DIY: Toy Shelf

Since we moved Jonathan and Erik into the same room, their toys have been like a splinter:  bothersome and needing attention.  Landon and I liked the look of an Ikea shelf that our friends have for their kids' toys and wanted to get one like it.  However, there were two problems with this shelf: Ikea is a two hour drive from where we live, and the shelf is too tall for our kids to be able to access all the toys.  So Landon got it in his mind that he was going to build a shelf himself with the dimentions that we wanted.

It took part of two Saturdays to complete:  one to build it and another to paint.  It could have been accomplished in one Saturday if we hadn't had so many other things to do.

Of course the boys helped their Dad.  I don't know how he would he have done it without them.  Erik measured everything to make sure the dimensions were up to the correct specifications.

I didn't get pictures of Jonathan and his contribution to the shelf, but he took the level tool and made sure everything was level.  When the air bubble was not exactly in the middle, so you could hear him saying, "This is bad.  This is bad.  This is bad."  Then he felt compelled to come up with a reason that it wasn't perfect, and he let us know all about it.  The story he came up with was something about a ghost that was messing everything up.  

I had my doubts about the whole project, but I'm happy with how it turned out and very proud of Landon (and the boys, of course) for building it!  I love how things are some much more organized, there are no more toys in the boys' room, and there are still empty baskets for room to grow--not that we need anymore toys!