Before and finally, After

A few weeks ago I posted photos of Leslie's room re-do, and asked for suggestions to help us organize her ONE bookcase in her teeny, tiny room. We finally completed the task last night.
What I WANTED to get for her room were these from Pottery Barn Teens ( (I LOVE that catalog, but never want to spend the bucks to buy anything in it....maybe someday when I am rich - HAHAHA). Today, however, when I downloaded that photo, I saw that these containers were actually on sale and I guess I could have perhaps purchased some of them.... oh well, too late. I couldn't WAIT.



I remembered I had seen some similar galvanized containers at Ikea recently, so I went there and bought what you see here.

My dear sweet daughter has a few learning disabilities, and one of them truly causes her great difficulties with organization. We have learned over the past several months that using colors is key to helping her organize school work, etc., and for us is quite a breakthrough (DANG, it took us long enough - she is 16!). So, my goal for her was to make sure EVERYTHING had a specific and labeled place. She told me that, visually, the best way to label her new containers was to have the backgrounds be different colors with the words being black. The smaller containers could have white backgrounds, but the words needed to be in bold colors. She associates the colors way before the words. That is how her brilliant mind works.

So, at Wally-World I bought some magnetic frames and created the tags that would fit inside. Since these are metal containers, it worked perfectly! When we change what is inside them, we can easily change the labels without ruining anything.

She is thrilled because it is easy; I am thrilled because it looks nice and will be very easy for her to maintain.

Under her daybed are still several other containers with her "stuff". There are tubs for scrapbook supplies, photos, keepsakes, and parakeet supplies. She knows that if she gets too much stuff and it won't fit any more in the containers, then something has to GO -the containers cannot overflow. That will help her to purge when needed. She needs the VISUAL to help her to complete organizing tasks, thanks to her learning disabilities.

We have decided to turn those into strengths. Ask us in a few months if this system worked - I pray it does!!