The new toy shelf

A few weekends ago when my mom was visiting we stopped by a yard sale just down my street. That's where we found the shelf below:
We negotiated the price and my mom bought it for Henry's room for $15! My vision was to repaint it, add some baskets for storage and voila a much-needed toy shelf. As we were asking about the "toy shelf" the woman having the sale said, "oh, you mean the doll house". Oops. Still I had a vision and could see it working in Henry's room. Henry helped with the painting of his new shelf, although after a few splatters of paint landed on the driveway, we decided to wait and finish during his nap.


My mom helped me paint the shelf and I found some red canvas baskets that are sturdy but soft so they won't scratch the paint off the shelves. Here's the finished product:


Henry demonstrating how the new baskets work. He loves having his foam blocks so accessible and plays with them a ton. It's also really easy for him to pick them up and put them away now. (Which is good because there are 100 of them!)
Henry took this picture! I like that it's from his perspective. I realize that it looks a little bit cluttered, but it's an organized clutter. I love having a place for everything and finally having his toys where they are accessible to him and not shoved into the closet. There are still a few things I'd like to do - 1. take pictures of each basket showing its contents and labeling it and them laminating the label and attaching it to the appropriate basket, I think using a clothespin. That way Henry will know what's in each basket and will be able to clean up his toys, and keep them organized. 2. I might paint the outer two sides of the shelf with magnetic and chalkboard paint. I'm not 100% sure, and magnetic paint is a little pricey, so for now it's done and is very useful.