Mason's room & toys.

A friend of mine brought up a good question...how to organize toys. Even at Mason's age there is too much stuff just sitting around. I was looking for something that I could use to put Mason's toys on....but it couldn't be too tall (I didn't want him to pull the toys off on his head)...has to be sturdy so he can pull up on it....the shelves have to be wide and tall enough for the toys (I looked at several shelves but the toys would hang off).
I don't know if you have looked at baby or kids furniture...but a lot of it is expensive. I thought of getting baskets at first....but baskets can get expensive too.

Here's what I came up with....Heath had a media/book shelf that he used before we got married. It was one of those items that came to Kansas with us, but we really didn't know what we would use it for. One night, it just hit me that I could use that for Mason's toys....it was perfect. It is not too tall...it was sturdy with metal sides...the top shelf is not as wide as the others which is good for soft animals/toys.

For all the small teething, rattles, squishy books, etc. - We have a Nebraska Furniture Mart next to our house...One day I was in there and found a huge basket (almost as tall as Mason) for $14.99! At Target the small, very small baskets start at 9.99. So I thought this was a good deal. Plus, I am not stepping on rattles in the middle of the night!

Another neat piece of furniture in Mason's room is the filing cabinet. Yes, a filling cabinet. My in-laws purchased the crib for us. Heath and I were planning on buying the chester drawers to match, but it could not be delivered to a JCPenney store...so the shipping for this one piece was almost $400. I just thought that was crazy...for $400 we could by another piece of furniture or take a trip! Mason's crib is a very dark, cherry...very pretty...but it is hard to find anything to match. After Mason was born, my dad and Heath went everywhere trying to find something to come close to matching...we even thought about staining. In Nebraska Furniture Mart there is a clearance room. I thought we should just check the clearance room in case there was an odd piece that would match. I found this filing cabinet that almost matched perfectly. The more I thought about it, it was perfect. A lot of the bedroom furniture is tall...so if you have clothes in the drawers the kids can't reach them. I want Mason to be able to get his own socks or underwear out without climbing on something to reach it. This piece is one that will be great for Mason until he is a lot older. You would not know it was a filing cabinet...the only way you can tell is if you hear the "click" when you pull the drawer out. So instead of paying almost $800 for the chester drawers and shipping....my parents purchased the "filing cabinet" for $129.99!

So be creative, shop around. Set a budget. Check out Craigslist. Your newborn is not going to be mad at you if you do not purchase the whole bedroom suit from a name brand company. I promise.