Our Makeshift Kitchen

Given Hadley's propensity for pretending to be a cook with his beloved play food, I've been jonesin' to get him (or, more likely, make him) a play kitchen for, like, ever. But, it's kind of useless in our house. We live in just shy of 1,000 square feet and, while it works now, there's not a ton of "just his" play space. It's one of the things we'll be looking for when we eventually move, hopefully in 2015.

But, for now, we've gotten creative. We use bins and baskets to store most of his toys, but his "food" and anything he likes to use with it (like empty containers or spoons) has their very own makeshift home.

We have these cool but slightly crooked-door built-in cabinets between the living room and dining room. The living room side houses DVDs (perfect size) and one of the dining room ones holds decorative stuff. Awhile back, however, I cleaned out the final cabinet and decided it would be all Had's.

It isn't much, but finding a space that's his very own is awesome. Oh, and he's also only getting into my cabinets a fraction as much as he used to and he hardly gets into those "no, don't touch" places as much. And, yes. We sucked at toddler-proofing.

I still hope to create a mini kitchen area for him in some future playroom, but for now, this spot doubles as an oven, a pantry, a fridge, and more. Pretty much whatever his mind comes up with, which is incredible.

What are some tricks that you've used to contain the clutter or give your little one some space that's his/her own? I love seeing alcoves and bedroom closets transformed into little nooks just for them to play in, too. So cool!