Organization heaven

The third floor of our house is a finished attic space. It is very light and large, but has always felt awkward. Almost everyone has an 'awkward' stage so you probably know what I'm talking about. Spiral perm, braces and homemade scrunchies; need I say more? 

The ceilings meet the walls around 2 feet off the ground so although there is a lot of square footage in the room, it has been challenging trying to figure out how to best make use of it especially when you and your husband are a little taller than average.

For the most part, the space started to collect random items that had no other place to go.

Like that futon mattress that comes in handy when we have lots of guests.

Or that leftover foam from the velvet headboard I made.

After much research and thought, I decided on the EXPEDIT bookshelves from IKEA. At first, it bothered me that they would need to sit around 6 inches from the wall because of their height, but it turned out to be a great place to hide that foam I'll use one day and extra floor mirror, weight equipment, etc.

I was planning on getting the black/brown version, because the white looked very 'true white' online, but in person, it was more off-white which was perfect for the room. 

A word to the wise; if you are going to IKEA and planning on buying multiple 90 pound bookcases, you should bring a friend and a large vehicle for that matter. Here I thought I was so smart by looking up the product dimensions online, then measuring my mid-sized sedan to calculate how many I would be able to haul. It turns out two bookcases do fit, but it took multiple tries, a little cursing and some creative packing.

As for the storage boxes, I bought a few of the KASSETT magazine boxes, DVD boxes and magazine files from IKEA and some small milk crates from Target. The storage boxes were used to organize gems, pictures, design magazines, frames and my other design odds and ends.

Fast-forward through assembly and I ended up with this.

The nice thing is that I have a few empty boxes.

 This is my attempt at organizing books by color.

I finally am able to display our wedding album which used to be stowed away in a cabinet. The sequins dove from West Elm is keeping watch.

I'm guessing everyone has a gold metallic leather pillow? Well, mine is living here until I get the seating area figured out.

My collection of Elle Decors. Ahhhhh.

Now that I have tried out these bookcases and they really work in the space, I'm trying to figure out where else they will make sense. 

Here is a cost breakdown of the project:

• 2 x $69.99 = $139.98    IKEA EXPEDIT bookcases
• 3 x $12.99 = $38.97      Target small milk crates 
• 2 x $12.99 = $25.98      KASSETT magazine boxes (sold in pairs)
• 2 x $4.99   = $9.98        KASSETT DVD boxes (sold in pairs)
• 2 x $3.99   = $7.98        KASSETT magazine files (sold in pairs)
• 1 x $9.97   = $9.97        West Elm dove
• TOTAL      = $232.86

Although this probably could have been done a little less if we had built the bookcases, I consider this alright. Several places are selling much smaller bookcases for around $400 each which would have made this project substantially more expensive!