The media cabinet we have in the family room is something we found on Craigslist years ago. It’s Danish, probably from the 80s if the finish is any indication, and incomplete. We’re pretty sure it’s the bottom half of a china cabinet long since broken beyond repair. Whatever it is, we love it for its size and ample storage space. For years it’s where I crammed all my surplus books, and only strength and stubbornness kept the doors shut. That changed when we installed the bookshelves. I suddenly had four large, wide shelves of open space.
Space without a purpose is space waiting to become cluttered.
A few books got left behind, but the DVDs laid claim to the bulk of the disaster. Last October I tackled the video and game cabinet, which is perpendicular to this cabinet. I did what I could with storage boxes I found around the house. It worked somewhat, but the basket I used was difficult to pull out, so the boys took that as permission to toss videos and games into the cabinet like confetti.
So, I decided to try and organize the videos and games again, this time placing them inside the media cabinet. The first step was to pull everything out to sort, organize, and purge.
I didn’t have much to purge other than magazines this time around, but every little bit helps in freeing up space. The books I put aside to tackle another day. My focus was on videos, games, and the media cabinet. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I searched for some DVD containers, but I couldn’t find anything local. Also, I’m cheap when it comes to media storage. We aren’t big TV/Movie buffs, and most of what we watch comes from our Apple TV. The movies we have are old and rarely touched. It didn’t make sense to buy several boxes that cost between $8 and $16 when a $2 Recollections box from Michael’s worked as well. (Note: the Pioneer brand also has a box for photo and DVD storage available at Michael’s, and it does not fit most DVDs. Stay clear from that brand!)
I’m rusty on this 31 Days business, so I forgot to take a picture of the boxes, but you get the idea. Recollections brand, not Pioneer. They’re the same ones I used to organize the medicine cabinet. They hold, on average, 14 standard sized DVDs. More if they are oddly shaped, like mine were.
You can put the lids on them, but I know that’s an exercise in futility around here.
Because I inadvertently bought a Pioneer photo box, I was not able to organize the Wii games the same way. I debated going back to Michael’s, but in the end decided to use what I had around the house. I used the same wood crate that housed the videos, and I think I’m going to be glad I did. I wanted everything snug, but the boys use the Wii games often enough to make me think loose and easy to access will work better over time.
I also used the same basket that was too big for the other cabinet as a catch all for Wii controllers, Skylanders, and the Portal of Power. They have been haphazardly stored in an open tray under our coffee table all this time, and it never, ever looked organized. Now it can look like its usual riot of cords behind closed doors.
Eventually, we would like to get a new media cabinet, maybe a built in. But, for now, this is perfectly fine. Progress, not perfection!
New here? For the next 31 days I�m living according to the famous William Morris quote, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” You can learn more about the project here, and catch sneak peeks of my projects by following me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (I�m @pancakesfries).
Why is this so fascinating? God, I love looking at other people’s disorganized crap.
I know, right?
Good to know about Pioneer . . . I will definitely steer clear {Ooh, look! A poet!}
I’m with you on no lids–I’ve found that if something is in a box with a lid, it never gets used because we can’t see it. And that’s why I bit the bullet and got rid of almost all our DVDs this summer; I realized we never watch them. Kids have never even noticed that they’re gone.
Good luck with your 31 days. Off to a great start!
We’re not there yet. This past weekend, the boys watched their GI Joe video at least 10 times. They go through phases and watch one video over and over until they move onto something else. We stopped buying DVDs once we bought the Apple TV. That’s how we buy and store movies now, and the irony is that the movies we have on there are rarely watched, I guess because the boys can’t see them.
Reminds me that my craft everything cabinet could use some organizing.
Hop to it! You can link up on Thursday. ;)
If you wanted to get really ambitious in a few years and toss the DVDs, you could rip them all to an external hard drive or two and watch them that way. That’s what we do and it is SO NICE not to have a bajillion DVDs everywhere. Although of course I was not the one that ripped and copied them, so I don’t know exactly how arduous a process that is.
I have no idea how to even go about doing that!
Looks great! If I were you, I’d be opening the cabinet 50 times a day just to take a peek at how organized it looks (I may or may not have done the same with my mudroom closet this past weekend).
Hah! I did that last October with my entry closet.
Looks so nice! And the gallery wall looks great too!!
Not putting the lids on is so obvious + genius, why do I never think of these things? These posts are always so satisfying!
I find doing that strengthens the integrity of the box, too.
That turned out very nicely! I really like how you’ve got the power strip hidden inside the cabinet.
That was my husband. I like that, too, except it takes up some room.
Ikea carries cheap cardboard boxes in different sizes that match to different media sizzes–cds, dvds, etc. They are usually a 2-pack for about $4. (You’ve already solved your storage dilemna, but if you have more….although is there an Ikea out your way?)
I really want to join in this party with a cleaned and purged hallway cabinet, but ugh, I am having a hard time gearing up to deal with the sheer amount of crap up there.
I’ve used them before, but the boys destroyed them. Of course, IKEA is 30 minutes from me, so that stopped me from using them, too. Had I a store closer to me, I probably would have bought them. They’re definitely cuter than the Michael’s boxes!
This is going to be so inspiring!! Today I threw away a bag of half-used travel sized bottles of shampoo, bars of soap, baby wash, toothpaste, etc that have been on a shelf in my bathroom for 10 months. 10 months ago I gathered them up because the counter was too crowded. I didn’t want to throw them out because I knew they were still ‘useful’ and I didn’t want to be wasteful. But if they sat there for 10 months, they might sit there for 10 more.
We just moved from KS to MN. We had so much, well, crap! I dehoarded everything I could. My husband jokes that we could have the saved his company a ton of money had we done it before we moved. Live and learn.
Looks great! It is especially exciting to me to see your dvd storage solution since just this weekend I put 3 large boxes of dvds BACK into the closet we were cleaning since we have no storage next to the tv and my husband can not bear to part with the/his dvds. And no, he has not watched them in more than 3 years. Sigh! I wish we could purge the house on the same schedule.
I’m following along! New reader, just thought I’d say hello. Love your concept, and am in a season of my life where I need some of this purposeful inspiration. So… Hello!
PS. I’m such a sucker for boxes, especially boxes that match.
I love your comment ‘progress not perfection’. I seem to think that if I can’t have the perfect solution, why bother. I’m slowly retraining myself to think that improvement is good even if it’s not perfect. You put it so succinctly.