Where Do You Put It All?

My house is a firetrap. Seriously, paper comes into our house like moths to the light. And most of it arrives, innocently enough, in Amelia’s school backpack.

Treasured art projects she made at school. Plural. Every day. Of course, I’m glad Amelia attends a preschool where art is an important part of the curriculum. And I’m delighted that she chooses to draw and write and color when activities are up to her. So I welcome each new masterpiece with praise and questions and interest. But then what? Do we really have to keep it all? Apparently, we do. At least for a while.

So, if you can’t toss it, embrace it! Amelia’s artwork is part of our home décor. Her first easel painting is framed over the fireplace. Special projects – drawings of our family, her first writings, and other projects that hold particular meaning or memories are framed throughout my office and our house.  Tiles she made form the backsplash behind our stove. But what about all that school paper? The countless coloring pages and handprints and glued pasta collages?

Voila – the artwork clothesline. I saw a version of this at IKEA once, but didn’t have the foresight to buy it. When I realized in the middle of the night that this could be a perfect solution to our paper problem, I couldn’t wait until IKEA opened in the morning. I had to improvise – but no worries, I had everything I needed, and you probably do too.

This project is very simple. I used two screw-in eye hooks and a long ribbon.  You could also use mug hooks, adhesive hooks, even a staplegun…and string, clothesline, wire, almost anything.  I just screwed the hooks into the playroom wall and strung the ribbon between them. I added some clothespins, and the gallery was ready.  Amelia is the curator – she can hang, rearrange, and change the artwork whenever she wants, and she removes old projects to make room for new ones.

You can make the artwork clothesline as long or as short as your space allows and your collection requires, and it can be taken down or moved with only two tiny screw holes left behind. No space for a clothesline? I can’t stop thinking about this framed version…we might need one of these for a different room.

So, that’s our solution…what do YOU do with all the paper?

Want more Mess?  visit Melanie’s blog, or drop by her Etsy store, Made by Mommy!