Our den is a is a room with many functions. It is part den, part craft room, and part playroom. The kids don’t really “play” so much in the room, but it is the place we store some of their games and craft supplies.

There is one piece of furniture in the den that holds a lot of our games, art, and craft supplies. I bought this piece of furniture from the previous owner of our house. It was a handmade piece. I think she said it was made by her grandfather. I’d love to paint it, but I also love the history that comes with a piece like this. You can see where it was carved by hand on the legs and I love the color of the stain. So, for now it stays as is. I don’t love the red bins on top, but I need more room to store art supplies.

This piece of furniture also houses my fabrics.

I love to sew and I really love fabric. I organize my fabric by color. I need to go back through all of the fabric and refold the pieces so they are all the same size, but that’s a big job for a rainy day.

I went through all of the games in the house and decided there were lots of games that could find a new home in my classroom. I tend to buy lots of educational games for my kids. My car is now packed with games that my kids have no need for, but my students will love.

My favorite organizational tip for storing games came from the show Mission Organization. One of the organization specialists suggested getting rid of boxes from games (not the games, just the boxes). Gasp! How can we possibly throw away perfectly good boxes? Well, in the interest of gaining more storage space I decided to try it. I cut the lids of several game boxes and placed all of the materials inside baggies, with the box lids inside to label the bags.

By the time I was done I was able to fit at least 7 games into this bin. The bin easily fit back into the game cubby.

I have a bin for some of the games, a bin for puzzles, and the rest of the games fit into to cupboard. Unfortunately, this is only one of three game cupboards, but we really love playing family games at our house.

Well, I’m off to play Uno Attack with the kids. They may be my children, but they are goin’ DOWN!

Here are some linky parties I like to participate in.