Monday, August 8, 2011

Book Storage System

I'm here to share a little system that i {HOPE} will preserve my sanity and maybe yours too.
The kid books in the playroom have always been a source of irritation. No matter how many bins i put on the shelf to keep them standing up right, or how many times i tried to organize them into different categories etc, they ALWAYS ended up in a disorganized, half stacked, mostly stuffed-in-bins heap. Plus i could never find the right book at the right time. NOW, they all happily reside in color coded bins according to theme with matching labels on the spines. Here's how:
*Organize your books into as many categories as you want or have room for.
*Buy that # of clear plastic bins and sticky labels (1x3inch)
*Spray paint in the same # of colors.
 *Spray paint the labels. Some colors took a couple coats to get a good coverage
*Since some of my books were extremely thin i realized i could cut the page of labels into halves or smaller 

Here's one of my piles. These happens to be the non-fiction/science-related pile and since i had so many i went ahead and gave them two bins

*Wrap the label on the spine. i chose to wrap it close to the top so the kids would notice more easily.
*I might end up wrapping a small piece of clear shipping tape over the label to better secure it, but so far they seem to be sticking really well.
Ta-Da! Now, i can confidently say, "Go put the books away" and know that they should be able to do it neatly and quickly every time! Sanity restored! .....at least in this one area! :)

p.s. in case you are curious, here's the list of my bin categories:
orange: non-fiction/learning books
yellow: fiction: read-aloud/early reader type books
dark blue: poetry/rhyme books
light blue: board books
green: children's bible-related books


linking to A bowl full of lemons and SerenityYou

11 comments:

Cailan said...

You are a GENIUS! This is a such a superb idea! Going to try to be more like you quick-quick. ;)

Jennifer said...

what a fabulous idea! This is just perfect and it looks great! Love you all.

Robert and Courtney said...

Oh this is good. I thought it was just me who spent countless hours resorting and reshelving books. I can't wait to try this.

Kimberly said...

Oh, this is fabulous! Good job, Meagan!!

Gaspord Adventures said...

WOW! This is such an awesome idea, Meagan!

Lizard Rae said...

This is a great organization idea - especially one teachers could use in their classrooms too!

Hilary said...

You're such a good librarian!

Natasha Mairs - Serenity You said...

oohhhhh love it!!!

i already put my childrens books in little containers, otherwise they just keep falling over on the bbokshelve making it look a right mess, But never thought about colour coding them!! genius!! like a little library at home!!

I would love it if you could link up this post to my new link party!!

serenityyou.blogspot.com

Oksana @ Order Matters said...

SOOO clever! Not sure how I found your blog, but this is a great use of spray paint. Love doing spray painting projects.

Natasha Mairs - Serenity You said...

Thanks for linking up to Serenity Saturday!!

I loved this storage idea and I have featured it on my blog

serenityyou.blogspot.com

fresno ca self storage said...

You made it more colorful.