"it so" awesome

we are beyond grateful to not only have 2 sweet little boys but also a precious little girl. and a very girly-girl at that. takes after me in no way with that trait. after enjoying 2 very rambunctious little boys for the first 5 years of parenting, our little bundle of pink really completes our family. all 4 of us are taken by her...but once she was able to form her own opinion, we also had to adjust to her "all things girly" attitude...likes and dislikes, choices in toys and clothing, and more.

when it comes to girls that are into all things girly, there is bound to be a dollhouse with all the trimmings.

she recently turned 3 and most every gift she received was a doll or doll accessory of some kind. it's fun to shop for little girls, i admit. so when the gifts were all opened and the toys were unwrapped from their packaging - mommy had a new org challenge...operation doll house!

as usual, i kept my eye open for new ideas while out shopping...and earlier this week i found the ultimate solution. it's called "itso" and you can find it at target.

and yes, (i had to go there).....it so awesome.

let me share where we were before getting organized this week.

when we moved here to the rental house, i didn't want both play tables in the playroom. my goal was the keep as much clear floor space as was possible. our daughter has a generous sized room and figured the white melissa & doug play table would be great to have in there, along with all of her doll house toys. and it has been working well to have a place for her to play upstairs...

what wasn't working was how her accessories were stored away. don't get me wrong, i love these mesh cubes from the container store...

but when you have a gazillion teeny tiny pieces inside one of these cubes, it's nearly impossible to find what you're looking for. especially when it's the size of a pebble.

in addition to the cube, i had hidden away a bin of really tiny doll house pieces.

 and some tiny plastic clothing, which would surely get lost in the move...

my goals for a system (with a 3 year old in mind) was to...

1. give her easy access to all of the accessories

2. give me the ability to easily remove items (like those tiny pieces) without taking away everything...because she's 3 and we are going to have days when she just dumps things and isn't responsible

3. have everything organized and combined in one system

i knew it would be a challenge to find something that gave me everything i wanted, but think this one is going to work out well. and as long as target continues to sell it, we'll be able to add on additional cubes or components as her interests change.

so, target - pretty please do not discontinue this one!

i started with 2 cubes and a few add-ons and figured i could go back later for more, if needed. but i think this will work for a while...

i purchased 4 small bins which are deep but not as deep as those mesh cubes...

i purchased 1 divider tray...

a few shelves...

and i planned to use those new $1 compartment organizers from the home depot that i've recently fallen head over heels for...

you can see on this insert the variety of add-ons you can purchase to totally customize a "it so awesome" system of your very own...

and what i loved most about these....

these don't require tools of any kind. just use the included pins to connect your cubes together and the shelves snap right into place.

now that we had the system components and all of the doll house accessories in front of us, we got to work on sorting. she and i worked together to sort out the like items. a huge job with a 3 year old, but a good learning experience, right?!

once everything was in piles, then all put away....here was the result...

love!!!

regarding labels - not sure how i will go with that. for now, we'll leave them label-free because at her age (and because i know her very well) things will not end up in the correct compartments. but i am going to give it more thought and possibly label down the road. we'll see.

in the meantime, she loved seeing all of her accessories and food items and doll house home decor sorted out into the various compartments. she spent more time poking around to find things, instead of digging and get frustrated.

here's a closer look at each bin/container....

the divided tray holds all of her tiny princess dolls with their plastic clothing...

the 4 deep bins hold doll house furniture...

larger princess dolls (not barbie doll size)...

strawberry shortcake dolls...

and calico critter animals...

once we sorted out the remaining pieces, i used 5 of the home depot organizers to organize the rest.

calico critter doll clothing...

food, kitchen appliances, dishes, serving pieces...

tiny shoes, hats, dresses, purses, pets, brushes...

home decor items, doll toys, small pieces that connect to the doll house furniture or house itself...

and finally the placemats, rugs, tents, and other felt pieces we've created for her doll house table...

all of the above now living in one compact little system...

so much better than clumped together in one large mesh cube. now we can find what we are looking for - whether that be a roll of doll house toilet paper, a tiny cucumber and cutting board, or a princess shoe....not to be confused with a strawberry shortcake shoe or polly pocket boot.

organization happiness right there!

i can think of many more reasons to invest in a system like this when it comes to kids toys and beyond. i've had lego on my mind since we brought this gem home on monday. do any of you have this system in your home? tell me how you're using it - the ideas are endless and i'd love to be inspired by you.

(i linked up with clean and scentsible, savvy southern style, my uncommon slice of suburbia, not just a housewife, a bowl full of lemons, house of hepworths, the 36th avenue, delightful order, serenity now, it's overflowing, org junkie, tatertots & jello)