Before and After: Foyer Organizing Kid's Backpacks and Activity Supplies

Like most parents, my kids are in after-school activities as well as activities during the school day, so to make my foyer a little neater and my kids' stuff a little more organized, I wanted to create a space for them.  The area needed to be hidden when I had company over yet still be functional for them when they needed it. After doing some thinking and visiting my nearby Target, this is what I came up with. It was an open-shelf cabinet with bins.  But it really looked quite messy, and there was no room for the backpacks.  I lived with it for a while until the backpacks got even bigger when they went to middle school.

Jump to:

• BEFORE IMAGE:
• Supplies used for this transformation:
• How I updated the kids' foyer area?
• Reveal:
• UPDATE:

BEFORE IMAGE:

Supplies used for this transformation:

Below are the supplies I used to make this small organizer for my kids, who did several different after-school activities. Links are from Amazon (affiliate).

• 6 cubby unit
• 4 fabric storage bins for the cubby unit
• Tags for labeling the bin

How I updated the kids' foyer area?

I went back to Target and found a cubby bin unit that would fit the backpacks nicely.  The different colored bins helped the kids distinguish between each child's bins since they couldn't see in them anymore. The bins were able to hold all the after-school clothing and uniforms easily and had extra room.  The kids back up now had a home, which I loved, even if the backpacks were hanging over the cubby a bit.

The unit even fit in the 24 inches of space I had between my railing and my powder room door.  Woo hoo! I haven't decided what labels (Affiliate Link) to use yet, but I informed the kid which color was theirs. Hopefully, it will all fit when school starts. Only time will tell.

Reveal:

And this is what I came up with. The cubbies do have tags on them but for now my daughter has the three tan ones, and my son has the green one.

UPDATE:

This system worked great for years until my kids were in high school. They started doing activities that wouldn't fit inside these bins. When my daughter got involved in activities that involved instruments and large sabers for her marching band, she needed to store these items in her room since the garage (Affiliate Link) heat could damage the tools (Affiliate Link). My son started playing the guitar and playing tennis, and nether one of these items would fit. So, the system was dismantled.

We have gotten rid of the cubby unit and now made room in our double closet to store the backpacks on a shelf that is mounted to the wall. Since the equipment is temporary, I don't mind it being out as much.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my foyer story (Affiliate Link).  Do you have a situation like this? Please share your experience and what you decided to do below. I would love to hear from you.

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