meet my new BFF's

so...

I have some new best friends.

They helped calm me down when my living room looked like this after Christmas...

(cue blood-curdling scream)

 (gasp)

(eek)

 (save us!)

 there was stuff everywhere

 (and yes, even MY stuff was a mess)

Since this is where we put the tree, it's also where we had Christmas at our house, which is where all of the toys wound up. We currently only had two, yes TWO storage baskets in this room for toys. One under the right end table for Oliver...

and one under the left end table for Eliza...

And that was it.

Two baskets.

That was all she wrote.

Enter my new BFF's, the storage ottomans.

We'll call them Ebony and Pepper...

 It was literally love at first sight when I spotted these lovelies on my (first) trip to Target yesterday. And to top it off, they were on sale.

Yep.

Only $59 buckaroos a piece and I just happened to have some Christmas money burning a hole in my wallet.

After some clever positioning in my truck, they came to live at the Mathews house.

In no time at all, I was in organizing heaven...

I used the same 'bag it up' method I used with O's puzzles to store some of his new games...

and after several changed diapers, a few tears, and lots of my sweat, the room looked like this...

(cue Hallelujah chorus, please)

One of the ottomans holds E's toys/tutus...

and one holds MM's...

(and yes, there are several sing-a-ma-jigs in there. Anyone else seen these things? I seriously love them. They sing songs, do scales, they even harmonize with each other.  I know...utter coolness.)

and, since my parents gifted us with a new tv cabinet, my scripts and craft supplies got to remain in the old one that moved to the dining room, giving me space to do this in the bottom cabinet...

can you feel my excitement?

Let's check out that 'before' pic once more...

(ghastly scream)

and now the 'after'

(angel chorus is singing)

and even after these two spent all day thwarting my best efforts to clean, everything had its own spot when they were done.

LOVE it.

So...there ya have it.

The story of my two new best friends.

Ebony and Pepper- the storage ottomans.

Oh, and did I mention they have safety hinges? Meaning they won't slam on little fingers? Well, they do. They're also faux leather, and wipe clean with a damp cloth. Meaning you can pee, spill, vomit and poo on them, and guess what? It just wipes off. Yep. You heard right.

Next up:

my desk/craft space

because it needs help

hope you had as lovely a day as we did here,

in our organized room,

with our new ottomans,

and our sing-a-ma-jigs.

This post is linked to the CSI projects organizational linky party.

check out all of the other organizational inspiration!

**also linked to Thrifty Decor Chick's Organize it party