Most of my craft supplies are stored in a lovely walnut sideboard I inherited from my Mum, which was previously my Nanny Kiki’s. (She bought it after the Second World War.) It is pretty organised, but the one drawer which was beginning to frustrate me was the ribbon drawer. The ribbons were organised by colour, but they were not visually attractive being stored in plastic food bags. The only advantage was that a lot could be squashed in.
The ribbon drawer before
I wanted to still be able to see the colours of the ribbons, but I just wanted a more visually appealing result. I hunted in my cupboards and found a couple of sets of plastic storage containers I had picked up in IKEA. They are the Pruta food containers. They are just £3.50 for a set of 17 in various sizes. They have green lids, but inverted they are transparent. This allows me to still be able to pick ribbons in the colour I need relatively easily. I did find that I couldn’t have as many colour variants as the boxes would not all fit in the drawer. This led me to combine the pinks and purples with the reds and the greens with the blues.
I also fished out all of the ribbon reels and put them together on one side of the drawer. About 99% of the ribbons in the tubs are scraps of less than one metre. I also cut out and retain all the thin ribbons from my tops. (It presses my OCD button when I see ribbons flopping out of people’s tops – I just want to go and tuck them in, or even better, cut them off!)
So as you can see below, this is the final result. I am sure there are better solutions, but I will stick with this for now and see how it goes.
The ribbon drawer after
What do you think? Have you created good ribbon storage? I would love to see your pictures.
Louisa
This article is NOT sponsored.
Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.
Donate
We would appreciate any contribution you could make to help us fund this blog.
Thank you so much,
Louisa and Keith (Rhubarb and Burble)
£5.00
If you fancy setting up your own wordpress.com blog, use this referral link and we can both earn credits.
I decided today was the day to sort out a small coat rack which I use for my younger son’s coats and hoodies. It is also used during the week to hang the coats of the children I look after. My son’s baseball caps are hung there and there’s also a small bag which contains his sunglasses. Additionally, it is a space where I hang umbrellas and my walking stick. So it has become a bit of a catch-all.
You can tell by this first photo that the coat rack is a bit overcrowded!
The coat rack before
Canadian YouTuber Kristen McGowan, is a consistent source of inspiration for me. I watch pretty much every video she posts. She focuses mainly on room makeovers and storage solutions as well as IKEA hauls and room decor. Please take a moment to check out, and subscribe to, her channel.
In a recent video 10 AFFORDABLE IKEA HOME ORGANIZATION IDEAS | NEW PRODUCTS 2020 , she recommended a one-handled basket from IKEA as a storage solution for use on an entryway coat rack to contain items like hats, gloves and small accessories. It is called Lustigkurre and it is a slim basket made of seagrass with natural tones, an interesting woven design and bohemian vibes.
I checked the IKEA website, but the basket was out of stock at my nearest branch and when I checked further, it was out of stock in pretty much every store in Britain!
Lying in bed last night, I wondered what else I could use instead. My eyes were drawn to a ‘jelly basket’ that I had, stored on top of my wardrobe.
Those of you who were born in the seventies may remember the craze in the mid-eighties for jelly sandals and jelly baskets! Almost every girl at my secondary school had one and they were popular in all colours of the rainbow. I was the proud owner of a black one. Sad to say, I have no idea what happened to it. Around six years ago, jelly sandals and baskets had a bit of a revival, so I decided to purchase myself a basket as it had brought back that nostalgia! I purchased it from a company called Sun Jellies. I am pleased to see that they are still in business selling retro shoes, bags and accessories and here is a link to the ‘Retro Baskets‘ which are available in small and large. My basket is in the large size. I had instagrammed it when I received it and this is the photo I took. (I subsequently purchased one in yellow as a couple of the local groups I am involved with have yellow branding.)
My Retro Basket purchased in summer 2014
Back to the coat rack. I decluttered the rack by removing of a couple of small bags and three hoodies which my son had outgrown. I placed the hats and accessories into the jelly basket. The basket is slim and flexible and I was relieved to discover that the width of the hooks allowed me to be able to hang the basket over two of them, giving it more stability.
I am really pleased with how this turned out and that I have found a use for my basket which also compliments the black hooks of the coat rack.
Additionally, my son’s sunglasses are now simply hanging from the basket which means he will see them if he is going out and will be able to easily choose which pair to wear without having to dig around in a bag.
The coat rack after
What do you think? Have you created good entryway storage solutions? I would love to see your pictures.
Louisa
This article is NOT sponsored.
Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.
Donate
We would appreciate any contribution you could make to help us fund this blog.
Thank you so much,
Louisa and Keith (Rhubarb and Burble)
£5.00
If you fancy setting up your own wordpress.com blog, use this referral link and we can both earn credits.
It’s amazing the overall change to our living room that adding a picture gallery has made. I have watched many a YouTube video of people making over their living spaces and the difference that an eclectic range of pictures makes is staggering. If you have a particular colour palette for your room, a gallery wall makes the whole aesthetic work cohesively.
We last decorated our living room eleven years ago and the walls could really do with a fresh lick of paint. We will likely use the same colour again as it is a tone which seems to compliment any palette. Its a Crown paint in the shade ‘wheatgrass’ and is a light greige neutral. Crown Breatheasy Coloured Emulsion in ‘Wheatgrass’.
I have tried to reduce the colour palette in our living room and it is now pretty much neutral with wood tones and mixed metal tones with pops of teal/turquoise/aqua and green.
The original wall art on the wall behind the sofa was a set of three canvases of woodland trees from NEXT, which when spaced apart, make a larger image. I still like this composition and will keep them in case I can use them in another space. Here are a couple of images of the wall with those canvases.
Many people had recommended using an online prints company called Desenio. When I checked out their website, I was actually pretty impressed with the quantity and range of styles.
As well as prints, they supply frames in various different colours with modern, straight edges. I will say that their frames aren’t cheap, so I decided to shop for my frames at IKEA.
A number of Desenio’s prints are typographical and it’s not beyond the wit of man to knock something up on a home computer which will fit into an A4 frame or smaller. Larger prints and photographs are worth buying of course. I have recreated a couple of their typographical prints and even painted a piece of geometric art for my bedroom wall myself in order to save money!
Desenio have functionality on their website which allows you to select and design your own gallery wall. This function works pretty well, but the layouts are presets and I couldn’t find an option to customise my own layout. However, their arrangements are pretty good, so I selected the layout I wanted. The print sizes ranged from 21 x 30cm to 100 x 70cm.
I wanted the frames to be a mix of black, white and gold. As I said above, I went to IKEA for my frames and settled on the very cheap FISKBO range as they are light, sit flat to the wall and span the full size range. But this of course had one drawback, IKEA don’t make frames in 100 x 70cm! I decided to buy this one metal frame, in black, from Desenio. For an expensive frame, I wasn’t impressed when it turned up. The frame was dented and the clear acrylic was cracked in two of the corners, so I promptly sent it back!
I subsequently decided that the largest print was too large, and since it had a large white border, I went ahead and cut it down to 61 x 91cm (another standard size). I then scoured the Internet for a frame which would be similar to the others and I came across an Athena frame which works well alongside. The FISKBO frames are only available in black and white, so I spray-painted a couple of them gold.
Here’s the design I created on the Desenio Gallery Wall Creator tool.
My design using the Desenio Gallery Wall Creator tool
These are links to the prints I selected from Desenio from left to right and top to bottom:
Rhubarb & Burble 