23 May Featured Space: Outdoors - Tubs of Toys

For those of you on Facebook, you may have seen that I mentioned we finished up our garage organization project.  Wow, it was a great feeling.  I had spent every second of my spare time over the weekend working on it, and last night, my hub came to the rescue helping me finish up and move the big stuff.  Such a wonderful feeling when a big project comes to an end.  It's that feeling that keeps me coming back for more, and more and more!  And yes, we were a very joyful pair, breaking out a couple of lawn chairs, setting them in the driveway facing towards the garage, snagging a glass of wine and sitting back in complete awe. 

I am planning on revealing the entire process and some before and after pictures on Friday this week, each post to that point sharing a piece of the three day puzzle, so make sure to stay tuned!

As I mentioned here, I broke the garage into specific zones.  Yesterday I chatted about the auto zone, today, I am going to talk kids.

We are avid outdoors folks, well, during the summertime that is!  You won't find us inside much at all really.  And with all of the outdoor play, comes a lot of outdoor toys!  And what was happening was a combo of kids throwing toys into piles in the garage and a very special pooch, chewing up those toys!  And with all of the toys being tossed wherever the kids could find a spot, frequently just a random place on the garage floor, we eventually went from parking two cars in the garage, to one, to none.....

I needed a solution, and fast!  I will mention, that this is the only place where I invested any moola into this garage organization project!  And what I did spend, was a total of $24 on 4 large plastic baskets.  All other storage containers used were items found throughout the garage and home!  IHeart cheap makeovers!

I had emptied a plastic shelving unit which was previously full of a lot of random items, to give it the sole purpose of toy storage.  And with the new toy baskets in place, it already looked a gazillion times improved!

Each basket has its own purpose, one is for bike helmets, training wheels and a pump, another is for sports equipment such as baseball mits and soccer shin guards, one is for sandbox toys and one is designated holder of roller skates.

The sandbox toys are actually stored in the garage for a couple of reasons {in case you were wondering why we don't just keep them stashed in the sandbox itself}.  First, when left in the sandbox, our friendly pooch, Bentley, is unable to determine the difference between his toys and the kid's toys.  Therefore, often times we would find them shredded around the yard and kids would be in tears.  Not good.   Second, they aren't the most weather resistant toys, after hours in the sun or changes in temp, they become quite prone to cracks and breaks.  And lastly, keeping them stashed in this oh so handy bin, allows me to oh so easily snag it and toss it in the trunk for a day away at the beach!  I totally dig when I can find shortcuts!

You also may have noticed on the top shelf, that there was a drawer instead of a basket.  That is where I store all of our swimming stuff, including enough beach towels for the family and sun skincare products.

I chose to keep these goodies in a closed drawer, since garages have a tendency of becoming dusty much quicker than typical spaces, and there is nothing appealing about drying off with a dust covered towel!  And, the drawer slides out to become a portable basket, again, making it easy to bring in and out of the garage all together when needed!

Now, no organizing project would be complete if I didn't add some labels to the mix, and as I mentioned here when I featured our playroom and kid's clothes drawers, kid's do really well with getting things put back, when they know exactly where it belongs!

So, I went my typical route of running some labels created from cardstock and scrapbook paper, through a laminator.  The laminating is important to me because A: Kids are involved and B: Garages become dusty zones.

Then, I just punched two holes in the top of the label, and used some of my hub's zip-ties to loop them through the bin holes!

And then I snipped the extra length and the labels were attached!

I continued for all of the bins...

So when all was said and done, the shelf was full of organized outdoor toy storage!

And you can see what the big bin on the bottom shelf contains, there is no appropriate way for me to actually type what the contents include!

Such a difference this made to the whole garage space, for everyone in the family!  And even if you don't have a couple of little ones running around, these baskets {snagged from Target} are so perfect for any garage!  And they add a little color, which I completely found our garage was in some desperate need of!

Zone 1:  Auto.  Zone 2:  Toys.  What will I share tomorrow?  I am thinking Zone 3 will be all about tools... or pets?  Which?  I guess we will have to wait and see!  {Hint, you can snag a sneak peek at part of the tool zone in the pic above!}

I would love to hear your tips and tricks for storing kid's goods in the garage!  Or, any ways that you inject a little color into what is typically a drab space?  Anyone spoiled enough to have finished and painted garage walls?  I am so envious of those who do....