Version history of our pony-wall bookshelf

Kids grow. Interests evolve. New possessions arrive. Old habits disappear. Our dining room pony-wall bookshelf has been (re)optimized so many times that a walk-through of notable versions is warranted. Even perfectly organized spaces are never truly “finished” !

Pony-Wall Bookcase: Initial Commit

When we first moved in with our 6-month-old, we thought books were a perfectly reasonable thing to store on a bookshelf.

…Parent amateurs. Of course, a couple months later, our kiddo was pulling up onto the shelf , and pulling down all the books !

In the years after emptying the shelf, we ended up storing messy artwork supplies and toys and games that required supervision here.

First Revision: Art and Games

In what felt like another blink, kiddo #2 had arrived and our older son’s games were not baby-safe, and the art supply stash was reaching critical overload.

• Constraint #1: Games have small pieces. I needed to be sure that small game pieces could be easily put away and were stored in boxes that a preschooler could open but a baby could not.

• Constraint #2: Art is messy. Stickers, paints, play dough, coloring books… All of these activities needed to happen at the dining table, where spills wouldn’t ruin rugs, a broom was nearby, and the kitchen sink was steps away.

Magazine holder system. Six metal magazine holders became one of the more frequently modified components of our system:

“Artwork” has been our only bin constant… I stuff the kids’ art in here, and when it’s finally too full, we play “keep or rid” to make space.

Next Chapter: Two Schoolkids

Fast-forward, and suddenly our younger kiddo starts public Montessori preschool at age 3 (yes, we are very lucky to live in Cambridge) ! This came with new goodies and new challenges.

Here’s how our pony-wall bookshelf is currently optimized:

In a recurring theme (of life), solving one problem tends to create new problems:

Problem 1: Paper Cutter	Fix-for-Now
Most favorite paper cutter is too long for existing shoe bins	Found a 14” craft box!
↳ … “Amma, where’s XYZ?” since bin can’t fully flip open ↳ … Bin sticks out past shelf	Separated “tools” from consumable “supplies” and sorted into pull-out drawers

Craft Tools (top) stores a paper cutter, regular kid scissors, pattern scissors, glitter glue, Scotch tape, a mini stapler, glue sticks, and scratch notes.

Craft “Bits” (bottom) stores turnover items like beads, pom poms, stickers, pipe cleaners, and popsicle sticks.

Problem 2: Crafts-in-Progress	Fix-for-Now
🚧 Half-finished craft projects are constantly left out on table.	Preschool teacher suggests a “work-in-progress” tray.
↳ … Space for small game boxes is gone to accommodate work tray.	Installed L-brackets to stack games on DIYed short mini shelf

The kids were adamant about their games staying here, too. I crafted perfectly-sized baskets from cardboard and duct tape to use as drawers, like I had done in our upstairs game storage cabinets.

Problem 3: Diverse writing implements	Fix-for-Now
Too many actively-used art supplies, and preschooler-friendly existing boxes don’t stack deeply enough	Found perfectly sized stackable pencil cases.

Problem 4: New phone!	Fix-for-Now
Kiddos want to call their own friends and grandparents	We got a Tin Can! (…it’s been amazing)
↳ … Phone isn’t wall-mountable and must be within reach	Moved some games into two smaller, labeled cloth bins on lower shelf
↳ … No space for science experiments	Used a monitor riser as a shelf and found smaller click-shut craft boxes for play dough, paints, and experiments.

We bought the Tin Can so the kids could call family members (and memorize their phone numbers). Now, their friends are getting them, too, so they can call each other!

After decluttering unused games and moving others into the office and living room games cabinets, I split the remaining bigger games into partner/group games (left cloth bin) like Connect 4 and Chess, and puzzle challenge games (right), like Gravity Maze, Laser Maze, Rush Hour, Happy Cube Pro, Chocolate Fix, and Pentanimo.

Brown grocery bags are excellent art canvases, but they are an awkward size, and finding wide-enough “cabinet shelves” was impossible! I finally found a computer monitor riser stand instead that worked perfectly as a shelf, so these click-shut bins could be stored above.

Conclusion: Continuous Reorganization Required

I always knew that the storage solutions I implement would eventually need to be updated. My previous blog posts describe art solutions and toy storage for little kids. I love finding new fixes to foster independence for our older kids, too ! The current snapshot again, soon to be updated, I’m sure:

Shilpa Kobren is the Associate Director of Rare Disease Analysis at Harvard Medical School where she focuses on analyzing genomic sequencing data with patient clinical information to derive insights into human diseases. Shilpa lives in an 1890s urban apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and two energetic toddlers. She retains her sense of peace amid the chaos by creating and iteratively improving systems that optimize daily efficiency in her family's constrained living space.