I’m married to a boy. Obviously. Along with a boy comes tons of wires, electronics and remotes. Freakin’ remotes. When I lived alone or with girl roommates, we literally had one remote. We turned on our 13″ television and watched week long marathons of America’s Top Model and that was that. Easy peasy. Now that I’m getting a glimpse into boyland, I’m the owner of 5 remotes, countless Wii controllers and other accoutrements that make the boy happy. And wires. Loooots of wires. I won’t get into our constant battle with wires today, but I will dabble into how we make my adventures in remote land a bit more bearable.
This is our television station, aka Scott’s happy place. Note the “small” tv that will one day be updated to something gargantuan that will overtake our den. Again, another post all together. Our sleek little media console does a great job of housing all of our boy equipment (receiver, cable box, DVD player and surround sound speakers), while still looking uncluttered. The glass fronts make it easy to control these boxes, all while keeping the doors closed and clean looking. Even our huge sub woofer to the side of the TV stand serves as a nice table for a framed picture. See how nicely I made something not so pretty into something useful? Go me.
Luckily for me, I married a boy that’s extremely neat and organized. Some may say OCD, but I say methodical. Or maybe I say OCD as well. At any rate, he’s organized our DVDs in 3 rows, 3 deep, so all of our movies (and every Friends season, I might add) are housed in one section of the console. The other side is open for me to fill with “chotchkiesthat will collect dust” (his words, not mine) that I haven’t tackled yet. Project! Notice our Wii peaking out from behind the television? The (thankfully discrete) sleek sensor is on top of the television (and barely visible) while the actual Wii console is quietly hidden behind the TV, adding to the uncluttered mystique.
Our side table on the other side of the room is where our extensive remote collection is housed. We have our Wii controllers sleeping soundly in their charging dock, while the other Wii paraphernalia is looking oh so organized in a wicker basket. Baskets may be my new best friend. You can have tons of little doodads, but throwing it into one simple basket instantly makes everything look organized.
On the top of our side table is another basket which houses all of our remotes. Do you see the insanity? An extra Wii remote even creeped its way into the remote basket. We do have a universal remote that should ideally control all of the boy equipment, but the other 4 remotes are there as backup in case the universal remote fails (which it does) and we have to change the input on something (which we do). This basket also houses a brush for our little pooch, some lotion and fingernail clippers which are all in an arm’s reach during some serious tube surfing. What a multi tasking basket! Any tips you’d care to share about your adventures in remote land?
I am a firm believer in the power of the basket. It’s amazing how literally throwing a few things in a basket can instantly tidy the whole room! We have a magazine basket and a remote basket in the living room. Then a toilet paper basket in the bathroom and multiple baskets in the kitchen (above the cabinets) which we house first aid essentials, pet products, and extra items we don’t have to access on a regular basis. The baskets in the kitchen also have little chalk boards attached that we can label. No guessing what’s in each before pulling it down. It’s also a super easy way to guarantee that your husband can figure out what goes where. No guarantees that he will actually put things away but he can certainly figure out where he’s supposed to put it if he’s so inclined.
P.S. Do I spy a new lamp? Are you loving it? I know I am!
-Amanda
There are so many remotes, no wonder I am afraid to turn on the TV at your house. The baskets are a great idea. I have put some of mine to work but obviously not enough. Is that the “Buy me this” lamp? Very nice.
@Amanda – where did you find baskets with little chalk boards attached?? That sounds very cool! Anything to try to help my husband be more organized ;-)
Great lamp Audrey!! When did you get it? So, I definitely want to go out and get more baskets so I can organize!! I guess since I wasn’t allowed to truly ‘nest” before Henry got here, now I want to make up for lost time?!?!
i freaking love you. that’s all :)
@Emily – I love my chalkboard baskets! I am an organizational junkie and have to label everything. The chalkboards keep me from having the boring label marker stickers all over my house. It gives it a homey touch. I actually purchased the chalk board baskets from Pottery Barn a few years ago when they were on super clearance. Unfortunately they don’t carry the same one’s but PotteryBarn Kids now offers a chalkboard basket…
http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/f830/index.cfm?pkey=cbaskets%2Dboxes%2Dbuckets%7Ck
It would also be pretty easy to DIY, I think. Pick up a few chalkboards from Michael’s and then attach to any basket with some twine just like the pottery barn kids version.
[...] My favorite is the digital file storage for photographs to keep your iPhoto library to a minimum. Oh, and the little plastic bags for all of those pesky wires. Oh, I DIE! You know how I loathe wires… [...]