Guidecraft began in 1964 as a small wood shop producing only 10 items and has since grown to include over 580 educational toys and furnishings. They take pride in providing top notch products and great customer service and are a favorite among educators for furnishing their classrooms.
One of my goals for spring was to reduce our clutter and organize my house to limit the amount of stress and chaos that creeps into my house. If there is one area that needed some major help it was our alcove. Right off our living room it serves as a great location for toys, especially since it has built in shelving. We were using bins within the shelves but they were overflowing with toys and dumping out their contents became a fun past time for both our young boys. These bins also made it hard to see what was inside and our shelving frankly had too much stuff in them to be efficient. (Another thing we need to work on…)
Guidecraft came to my rescue. When I was given the opportunity to choose an item from their site I was immediately drawn to the Moon and Stars See, Store and Take-a-Long.
Bright and cheery, this wood storage solution features primary colors of red, blue and yellow and the sides contain cutouts of a moon and stars. It contains three shelves, with the bottom two holding a total of six medium sized bins that are included. Equipped with casters, the take-a-long can easily be moved around from room to room, hence the name.
I had no idea just how much I would love the See, Store and Take-a-Long until my husband assembled it. I could tell immediately that pieces showed great workmanship. My husband commented many times on the overall quality from the wood to the paint. Our boys had fun helping and it only took about a half hour before it was completely assembled. It may have been quicker without their help but the instructions were easy to follow. One handy feature on the Guidecraft website is assembly instructions which are located right on the product page.
Besides thinking this system looks so much brighter and a bit bigger in person, I am just amazed at the sheer volume of toys that the entire system can hold. The bins are just the right size to hold smaller to medium toys and with six of them included it is no wonder it stores a lot. My favorite feature of all however is the locking mechanism on the side of the bins and the double handles included on the top. Because the bins lock on both sides my youngest son is unable to unlock the bins himself. This allows me control over the number of bins out at a time and limits the dumping to only one bin. Because of that we are quickly able to pick up the toys when we are finished with them without the extra step of sorting. And because there are handles my boys can easily move them around the house.
Can you tell how proud my oldest is of his new storage system? He enjoyed the assembly and organizing and loves that all the shelves are easily accessible unlike our other book shelves.
The only downside I can even think of with this piece is that the bottom two shelves aren’t actually shelves so if you decided to do something different besides using bins you would be limited as to what you could store on the bottom.
Now that I’ve experienced the quality firsthand, there is no doubt in my mind that I will look to this company again in the future. I truly couldn’t be more thrilled.
If getting organized makes you go gaga like me, you simply must consider all the wonderful solutions Guidecraft has to offer. Highlighted below are just a few of the other pieces within the Moon and Stars collection with prices starting at only $55. There are also many other neutral options such as the Mission Collection or other fun themes such as the Butterfly Collection or Safari Collection if this one doesn’t fit with your decor.
Buy it: The See, Store and Take-a-Long retails for $210 and can be purchased directly from Guidecraft or on Amazon
{ Giveaway }
Guidecraft would like to give one of my lucky readers their very own Moon & Stars See, Store and Take-a-Long worth $210!
MAIN ENTRY: Visit Guidecraft and me another item not featured that you absolutely love!
Want more entries? (You know you need this!) After answering my question do any of the following and leave a comment telling me what you did. Each is worth one entry unless otherwise noted. Your comment is your entry so please leave the appropriate number of comments for each extra entry.
-Spring into Spring! Enter the Outdoor Playhouse from Hayneedle giveaway at The Shopping Mama & tell me below!
-Follow Guidecraft on twitter
-Become a follower of the Guidcraft blog
-Become a fan of Guidecraft on Facebook
-Become a fan of Baby Loving Mama on Facebook
-Follow my blog publicly
-Subscribe to my feed in a reader or by email
-Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (You can do this daily!)
Win a Guidecraft See, Store & Take-a-Long worth $210 & get organized! @babylovingmama from @Guidecraft http://bit.ly/diRrhK #giveaway PLS RT
-Add my button to your blog
-Add my Spring into Spring event button to your blog
-Blog about this contest and link back here and to Guidecraft (3 entries)
This contest will end on 4/27/10 at 11:59 pm CST. U.S. residents only. The winner will be drawn via random.org and will have 72 hours to respond to winning notification email before I draw another winner or do a live giveaway.
Disclosure: I received a sample for the purpose of this review but no other type of compensation was received. This has no bearing on my completely honest review above. The opinions and experiences I’ve shared with these products are my own and yours may differ.
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About Emilie
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I love the kitchen helper “stools”
following guidecraft on twitter
@kjnsmom
following you on twitter!
http://twitter.com/kjnsmom/status/11696442025
I love the Art Activity Cart. I don’t have a classroom but would totally use it to organize all our craft supplies around the house!
I follow @babylovingmama on twitter!
@boringmommy
I follow @guidecraft on twitter.
@boringmommy
I follow the Baby Loving Mama blog in my Google reader.
I’d love the CONSTRUCT-IT 321 PCS SET for my son!
ljatwood at gmail dot com
Love the kitchen tools!
I love (LOVE!) the Classic White Storage Bench with Baskets. So pretty!
seeryusfam@msn.com
I’ve entered The SHopping Mama’s giveaway!
seeryusfam@msn.com
Following Guidecraft on Twitter. @SeeryusMama
seeryusfam@msn.com
Following the Guidecraft Blog.
seeryusfam@msn.com
I’m a BLM FB fan!
~Sky Shute Seery
I love the Papagayo Toy Box!
FB fan of Guidecraft!
~Sky Shute Seery
seeryusfam@msn.com
I entered at shopping mama!
Following your blog!
seeryusfam@msn.com
I follow guidecraft on twitter!
Email subscriber.
seeryusfam@msn.com
I follow guiderafts blog!
Love the kitchen helper, would be perfect for my son as he loves to watch us prepare and cook dinner and also loves to play in water in the kitchen sink and this would be perfect for both!
I am a FB fan of guidecraft!
I love the white storange bench! It would look adorable in my daughters room
Following you on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/SeeryusMama/status/11698431646
seeryusfam@msn.com
I am a FB fan of yours!
I have the Spring into Spring button on my sidebar!
seeryusfam@msn.com
I am a follower!
I subscribe by email!
I have your button here:
http://seeryusmama.com/blogging-friends/
seeryusfam@msn.com
I follow on twitter and tweeted!
http://twitter.com/Haydensmommy05/status/11698517660
I entered the KidKraft outdoor playhouse giveaway at The Shopping Mamma!
Another fabulous giveaway!
I would choose the ART ACTIVITY DESK =]
Thank You!!
shanna.elizabeth@hotmail.com
I would love to have the Mission furniture collection, especially the book cases.
I entered the KidKraft Playhouse Giveaway at The Shopping Mama! =]
shanna.elizabeth@hotmail.com
I follow Guidecraft on Twitter
@ShannaEAnderson
shanna.elizabeth@hotmail.com
I am a follower of the Guidecraft Blog!
shanna.elizabeth@hotmail.com
I am a fan of Guidecraft on Facebook.
-Shanna A.
shanna.elizabeth@hotmail.com
I am a fan of Baby Loving Mama on Facebook.
-Shanna A.
shanna.elizabeth@hotmail.com
I follow your blog publicly !
shanna.elizabeth@hotmail.com
i would love any and all of the kitchen food.
I SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL ! =]
shanna.elizabeth@hotmail.com
entered shopping mama’s giveaway.
fan of guidcraft on facebook
fan of baby loving mama on facebook
Follow Guidecraft on twitter
ljatwood at gmail dot com
suscribe via email
I love the Butterfly Table & Chairs Set
I follow Guidecraft on Twitter.
wendy0027
follower of the Guidcraft blog
ljatwood at gmail dot com