Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Buckets of Organization

A couple years ago I shared the storage problems of our last apartment kitchen. It had very little cabinet storage, but we came up with an affordable and functional solution for our tiny kitchen. Thankfully our current apartment has plenty of kitchen storage, so that's not the problem this time. The office area, on the other hand, leaves a little to be desired in the storage department.


We tucked the desk into a nook near our balcony, and we realized there are very few places to hide all of our my crap computer desk necessities. If there's one thing that drives me crazy, it's having all our little odds and ends out for everyone to see. Call me modest, but I like leaving the inner workings of our office space to our guests' imaginations. Nobody needs to see that stuff!


Our computer desk does have a small drawer for hiding things. It's perfect for things like bills, pens, a couple of cords, and notepads. However, that drawer isn't large enough to store away all the pens, pencils, highlighters, and scissors I've managed to accumulate over the years. I even threw away handfuls of old pens and pencils when we moved! How these little collections manage to grow so large is beyond me. Maybe it has something to do with my hoarding tendencies?


Apartment living has its challenges, and we're no strangers to having limited storage. Enter Ikea fintorp rails, hooks, and buckets. Those nifty little buggers create storage in the least likely of places. They don't look too bad doing it either. We hung one rail with three galvanized buckets, and that gave us plenty of places to store the little odds and ends that won't fit in the computer drawer.


Ikea sells the fintorp rail and accessories as a kitchen storage item, but nothing says you can't use those items in your office. I'm even thinking of using a couple in our guest closet to hold some of my craft materials. They have no limits, those fintorp rails. Use them anywhere.

We still have a little work to do before the office area is completely organized. It's a good start though. There's a reason I didn't show you the floor to the right of our desk. I have a basket down there, and it's full of picture albums, coupons, and spray paint. No one ever said it's perfect in here. We're a work in progress.

How do you solve your storage problems?

8 comments:

  1. I've never seen this before at Ikea, love the way it looks! So creative!

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  2. I'm still tackling my storage issues. I like everything to look clean and neat (and it doesn't). :/ I know that Ikea is great for that... Btw, where did you get that lovely white desk?! I've been on the lookout for a while now for something similar.

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  3. i LOVE those buckets! What a fantastic idea! I too, hate having pens and whatnot on display for all to see. I might just snag your idea if you don't mind. I need to run to Ikea any way to see what curtains they have!

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  4. I use buckets in my classroom! For, like, everything. Yours, I must say, are rather attractive looking. So sleek and clean. :)

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  5. such a good idea! thanks for sharing, i am definitely going to implement in our messy office space.

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  6. i SO needed to read this post today. i really hate odds & ends cluttering things up & being visible too. i'm one of those people who sometimes stuffs things into a drawer, just to allow for things to appear streamlined on the outside. i really like these buckets, & i may just invest in some here in the near future. they're fun & functional, & i like that.

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  7. I am totally going to do this in my home office! Such a great idea!

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