Chalk. Chalk everywhere.
I can have all the totes and buckets and containers in the world, and still my kids will end up piling their chalk and bubbles right inside our door for easy access when playing outside. And since we actually have neighbor kids to play with now (yay!), many little feet run in and out to access the pile of chaos on our dining room floor.
Combine this problem with my anxiousness over an upcoming book release, and you get me cleaning the entire garage this week in order to restore some of my sanity. 🤪
This project pretty much could be called “how I put up 2 shelves,” but we made a cute little addition that other people might find useful too.
Supplies:
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- Metal wire shelves and braces (these linked ones are better than what I used)
- hanging flower baskets
- Paint markers, stickers, etc.
Tools:
- Drill or screwdriver
- Wire cutters
Step 1: Hang shelves. I wanted 2 shelves with one low enough to be reached by the smallest kids. I had some metal wire shelves in my craft room that I didn’t use much, so I used those. If you have some like the kind I linked in my Supplies List, those come with their own braces/hardware and are easy to install.
Taking the braces, I found studs in our garage and screwed the braces into the studs. I did use a level to make sure the shelves would be level. It doesn’t really matter how far apart you place the braces, just as long as they’ll support the length of your shelf and attach from the underside, if you have that kind.
Once the braces were on, I lay the metal shelves on top.
I did use one of the little things that you nail on to secure the shelf against the wall. I imagine these shelves are going to be jostled quite a bit, so that seemed like a good idea. We wouldn’t want the shelves falling on kids.
Step 2: Clean and decorate hanging flower baskets. Here’s the fun part. I had 2 spare hanging baskets, one for each of my girls. You could do several baskets in different sizes if you have more kids or a LOT of stuff to store. Basically, the idea was that the hanging baskets would let each girl have a way to load up what they wanted from the shelves to then take outside, and they could bring the baskets back inside and hang them up when done. It also gives them a way to claim those “special” things they don’t want to share.
After cleaning the baskets, I let the girls go nuts with my paint markers. I thought stickers would be a fun way to decorate, but for some reason they weren’t really into that. 🤷♀️ You could also write your kids’ names on the baskets or write what they’re supposed to hold. For us…we went for lots of color.
Step 3: Make spaces for baskets to hang. My metal shelves had very narrow spaces, so I needed to make wider spaces for the basket hooks to hang from. Plus, I wanted the girls to know exactly where they should hang. So, I took wire cutters and easily enough snapped off one wire for each basket. These were on the front side of the shelf, not the main top.
Sidenote: Your shelves might have more spaces between the wires, but I still like making the space extra wide so the kids know to hang them in the same place. This keeps the baskets from hitting anything stored under the bottom shelf.
Step 4: Hang and fill! When the marker paint was dry, I hung the baskets in place. Then my girls helped me carry all their stuff to the garage, and we arranged their chalk and bubbles stuff on the lower shelf. Some bubbles specifically belonged to my 5-year-old, I was told, so those went straight in her basket. My 6-year-old’s rock collection went in hers. 😬
On the top shelf, I put some of our sports equipment and games. These are used less often right now, and since I usually play with these things with the girls, I’ll be there to get them down anyway. You could put the 2 shelves at the same level, but we had space under our kayak, so this worked. (Also, this top shelf could be placed even higher and used as a “husband shelf” with his own basket for golf balls or whatever…hypothetically…if your husband also needs help with organization. LOL)
Can’t wait for the neighbor kids to visit and try this out! After I get more smaller baskets, I might even make one for each kid, since there’s room to hang more.
And before you ask – yes, someday we will paint the garage. 😂
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