My "Nightstand" Organization

About a year ago, I showed you my lack-of-room-for-a-nightstand dilemma and how I solved it with a $2 Wal-mart purchase and a little ingenuity. I’ve always loved my little basket and how well it works in such a small space, but it was clearly time to rethink the function of the whole system.

So yeah, normally the cough drops and dry skin lotion are not there, I have a cold, so bear with me, ok? Still, the space was lacking a little of the function and organization it once had. Here it is on a good day:

I do a lot of writing and planning while perched on my bed, so a while back I had added the cocoa tin of Sharpies because I use them in my Planning Binder all the time. The books you see to the right are the current books I’m reading and my notebook holding my 1,000 gifts list. Those need to stay handy as well. The precious basket was holding pens and highlighters, sticky notes and a calculator, and my headphones. It turned out to be a little awkward, because the sticky notes and such were always laying on top of the pens and everything was all tangled in the headphones. I found myself taking out the other stuff and setting them to the side when I needed to use a pen, so the whole thing was a messy disaster.

I brainstormed for a while how to get the function back to the space while still having what I needed at my fingertips, and here is what I came up with:

The snowflake hook, no matter how cute it is, wasn’t accomplishing anything and was usually hidden behind the curtain, so it had to go. I added another cocoa can and popped in some colorful pens and highlighters. In the basket went the sticky notes, calculator, headphones, an eraser, and a pair of scissors. Not only are things better organized, but I was able to add some things that I often need over in that corner of the room! AND, the two cans of writing utensils give better balance, anyway! Win, win!

In the future I may cover the cocoa cans in some pretty paper, but for now, I’m kind of a fan of fun-looking original tins. Wait, I’ve never showed you the cool tins I hoard collect? I’ll have to do that! They are very useful creatures, those tins. Anyway, this quick project (took me all of like 10 minutes to get it the way I wanted it) is proof that you can do a lot with a very small space and just some basic things from around the house. Just don’t judge me if it is all covered in cough drop wrappers and crumpled tissues by tomorrow, ok?

Do you have a certain item that you love to organize with? How do you make the most of small spaces? Any tips on how my space could be even better? (Besides painting that window trim white...hopefully this summer!)