Shade of Alyssa/Show and Tell: Organizational Tips & Tricks

I am playing catch up on some of the topics for Show and Tell Tuesdays that I am linking up with some fellow bloggers to bring to you.

In case you missed it, here are the topics we'll be discussing.

Today, is a Shade of Alyssa post too! This topic is DEFINITELY a big part of who I am. I LOVE to be organized. I am a much happier person when everything has a place, it is functional, and neat. An organized home to me is a must! We live on a boarding school campus in a 2 bedroom townhome, so functioning in a small space requires us to organize in a functional way. Today, we'll be discussing entryway & kids toy organization. Here's how we do it..

Our entryway closet houses our outerwear, shoes, and (currently) Winter accessories (ie. hats, scarves, etc). Having these items here makes the most sense because it is all things we need as we're heading out the door. It saves anyone from having to run upstairs to get anything. It is all here and easy to grab without tons of clutter. We have two shoes racks for nicer shoes and sneakers and baskets for flats and sandals because they don't easily stay on the shoe rack. This organizes the shoes so you know where to look for them.

We also have a hook for the back of the door where I keep our reusable grocery bags, and large totes. This makes it easy to just grab on our way out the door. I bought the hook at Dollar Tree for a $1 and it works great! 

Also in our entryway, we have two Ikea shelving units turned on their sides to create an entryway bench for shoe storage, a place to put keys & my purse, and a basket with frequently worn winter gear. // shelving units here.

With small spaces and young children, your living room area tends to be a place where both the adults and the kids play. Riley spend a lot of time playing on the grey rug in front of our coffee table, and we wanted her toys to be easily accessible to her without creating lots of clutter.

Our solution was to use the Ikea shelving again to house all of her toys. This way at the end of the day, or if we have company over, we can just place her toys in the baskets. Out of sight, out of mind. We also picked up a cute wicker basket from Pottery Barn to hold more of her toys she got for Christmas. On top of the shelves larger books are nestled between a basket of small books and a lantern as bookends. This has been a great way to keep things tidy, makes things easy to put away and creates a space within a space for Riley girl.

Ikea Shelving Baskets here//Pottery Barn Basket, similar here.

 Hope you found these tips useful and maybe they'll inspire you to do a little bit of re-ogranizing in your home. I will be doing more posts with tips for home organization throughout the year so be on the lookout!

Happy Thursday!