When I first saw the Akanbe Folding Basket by designer Houziyou Takashi, I was already in love. Part storage container, part play mat, the Akanbe also happens to be absolutely freakin’ adorable. Utility plus cuteness… cutility? How can you not like that? And I like it even better now that I found this description of it:

I’ll be fine also surprisingly heavy, magazines and accessories organized, easy to store children’s toys. Matt will use when playing as a spread, as it folded when put away are clear.

Smile♪ When you have a basket of cute, cute looks just like a hand that has Akanbe. Just to laugh it easy out there is no tongue. Thanks are Akanbe Bello, I have a painful hand basket.

Assemble felt like a piece of origami, it 留Mere button eyes, and made the basket. Not only fashionable and cute, which depending on how many ideas are useful and fun basketball.

Do you suppose that was Mr. Takashi’s original description of the Akanbe Folding Basket?

For example, these book and CD separators designed by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sasagawa. His Animal Index can be used to mark your place or to divvy up your shelves into distinct sections. It strikes me that the Animal Index is one of those little things that one could DIY without too much trouble, though I know mine wouldn’t look as polished as these.

Um, Miss NTB? Do you take requests? If so, may I request a home entry on incorporating kids toy storage into your living room? I mean like, serious storage. Not just one or two cute baskets for decor. We have the world’s smallest living room, which is now also the world’s worst decorated (thanks, kid-proofing). I have been TRYING to come up with something somewhat stylish and utilitarian, but I end up with dumpy and cluttered. I WOULD LOVE YOU FOR A BAZILLION YEARS.

A bazillion years? I like the sound of that. Of course, before I could effectively answer Tiffany’s question I needed to know just how small the world’s smallest living room actually is. The answer? About 14′x12′, which I think is about the size of my own, so I can definitely sympathize with the very real fact that a tiny space plus childproofing plus toys can equal a major bummer of a room. The good news is that you don’t need to be all LOOKIT MAH TOYBOX!

The bad news is that it’s not like you have all kinds of unused square footage to start adding in a bunch of furniture whose only purpose is to store trucks and blocks and the like. Too many people for my taste suggest things like this, because yeah, that’s just what we all need, toy Tupperware in the living room.

What I’d suggest you do need is furniture that does double duty and looks good, like a bench ottoman that you can sit on but also use as a coffee table:

That could go by the front door, where the chair and little table currently reside. The added benefit of a bench ottoman is that it becomes a place to toss a purse or the groceries at the end of an outing or a place to park your tush while you put on your shoes before going out.

Next, you have the traditional cylindrical ottoman, which can be used as both a a side table and storage:

I’d put it where you currently have what looks like a toy box or bench, behind the kiddie couch. It’ll have a small profile, making your living room look a little larger because you can move the love seat over a tick, and it’s okay because you now have all that extra storage and seating in the bench ottoman.

And finally, I’d move the kiddie couch next to the bench ottoman or, better yet, replace it with something that does double duty like this:

Besides being a totally cute little chair, it has a small storage drawer. It’s not going to do as much to keep your living room clutter free, but it has some space for stuff, which is better than most kiddie couches!

One more thing that really helps the toy organization process along is to start thinking of your kid’s toys as just more stuff belonging to another member of your family. His stuff might be kind of different from your stuff, but it’s still an important part of his life so when you’re organizing think of his stuff like you think of your stuff. In a small living room like yours (and like mine) the more important thing is to not let the toys overwhelm your space.

We, for example, keep one small basket of toys along with one small basket of books in the living room under a writing table. Not out of sight, but definitely out of the way. Do toys migrate out of the nursery or into the hallway? Pretty much every day, but at the day’s end I toss as much as I feel like tossing back into the baby’s room and stuff everything else in the baskets. Is it the optimal solution? Nah, but until someone hooks me up with a sweet ottoman, it keeps me sane and keeps my living room looking reasonably sharp!

Things mysteriously find themselves in the kitchen, even when the front door is nowhere nearby. I myself am writing this at a kitchen table that has an embarrassing amount of stuff on it – a diaper bag, class notes, a decorative plate my MIL gave us as an engagement gift, craft paper scraps, an non-working cell phone, and a copy of will making software The Beard and I have yet to open.

Can you feel the waves of shame emanating from this post? All I can say for myself is that I’m usually quite the neat freak!

The kitchen dump, you might call it. Rare is the house that does not have an area where mail gets left and keys are tossed, and for whatever reason, this spot is frequently in the kitchen. (Note: If your dump is not in the kitchen, the following advice still stands.) What’s nice about the kitchen dump is that all of those envelopes and your purse and whatever end up in the same place, so if you can’t find the water bill or your wallet is missing there is a good chance it’s there in the dump.

What’s not so nice about the kitchen dump is that it usually looks messy. If you have an unexpected visitor, the contents of the kitchen dump gets crammed into a drawer, leading to further disorganization. And finally, the kitchen dump can become so psychologically overwhelming that cleaning it up it seems impossible.

I’m not suggesting you do away with the kitchen dump, since it serves a purpose, i.e., having a kitchen dump means you don’t have to focus on cleaning and organizing the second you get home. I am suggesting you prettify your kitchen dump. Get some pretty baskets and spray paint them some dynamic color. Put up a few hooks for your keys and even your bags if you have the room. Easy, particularly if you have the space to hide it away in a cabinet.

Hidden or not, make sure you have space for your mail and your briefcase and all the other stuff you typically have in your hands when you walk through the door on a normal evening. If you have the space, you can even set up what one blogger calls a kitchen command center, which is basically a workspace right there in your kitchen.

Have I mentioned I am now working in my kitchen until some renovations get underway? No one needs a kitchen command center more than I do right now.

Don’t look in unopened boxes!

If you move or have to pack up your stuff when you have your hardwood floors refinished or you’re doing a major spring cleaning, keep an eye on what doesn’t get unboxed. Are there stacks of unopened boxes in your basement after six months? A year? Do you even know what’s in them? Unless you suspect your wedding photos or important documents are inside, think about tossing them or giving them, still sealed, to the Salvation Army.

Schedule a regular pick up

Hauling stuff to the Goodwill sucks, I know. But there are charities in most urban and suburban areas that will stop at your house with a truck and cart away all the junk you don’t want – and by junk clean, usable junk that will be a jewel in someone else’s eye. They can even take away all those unopened boxes cluttering up your attic.

Clean up a little bit, every day

I clean as I cook. When I’m going from room to room, I look for things in Room A that really ought to be in Room B. Get in the habit of straightening up as you go, and you’ll never, ever have to devote a whole Saturday (ugh!) to cleaning. The dreaded Spring Cleaning also becomes a thing of the past since your house or apartment will already be clean and organized, all the time.

Make a pile, clean a pile

I allow myself one pile of miscellaneous papers – it’s all I have space for nowadays since I’m working at my kitchen table so I can watch the baby. Every now and then, I flip through my small paper pile and discard or deal with whatever I can. A paper pile should never get bigger than what might fit in a folder or binder. A stuff pile should never get bigger than one might fit in a small basket. In fact, keep a small basket in the corner to collect stuff, then use the basket to transport the stuff where it really ought to be.

Think in terms of simplicity

Embracing simplicity doesn’t mean giving up all your stuff. You can have a simple life with stuff, even a lot of stuff – just make sure it’s stuff you love, stuff you use, and stuff that’s awesome. Broken stuff, stuff that takes up space (kitchen gadgets are notorious for this!), and stuff you don’t like but keep because you feel like you might need it should all makes its way out of your home.

(Pic via)

Whimsy and utility meet in this adorable bookcase created by Singapore designer Jaren Goh. I might also have written that the modern lines meet a classic silhouette or that vintage and new come together. But however you say it, I adore it!

And naturally, we have some added inspiration!

Aren’t these just fab? My home office is currently a storage room, which is why I’m writing this at my kitchen table among the remains of the baby’s dinner. Would that I had a closet large enough or accessible enough to become a temporary home office until our upstairs remodel is done. Or, you know, gets started.

Images via: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

You might, for example, purchase and install one of PA-Design‘s cavaliers de printemps, which turn your electrical cords or computer cables and such into a branch upon rests a richly-colored bird. Or you could do what Maisie Maud Broadhead did (in an art installation, sadly, not in real life) and turn your long and winding cables into art using U-clips.

Unless you’re not at all bothered by snaking electrical cords… which I can only imagine some people aren’t.

Someday The Beard and I are going to do all sorts of interesting things to our little Cape, but for now I have to be content posting pics here of all the things that float my boat. Perhaps you like window seats as much as I do? If so, you’re going to love the following pics.

Love the lamp, love the view. I have no clue where this is, but I want to believe it’s in one of those cities that feels more like a town. Maybe somewhere by the water? I’m ready to move in.

Wouldn’t this make a boss home office? When you got tired of working at your rustic little writing table, you could retire to the window seat to read a book. Or a trashy magazine.

A mini window seat could fit right into a cottage or the corner of a bigger domicile, just to make things a cozier. Maybe a kid’s room, since a kid would be small enough to curl right up in it.

Don’t think you have to put a window seat along a straight window! This curved window seat would be so amazing at a party for conversation in the round.

A window seat in the kitchen is sweet (you could pull a table right up to it) but I really included this pic for the color. That blue is to die for! (via)

Clever, yeah? And easy to DIY if you’re a fan of board games who doesn’t even have a game room. Even better if you happen to have vintage versions of classic games! But, you say, how are you supposed to get the boards out of the frames when you and the fam want to sit down to a round of Monopoly or Chutes & Ladders? The short answer is you don’t!

The pieces and rulebooks are all stored in the back of the frame, so they’re right there when you take the whole works off of the wall. Love it, love it, love it!