The Besta Media Storage - Part I

Hello Friends,

This week's organization project started with this DIY hack job.  

This was once a huge cabinet for media storage that our neighbors unloaded generously gave to us. We removed the upper cabinet to make room for the big screen TV which didn't fit in the space. We're thrifty and resourceful.

But along with being ugly, it never really worked all that well either.

The stereo components (don't laugh, we're old school!) didn't all fit in there.

I can hear you laughing!  A tape deck?  Really?

And, when the stereo is playing, the door has to be kept open as it gets pretty hot in there!

One day I just got sick and tired of looking at it and dealing with it (ever felt that way?). So my strong, smart friend, Heather & I jumped in the car to go to the best furniture store on the planet. to shop for a new one.  As many of you know, Ikea is built intentionally like a maze and as you wind your way around like little mice, it is exhausting. The customer service was lacking that day, and I ended up in the warehouse twice looking for the right pieces, which meant I ended up on the second floor twice to get help.  I was so grateful for Heather!  She caught their design error right away and saved me hours of frustration.   FYI:  Bring a friend to help you, plan on wearing really good walking shoes and bring a snack for the ride home.

I chose BESTA for my new cabinet because you can design it for exactly what you need in it, which is an organizer's dream come true and it has it's own video, so you know it's a rockstar!

I'd sorted all the music CDs and had my family sort all the DVDs last year, so I knew before shopping the amount of storage I'd need.  The cassette tapes are another matter entirely.

But since I mentioned it, let's delve in.  Cassette tapes are obsolete.  I have a stack of them.  Not that I want to listen to them as the quality isn't great, but I plan to make a list of the music on them and then upload the songs on to newer technology.  There is nothing like hearing a favorite song from long ago and instantly recalling the memory that you had while listening to that song.  

Recently, I've read if you get Alzheimer's, they've had a lot of success with regaining memory with music.   Keeping my cassette tape music is like having JOY insurance for my old age.

But I digress...

This unit has baskets that slide in and out.  They hold a large volume of CDs for both my husband and I.

HERS

HIS

Notice that HERS are neatly labeled on the spines.  It only takes a few minutes and is such a time saver when looking for say, Dexy's Midnight Runners (just kidding although now I have "Come on Eileen" stuck in my head.)

These totes came as part of the BESTA system.  They fit perfectly in the drawers and come folded flat in two sizes.  No measuring required!

Look how nice and neat they all fit!  I even sorted HERS by genre and alphabetized HERS.  My husband has some sorting & labeling to do first.

When organizing, it's very important that all like items are gathered first.  I suddenly remembered I had a lot of CDs stored in my car as I found a stack of empty CD cases in the HERS basket.

This car CD organizer is so handy.  It attaches with elastic to the windshield visor and then it flips open. When my boys were small, they had one side and I had the other and then ipods were invented...sigh.

But alas, there was one CD leftover that I couldn't figure out who the artist was.  Any guesses, anyone, anyone?

So in a flash of inspiration, I popped it into the CD player and behold found another 4 CDs!

Remember to check everywhere that like items could be hiding in your house! 

It's a good idea to keep a few clear CD cases on hand in case some get broken.  Plastic gets brittle as it ages.

The DVDs, which were on a shelf, underneath where the TV was, went into a larger tote, along with the larger CD cases.  Can you see the 1/3rd empty space in the middle?  It's a goal to always have some empty space and in this case, it was short lived.  The remote and some spare cords filled this up very quickly.

So did you guess the mystery artist?  As soon as I heard "My Redeemer Lives" I knew right away.

Now I just need help putting my new BESTA together so I can happily install the stereo components and totes.  All in good time.

What piece of furniture would you replace if you could?

What's the most ancient piece of technology that you own?