/Fabric-Storage...s=fabric%20bin
We have a 2x4 shelf unit and have 4 brown bins. It looks great.

For us, we had fabric bins that fit in the Expedit shelves previously, and they looked fine, but there was a lot of wasted space since a certain type of toy often didn't fill a whole bin. So the nice thing about the Container Store boxes is that you can use the exact size box that will fit the set of toys, enabling us to maximize the Expedit shelf space.

[niccig]

Originally Posted by spunkybaby

For us, we had fabric bins that fit in the Expedit shelves previously, and they looked fine, but there was a lot of wasted space since a certain type of toy often didn't fill a whole bin. So the nice thing about the Container Store boxes is that you can use the exact size box that will fit the set of toys, enabling us to maximize the Expedit shelf space.

This is what I like about the regular sweater box stacking so 2 fit in one cubby. I didn't want to mix up the duplo and the small lego into one box, so now I have 2 boxes and can keep the sizes separate, and it still only takes up one cubby. I don't like the clear plastic from a decorating point of view as everyone can see the toys in there, but I think that is what DS needs - he can see where things are and what goes where.

I'm going to move out from the expedit shelves and similar containers in a hallway closet that is all shelves. I think the multi-purpose bins will be useful there as I have lots of lose things to corral - think one container for different glues, hot glue gun etc.