Welcome to the 912th Metamorphosis Monday! A week or so ago, I put together a whole bunch of outdoor furniture for the backyard patio. The seating group on the right came with the solid blue cushions seen in this photo below. I purchased cushions for the dining chairs a few days later after spotting them online at the store, At Home. Have you ever noticed how often, when you buy something new for your home, it ends up prompting yet another purchase? It’s the old If You Give a Mouse a Cookie domino effect.
All those cushions needed a place to be stored when not in use, especially during the wintertime. I went storage cabinet/shed shopping online, hoping to find something that would work for pillow/cyshion storage, but also solve another organization issue I’ve been fighting—that being where to store my growing garden tool collection here at the Dollhouse. This is the storage shed that I thought would help with both issues. It could really be called a storage shed since it’s designed to be used outdoors when needed, but I think of it more as a storage cabinet since I have the space in the garage here to keep it inside. (Storage Shed/Cabinet is available here: Storage Shed/Cabinet with Shelving.)
Here’s how I have everything stored for now. I’m sure with time, I may adjust some things, but I challenged myself to get ALL of the cushions that you saw in the earlier photo, plus 4 additional pillows that I purchased for the seating group, into the shed, along with my gardening tools. Amazingly, I found a way to do it!
The cushions I have stored in the cabinet are: 6 seat cushions for the dining table, 4 large seat cushions for the seating group, 4 large back cushions for the seating group, and 4 large (20 x 20) throw pillows, also for the seating group. That’s a total of 18 cushions stored there on the left side. This cabinet is pretty deep, so on the 3rd shelf down, I placed 2 of the newly purchased 20 x 20 throw pillows flat against the back of the cabinet. Those are not visible in the photo below since they are at the very back behind the other cushions. In front of those two cushions, I placed the 6 dining-chair cushions with the other throw pillows resting on top. (They kind of look like one big pillow in the photo, but that’s actually two 20 x 20 pillows.)
Hard to see in this photo, but there’s a shelf underneath all those above-mentioned cushions. That’s what they are all resting on. On the area below, sitting on the floor of the shed on the left side, are where all the seating group cushions landed. The four seat cushions are on the bottom with three back cushions stacked on top and one back cushion on the side of that compartment. I am super tempted to take all of the solid-blue seating group cushions and stack them on the roof of the shed.
As you can see in this photo from the ad, there’s tons of space up there. I tried it, and the four seating cushions stacked neatly on one side of the roof, with the four back cushions stacked neatly on the other side. I think they would stay pretty clean up there since they are so high up. When I tried that, they were easy to remove, but it did take a short step ladder to place them on the roof. They might get a little dusty if I stored them on top, but that could be easily blown off with blower if it did happen. If I did store all the blue seating cushions on top of the shed, I could move all the dining chair cushions down to where the blue seating cushions were, along with the 6 large throw pillows. It would free up another shelf for future storage. Not sure if I’ll do that, but it’s nice to know that it’s an option. Of course, if this shed was being used outdoors, I would not do that, but since this shed/cabinet is staying in the garage, it’s worth considering.
On the right side, I currently have stored a rake, two shovels, a limb trimmer, a blower, and my newly purchased DeWalt fan. There’s still space left over in front of all those for additional garden tools.
I tried to dedicate the top shelf to just gardening stuff, but the large container of Preen that I purchased recently, along with a tallish bottle of Osmocote time-release fertilizer, are just a little too tall for the top shelf. Next time, I’ll buy a shorter bottle of Osmocote, although it will take me forever to use this one up. lol (My favorite time-release fertilizer, Osmocote, is available here: Osmocote. Those two items ended up on the second shelf down that holds mostly the tools that I often use around the house. If I were going to be keeping this house for many years…
…I would invest in a floor-standing tool chest like the one I have in Georgia. I love that tool chest! I am an organization nut, so it makes me ridiculously happy to have the things I use every day stored where I can find them immediately when needed, so it’s very tempting to order a chest for the garage here at the Dollhouse.
But for now, this is working pretty well! I really have everything I use on a regular basis right here in this shed.
I can’t tell you what a stress-reliever it is to not have shovels, rakes, blowers, etc., falling over each other in the corner of the garage. This shed was very easy to assemble; everything was labeled well. The only time I could have used a second set of hands was when I was attaching the doors, but I figured out a way to hold them in place and get them screwed into place by myself. Somehow I always figure these things out.
This shed can be purchased open, without shelves, but I opted to buy the shed with the “Shelf Kit) since I really needed the shelves and wasn’t planning on storing a lawn mower or something large like that inside. You can read more about this shed and see additional photos here: Storage Shed/Cabinet, with or without Shelving. This storage shed appears to also be on sale, with and without the shelving, here: Storage Shed with or without Shelving.
Looking forward to all the awesome Before and Afters linked below for this week’s Metamorphosis Monday!
Metamorphosis Monday: Metamorphosis Monday is a party that’s all about Before and Afters. Please link up your Before and After projects, like DIY projects, room makeovers, craft projects, and even recipes. Please do not link up Table Settings; save those for our Tablescape Thursday party on Thursday. If you are participating in Met Monday, link your post to the party using the “permalink” to your MM post and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on the name of your post, then copy and paste the address (that shows in the address bar at the top of your blog) into the “URL” box for InLinkz when prompted.
It’s amazing how you can order the perfect size things online and get it put together. Would you show us the limb trimmer you bought?
When you bought the dollhouse, I told you your grandsons might decide to go to Georgia Tech one day.
How’s the Ohio temperature? Sweltering heat and humidity here.
I have two types: One is by Fiskars; I purchased it a year or so ago when I was trimming the junipers in my backyard. You can see those here: https://amzn.to/4vQxUJG
My favorite trimmers are the once I just purchased a few weeks ago. They save your arms and hands and do all the work for you. Those are available here: https://amzn.to/4w8TCcx
Your photo of organized storage is better than their marketing photo. Great job
Thanks, Teresa! They must hardly put anything into the sheds, so they look bigger/more spacious. I would prefer seeing it really loaded up so we can see how much it holds.