Two Storage Upgrades, One…Adorable, Both Very Practical!

Happy Wednesday! Hope your week is going great! I have a couple of small tweaks to share today. One I knew I would love because I just made the same upgrade at home a few months back, but the other one was a delightful surprise! I’m obsessed with how both turned out!

You may remember a few months ago I upgraded the old flatware storage organizer I had been using for years to this clear expandable one shown below. The awesome thing I love about this flatware organizer is how it expands out to fully fill a drawer. So you don’t end up with that awkward, empty/unused space down one side of the drawer.

Flatware Storage, Expandable to Fill Drawer of Any Size

 

The interior of my kitchen drawers are stained, so hard to photograph, but here’s how the new organizer looked filled with 12-place settings of flatware I had just purchased. (Flatware was purchased here: Flatware.)

Flatware Storage, Expandable for All Drawer Sizes

 

Nancy revamped her flatware storage using the same style organizer and here’s how it turned out. Her old flatware holder had fit sideways inside the drawer, so it was kinda awkward putting the flatware away since it had to be put away sideways. This drawer isn’t quite as wide as mine back home, so the side area of the organizer turned out a bit more narrow. However, it was the perfect size to hold the child-size flatware my two grandsons use for meals each day.

The children’s stainless flatware visible on the right is available here: Child-size Flatware. The expandable flatware organizer is available here: Flatware Storage.

When my first grandson was just starting to feed himself, I purchased the adorable bunny/carrot spoon and fork here: Bunny/Carrot Fork and Spoon.

Flatware Organizer Storage, Expands to fit drawer

 

The other update Nancy made this week just blew me away with how nice it looked! I am seriously thinking of adding one to my staircase when I get back home.

A few weeks ago I shared this photo showing the pretty staircase treads Nancy had added to the home’s main staircase. When I shared this photo, you may have noticed the two small, wooden boxes on the staircase. Those boxes are where the boys place things that somehow end up downstairs but really belong upstairs. Sometimes it’s a sweater or my oldest grandson’s Batman bedroom slippers. Or sometimes it’s my youngest grandson’s nighttime ducky or a new book that’s just arrived that’s will be read at bedtime.

Recently one of the boxes met with a mishap. Since the boxes are no longer available, thus a replacement couldn’t be found, it was time for a new strategy.

Similar to Runner, Carpet Treads, Practical and Safe

 

Is this staircase basket just not the cutest thing ever?! I was in love the first time I saw it!

Basket for Staircase

 

I love how it fits nestled into this spot on the staircase. It feels so solid–like it’s not going anywhere! I guess all steps are designed at the same height because the basket fits like it was specially designed for this staircase.

Staircase Basket

 

If you live in a two or three-story home, this is a great “holding” spot for those items that need to be taken upstairs on a future trip up. It really helps to have a staircase organizer like this because it helps you remember to take something up as you head up the stairs.

I forgot to take a photo from the top but this staircase basket is divided into two separate sections. The top section is one step-deep and the lower one is 2-steps deep. So it works great for holding both small and large items. So far, it has worked out great for the boys and they love it!

If you could use a pretty staircase basket, this one is available here: Basket for Staircase.

Great Basket for Staircase Steps

 

Hope you enjoyed these two little changes made over the last few days. See you tomorrow for Tablescape Thursday!

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Comments

  1. Love the step basket. I’ve looked for something like this in the past. I’ll head over to the link. Thanks.
    Enjoy the time with the boys.

  2. Cynthia Blaylock says

    Hi Susan: I don’t know if this is appropriate or not – please delete if not … I have one of those stair baskets and love it. I got mine at Ballard’s a couple of years ago and I just went and checked their website to see if they still have them. They do, and they’re currently on sale, marked down from $79 to $63.20. I like the Ballard basket because the part that sits on the upper stair is a removable basket, so you can carry small items upstairs in the basket and then bring it back downstairs with you on your next trip.

  3. Hello Susan. After reading your post on the drawer organizers I ordered 1. I was able to move my flat wear to a larger drawer and some what reorganize my kitchen storage. Because it expanded it made all the difference. It worked out so well I purchased a second one. It is amazing what a difference such a small change can make to your everyday happiness.

    • I know, you are so right! I feel the exact same way. It’s such a small change yet it has such a big impact on our day-to-day. I just kept going into the kitchen and opening the drawer because it made me so happy to see it. 🙂 Someone was very clever to think of making a flatware holder/organizer that would expand to fit any drawer.

  4. That basket is a great idea and like the two separated holders. You could always put a little basket inside to use to take more than one item up the stairs. With two little boys I bet a lot of toys come down those stairs. I have a divider that keeps shifting in my silverware drawer. I finally bought dollar store baskets that fit inside my sections for the knives, forks and spoons. No more shifting. Yours is prettier though!

    • That’s true! With my grandsons, it seems to be more clothes, books…I guess because the majority of their toys are downstairs. Kathleen, try putting some of those little rubber tabs underneath. That’s what we put under Nancy’s flatware organizer and it’s not budging. These were the ones we used: https://amzn.to/3bmpgLb

      • I have those tabs! Just never thought about using for the divider. Thank you for the idea. I had a glass protector on my mother’s antique table and when the cats would jump up to look out the window all things on top of the table shifted south and the lamp ended up on the floor. Last straw was when the lamp and the glass top ended up on the floor. Hasn’t moved since I applied those tabs! Oh, and they use them on cabinet doors too.

  5. LOVE that stair basket Susan! We’re just as bad as kids about leaving things on the wrong floor, so it would be perfect! Thanks again for a great idea!

  6. I have the same flatware in the second picture. I love it but I need more teaspoons. Mine have somehow been misplaced over the years.

  7. Stair baskets are so convenient, I’ve had one for 20 some years. At the Great Trail Festival I looked so long at a hand made one that my daughter-in-law surprised me with it later for Christmas.

  8. I just wanted to say that I hope I have a wonderful relationship with my DIL and son like you do some day. (My son is only 15) You are an inspiration.

  9. Franki Parde says

    Nice! I “used to keep all my silverware in a “antique crock”…now, I, too, have those “dividers” in my silverware drawer in the cabin as well as the boathouse galley! Saves “tons” of searching…for silverware anyway…franki

  10. Franki Parde says

    gaaa…”an antique”…gaaa…fmp

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