DAISO 101: 9 products to organize your home

Daiso. It's a place the kids love to go, since they get to pick something from the store (usually they end up with stickers). It's a place that used to elicit groans from the hubby, whenever I asked to pay a visit. However, I would sometimes find him wandering the aisles with a glassy-eyed look, clutching some tools and random foodstuff, saying "it's only $2". So yes, we love the place. Many of our craft materials are purchased from Daiso, and I love how the products are of pretty decent quality. I've blogged a fair number of posts on their products, but today I'd like to share about how we keep our things organized at home using Daiso products: 

1. Tension Rods:

These come in various lengths, and can be adjusted to fit any corner or shelf. The thinner rods can take a weight of up to 2 kg, and I've read about thicker rods that can take far heavier loads. These are great as "instant shelving", and I've seen people transform their shoe storage and wardrobes with these rods. For us, the rods are handy for keeping some of our washi tapes organized (this is great especially when you want easy access, yet do not want tapes getting kidnapped by kids to be used liberally as bandages!):

The rods have been great for creating shelving where it was so badly needed. This was our "drinks cabinet", before the tension rods went in:

As you can see, we had recently purchased those dry food jars from IKEA, but everything was still stacked on each other and stuff kept toppling. All it needed was 2 tension rods, and 10 minutes later I had a shelf, and a much neater cabinet! (I used two of the frosted plastic boxes from Daiso too, to allow for easier access to breakfast spreads and various large tea packets. More on those boxes later.)

These tension rods are pretty amazing, and if you'd like more inspiration on how to use them, read this. 

2. Compartment boxes:

Daiso stocks plastic boxes with compartments, and these come in various sizes. These have been really handy for keeping small objects sorted, like crafting material (buttons and flowers), as well as kids' stuff like goggly eyes and beads. 

3. Frosted plastic boxes: 

We have a whole bunch of these! These can be stacked, and come in different heights and sizes. My only grouse for these is that you can't get covers for them. Otherwise, they are great for holding almost anything and everything, and they look a whole lot better than the average primary-coloured plastic box. I use them to hold various learning materials, I have a few in my craft trolley for holding stamps, inks and mists, we have a few in our fridge for keeping fruit, vegetables, medicines and bottles sorted. I know a friend who bought a whole pile of these to store her DVDs! 

4. Lipstick organizer:

I hardly wear make-up (I can count with my fingers the number of times I've applied lipstick!), but these lipstick organizers are great for keeping little things sorted. Like my bento food picks. This sits in a shallow drawer in the kitchen, where I can get at them easily when prepping the boys' lunchboxes. 

5. Vacuum storage bags:

We have to store a fair bit of clothes, because the kids' clothes get passed down from brother to brother. There's also the coldwear to store, as well as seasonal stuff like my maternity clothes. It's a fair bit of clothing to be kept stored, so using these bags really helps to reduce their bulkiness! I like the smaller ones that come in a pair, and they get labelled so that we can find stuff easily. 

6. Hooks

We stick many of these little hooks inside the doors of our cabinets. Those inside our bookshelf hold stuff like cables, room keys and earphones, while those in the toilet keep my hairties tidy. 

7. Wooden boxes:

These are really a steal at $2 each, and I love that Daiso changes the designs over time. We use them to store art materials, wooden blocks and chalk.

8 & 9. Baskets (and plastic shoe boxes):

The plastic shoe boxes are really great for toy storage! They keep all our building toys organized inside our Besta cupboard in the living room, and 3 boxes fit snugly on one shelf. The boys can see what is inside the boxes, and cleaning up is relatively easy! 

We use the woven baskets for storing toys such as their play food, as well as to hold thin books in the bookshelf. I find these thin books are best kept facing forward, or the kids would keep taking out the whole pile to find one title. The spines are too thin for titles to be printed, so having them in a basket means the kids can easily flip through the pile.

And there you have it: 9 versatile products, each costing only $2, that go a long way in helping to keep your home organized! If you're headed down to do some shopping, here are more posts that you might want to check out:

:: 5 great buys from Daiso

:: Another 5 things to check out in Daiso

:: Some art materials in Daiso

:: Bento tools from Daiso

:: Under the sea party packs using some stuff from Daiso

:: How to make rainbow building blocks using materials from Daiso

:: How to make a light table using the LED lamp from Daiso

:: How to make house building blocks using materials from Daiso

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This post is part of the "DAISO 101" blog train that is being hosted on this blog. Click on the button below to get the full list of Daiso posts, and happy shopping! 

Next on the blog train is Cynthia from B.C.D.E. That's Us. A FTWM with 2 boys who are 6 and 4, she blogs about her parenting journey, simple cooking "hacks" and fun activities the family enjoys - basically the forgettable and unforgettable moments as the boys grow up and the adults grow old. Do hop over to her blog tomorrow to read her guide to the $2 store!

Home: The Kitchen

I've blogged a fair bit about our kitchen previously, but I thought it's time to bring you for a proper tour of the most colourful room in our home today!

When we first moved into our flat almost 10 years ago, we opted to change the cabinetry as those from the previous owner were warping and grimy from all the grease of everyday cooking. However, because we had just started working, we had a really tight budget, and opted to keep the original tiles. This was our kitchen then:

We loved the look of dark wood, and went dark-everything, which wasn't a good idea. The kitchen was long and narrow, and had only one window at one end, so the whole place looked dark and rather gloomy. (Here are some lessons we learnt from our old kitchen.) We then left SG for a year for hubby's overseas attachment, and came home to a roach infested kitchen, simply because our old chute was faulty! So we opted to do an overhaul of the kitchen and toilets, especially since the kitchen drawers were starting to jam, and the toilet tiles were really really old. (If you're interested to find out more about the tiles, you can read this post.)

Anyway, fast-forward to two years after our reno, and our kitchen is looking a whole lot more cheerful. I love cooking in here! The bright yellow backsplash and white counters and cabinetry really help to brighten up this dark room, and the enamel plates also add pops of colour around the kitchen.

I do love enamelware, because it works so hard and is easy to clean! (And they usually come in such happy colours too!) Here's one of my current favourite pots for cooking Baby J's porridge: the Kastrull saucepan. The enamel coating makes washing off burnt-on porridge alot easier compared to regular stainless steel pots.

Ever since the renovations, we've had ample storage space to store things away, so I like to keep my countertop as clear as possible, as I need space to work. I find drawers are a whole lot more efficient in storing stuff compared to shelves, and we store everything away except for the toaster, kettle and Thermomix. (If you look hard, you'll spot our dim sum bamboo baskets. We use these to store garlic and onions!) Hooks above the sink allow easy access to frequently used tools like our scissors and peelers (We use the Fintorp rail and hooks. The hooks are fixed onto the rail, so they won't fall off unlike regular S-hooks, which is a feature I like.)

A clear countertop makes food preparation go a lot faster. :) (These days, we use the Aptitlig chopping boards, which dry really fast and are not as heavy as some of the other wooden chopping boards. And those Elly tea towels are such a steal, and great to use!)



On the other side of the sink is our display wall, and our little breakfast corner.

The display wall is basically filled up with various things that I love: from tingkats (more enamelware!), a painting done by Junior J to postcards that we picked up overseas. (You can read more about the wall here.) The breakfast corner used to be a huge mess of extra Tupperware and random stuff, but now is a nice place for hubby and I to sit down to chat in the mornings, or for the boys to sit and doodle if they wish.

These postcards are framed using Ribba frames... and even our plants are from IKEA!

The breakfast corner holds a jug of water and cups, so that the boys can help themselves to water when they need it. The tingkat holds crayons for doodling, and the Skack serving bowl is perfect for holding fruit. The Barbar tray makes bringing stuff out of the kitchen a lot faster!

We bought these painted kopitiam chairs sometime ago, and I love their vintage and cheerful vibe.

The breakfast corner is also a nice place for a hot cup of tea. (I just had to get this Jamnt cup when I saw it, since we only have one large mug, which the hubby hogs for his tea. This is perfect for my buckwheat tea!)

And yes, our fridge is still plastered with magnets from all over the world. The collection is still growing!

While we had more storage after the renovations, our storage areas were quite a mess with random Tupperware containers and packets of food, and it was hard to find stuff. Recently, I did a clean-out for these areas and got it all sorted using various containers from IKEA. We got our "drinks cupboard" (for a lack of a better term!) sorted using Krus and IKEA 365+ dry food jars:

Some of our frequently used pastas also went into IKEA 365+ jars:

Finally, we shifted all our other dry goods like flour, rice and sugar into Tillsluta dry food jars. These jars seem the most air-tight, and I love how I can fit these neatly into my drawers, compared to the round containers that we used to have.

And just to prettify them up, I used Hemsmak labels for labelling the containers. I think it looks way nicer with the black labels, compared to using torn off bits of washi tape!

PS: You can read about our living room here, and take a tour of our dining room here.

PPS: This post is part of a series of collaborative posts with IKEA. We were given a gift card to purchase some of the aforementioned items in this post, and no monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own.

Home: The Dining Room

We've been asked to share about our dining rooms and about dining at home this month. When given the prompt, images of pretty table settings came to mind, with neatly ironed napkins, bowls full of steaming soup, a pretty tablecloth and colour-coordinated placemats... and I wondered what I was going to write about, since our meals are anything but pretty. There is only one word to describe mealtimes in our home: Messy. One kid keeps leaving the table and can't sit still, the toddler keeps spitting his food, and wants to self-feed using his hands, another struggles through meals very slowly and manages to get noodles on the table, the chair and the floor. Getting meals to the table on time can be a challenge, so we always keep things simple with unbreakable dinnerware for the kids, and no placemats or tablecloths (here's a peek at some of the meals we have).

While dining at home isn't picture-perfect, I must say our dining room is a rather pleasant place, and it is one of the rooms that works the hardest for us. I've blogged about how our dining table has been through so much. This Stornas extendable table is where we eat all our meals and do our home-learning and art activities. It has heard countless of stories being read aloud, it's surface has been dotted with paint and crayons (until I started using Klack trays during painting sessions, which reduces clean up!), it has hosted parties, dinners and craft sessions. (The posters you see on the walls were purchased from the Copenhagen Zoo, and framed using Ribba frames.)

Watching a Perler bead tutorial and working on his project. The tray really helps to minimize spills and cleanup! 

The dining room also holds the kids' library. This wall used to hold a huge planted aquarium (pictures here), but we decided to give away the fish and sell off the equipment after Junior J came, since maintaining it was a fair bit of work. In it's place stands three Expedit bookcases (these are now replaced by the similar-looking Kallax), and the compartmentalized shelves are great for keeping the books sorted by topics. 

To maximize our storage options, we use baskets and boxes in some of the compartments. These Branas baskets hold building blocks and train tracks, while the Drona boxes hold jigsaw puzzles and games, and these are easily accessible to the kids.

We also use smaller baskets (from Daiso) for some of their very thin books (like their Jolly Phonics readers). Their front-facing arrangement makes it easier for the kids to flip through the books to find the title they want, since the books are too thin to have titles printed on their spines. A Variera shelf insert (in the lower shelf in the picture below) helps to add an extra tier to the shelves, so that we can squeeze more board books in.

The dining room also is the place where our piano stands! We use these small drawers to store various small bits and bobs like mosquito repellant patches, plasters, postage stamps and coins. Since the piano is just next to the main door, we can easily grab these things as we head out the door.

More details on the artwork here, and here. 

We use a Kallax bookshelf as a sideboard too, and the drawers hold some of the boys' homeschool books, as well as dining necessities such as coasters and disposable cutlery. (The traditional basket next to the coffee maker holds our Nespress capsules!)

The dining room is also where we keep our art trolley, which holds some basic art supplies. I've pared down the contents of the trolley since the toddler tends to climb and ransack the trolley these days! It's a Raskog, which many crafters swear by (and hey, it's now going at a reduced price in the new catalogue, so hooray!).

Since the toddler has a bad habit of uncapping markers and throwing them everywhere, we keep all markers out of reach, using enamel cups and a Grundtal magnetic knife rack. This means the older kids can still get the markers, but their younger brother doesn't get to use them unless Mama is around.

This room is so busy that the piles of paper and stuff tends to accumulate here. Having to write this post was great since it made me clear out all the junk, and I'm loving how this room works for us right now!

PS: You can read about our living room here.

PPS: This post is part of a series of collaborative posts with IKEA. We were given a gift card to purchase some of the aforementioned items in this post, and no monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own.