Raise your hand if you spend more time looking for the remote every time you want to watch TV than you would just getting up and turning on the TV. Yeah I thought so. I mean, I cant be the only moron who does that. The problem in our house is that there isn’t a good place for the remotes. I had been keeping them in a basket in the coffee table but I also keep magazine clippings and things I want to read but haven’t yet in the basket so they often get buried. And more often than not they just get left on the couch cushions where they slip down between the cracks during the jump fests Evelyn is prone to in the late morning.
Lately I’ve been on a “a place for everything and everything in its place” kind of kick. My basement, while NOT clean, is cleaner than it has ever been. I actually found the thing I needed down there in less than ten seconds last week. A miracle if ever there was one. Part of this organization thing is that I’ve become addicted to this blog. The woman is a whirlwind of organization. I actually tried to convince Will to let me buy all new bins for our basement storage so it would look pretty. Like this. Ahhh. SO pretty…..
Anyway. During my obsessive read through of her old entries I came across the idea of a remote tray. Ahhh! I thought. Now THAT is what I need. After all, I have this brand spanking new (but supposed to look like it’s been there forever) bookshelf. Why not make and official spot for those darn remotes.
Actually I’d already read that article and though “if only I had a cool little box like she had” and was cleaning out the playroom when I came across one of those wooden trays that Melissa and Doug toys come in and are too nice to throw away so you stack them in a closet. And that’s when I had the “Aha!” moment.
The box got a few coats of trim paint and while it dried I considered options for the bottom.
While I like her brightly colored paper the truth is that it wouldn’t hold up in our house. In fact, it would have been colored on and spilled on and probably ripped up by the end of the week. So instead I decided on fabric, something thick and absorbent (just in case) and a little sound dampening (humm, can you tell I have young children, must be crayon proof and sound dampening to qualify). A leftover scrap of wool from Nigella’s bed seemed like the perfect fit and so after the paint had dried (three days! I love oil paint for it’s washability- ack, again with the kid proof thing!- but man does it take a long time to dry!) I cut a square to fit the bottom and glued it in with that indispensable craft item, Eileen’s Tacky Glue. Love that stuff.*Oops, I jsut realized she uses fabric too, where did I see a paper covered one, all well. I still needed the all important absorbent wool....)
The amazing this is, it’s working. The kids get the whole, remotes go in the box, at least for the most part. And now I can spend less time looking and more time lazing. Or, if I’m being honest, less time frantically scrabbling around for the remote while my children melt down in exhaustion when all they want is a few minutes of veg time PLEASE MOMMY! Ahh, peace…