What is the worst toy to find underfoot? For me, it's a LEGO!! Based off of the pain from stepping on them, you would think they were made of little knives. After several times of walking through my son’s room and feeling the dagger of a LEGO in my foot, I knew I needed a solution. Not only were his LEGO always on the floor, but you could never find anything amid the chaos of unorganization. We needed some kind of a system that would keep them neat and save our feet. (Side note: Did you know that LEGO is both singular and plural. Have I been the only one who has been saying LEGOs all these years?)
I decided to do two shelves with a total of twelve buckets. Each bucket has its own color except one that we use for all of his characters. The shelves are 6 feet long and 7 inches deep, perfect for displaying all of his LEGO masterpieces. Instead of painting, I opted to leave the shelves bare after a good, thorough sanding, that way they would match the rest of his natural wood furniture.
Using a stud finder to make sure the decorative brackets are securely attached to the wall is imperative. After all, kiddos love to climb. I also decided that rounding the corners would be a good idea since I find sharp edges to be magnets for little boy's heads. The hooks for the buckets were easy to screw into the wood by threading a screwdriver through the loop to use for leverage.
I was able to find twelve Behrens brand steel pails in the painting section of Lowes. I used my Silhouette Cutting Machine for the color labels, but simply painting a strip of the right color with acrylic paint would work just as well. My son was in the process of learning his colors when I first made this, so I found the writing to be helpful.
I would be remiss if I said that we no longer deal with days of cleaning up LEGO, but these shelves have tremendously helped in keeping his room so much tidier. I don't like to remember life before these shelves, or the chaos of his room. Now, everything has a home and it's easy to find what he needs.
Comments