EXPEDIT-ing the Unpacking Process

Yesterday marked ONE MONTH since we moved in here! I’m happy to report that everything has been unpacked and stored away save for 4 pesky boxes still taking up residence underneath our new china cabinet.

One HUGE obstacle in our unpacking process came in the form of 6-10 boxes full of books. We had nowhere to put our books since in the first place we had built-ins, and before moving we sold the bookshelf from Target.

Sidebar: Truthfully, they weren’t FULL of books–here’s a moving protip for you: When packing something heavy like books, fill the box 50% full of books and 50% full of something light like linens. By splitting the difference, the boxes are lighter and more manageable and you might even prevent yourself from injury.

Once I realized that our bar stools were totally NOT going to work under the breakfast bar I began envisioning an area of shelving spanning the whole length of the counter. Someday I will do a custom shelving installation–really, I will– but for the sake of our rental deposit I measured the area and started thinking prefab. EXPEDIT immediately came to mind because I just love the geometric pattern of the squares. The nice thing about these (as opposed to other assemble-it-yourself shelving) is that they are very deep and can accommodate two layers of books.

My original plan was to get two 8-hole EXPEDITS (two squares tall by four squares wide) but my space was four inches too short. So glad I took the time to measure the space before we headed to the store. So we decided to get some of the smaller ones, two squares both wide and tall. After some brainstorming involving pseudo-installing our huge speakers and hooking them up to a (yet-to-be-purchased) turntable, I bargained with Doug that once we save up our pennies for the dreamed-of turntable, then the speakers would come out of hiding and get put to use. So they got sneaked behind the couch into another project I’ll share later this week–and EXPEDIT was able to take up the whole space.

We’d decided to save up for the units but when we saw two white ones in the as-is section for $25 each we nabbed them up. Isn’t that always how it goes.

Then, my mom came down for the weekend and generously insisted on buying us the third one (really, we did protest), so now the space is taken up much more nicely:

I love the geometric look and how the crisp white anchors the chaos of books and nick-knacks. Organized chaos seems to be the name of the game with this apartment so far. I’m really happy to have these now because these units can be used in countless ways–console table, desk base, or even at the foot of the bed someday?

Right now there are gaps between the three units and sometime I may see what it looks like all shoved close together. For now, though, the gaps provide a safe place to tuck framed pictures so they’re out of the way until we decide where to hang what. Maybe I’ll organize the books by color or by subject? I don’t know. They are all just thrown in there, sort of grouped by size. The GREAT news is that the boxes holding them happily made their way to the recycle bin!