Friends! This post has been a long time coming. A very L-O-N-G time coming. I am so happy to tell you all that I have finally organized my DVDs! And I feel like it’s the best solution out there. At least for us. :)
In order to really appreciate this new system I feel the need to share what a struggle DVD organization has been for me in the past. The picture above was taken about 7 years ago in our previous house. Life with three kids brought many things into our lives – one of which was a decent collection of kids’ DVDs that I organized in this drawer in our entertainment center. In alphabetical order of course. No.. I haven’t changed much. :)
This worked great. Until..
Kole was on the move. Adorable? Yes. But on a mission each day to destroy every ounce of organization in my house.
See what I mean. Never thought I’d say this but I miss those days! Not the mess.. but definitely my little terror. :)
When we moved into our new house I put all of the DVDs (that had grown into an even bigger collection) on my hutch in our playroom.
I know that DVDs will be phasing out eventually with Netflix, Streaming Media and all of the other options out there, but my kids still watch and love these movies. We have family movie nights and watch old favorites, we use them when we travel, the kids watch them with friends. We just aren’t ready to get rid of them yet. But keeping them out like this in the playroom was a terrible temporary solution! No matter how hard I tried I continued to struggle to find the exact movie my kids wanted to watch, to keep the correct disc in the correct case, and to keep some sort of order with these movies that my kids were constantly moving around.
{DVD Pro Dividers/DVD Pro Sleeves/DVD Pro Snap-Fit Tray} *affiliate links used
I had always planned on creating my own system to organized DVDs, but I finally realized that I’m in a phase of life with my now older busy kids where my time matters most. I just don’t have the time for a lot of DIY projects. I had seen and been debating these dividers at The Container Store for years and finally pulled the plug and bought them. I ended up buying two Pro Divider Packs, five Pro Snap-Fit Trays, and LOTS of the DVD Pro Sleeves because we have so many DVDs. It was a long time coming investment in my sanity!
I have to say that I underestimated how long this little project would take! I pulled every DVD from every room in our house and started taking the covers out of their cases.
Then I decided to organize them all alphabetically with their dividers before putting them in the cases.
{Family room sources: Fiddle Leaf Fig/Baskets/Fig Basket/Wool Jute rug/Similar Coffee Table/Similar Lamp/Accent Table}
Pretty soon this project had taken on a life of its own and before I knew it my kids were home from school and we needed our family room back!
So I moved everything into our formal dining room. And then I got busy and it all sat there. For weeks.
Until we needed to use our dining room.
So I moved everything into Kenny’s home office. And I continued to stay busy and it all sat there. For more weeks. Making my husband so happy. He just loves it when I dump my half finished projects in his office. ;)
Finally months later I had a free day to invest in this project. I pulled everything out in the family room (again!), turned on one of our DVD’s :) and got to work.
Hours later…
Ta-da! DONE. DVD Organization. Was it really happening for me!? After years of DVD chaos?
It was. Every single movie we own. In a thin DVD sleeve. With the DVD jacket in front so we can still see pics of our favorite movies.
Organized alphabetically. Oh the JOY!
What was that Kole? You want to watch Big Hero 6? Why let me just flip to the “B’s”.. and quickly pull it out!
Girls.. are you in the mood for The Sound of Music? I’m on it! In record time. :)
And if that wasn’t enough to make me giddy.. just look at all of the space I’m saving! With room to spare in two of the trays. I love how you can adjust them to fit how many DVDs you have.
It took three trays to hold all of our regular DVDs.
Then I used two separate trays to hold Christmas movies and Barbie movies (we have quite the collection my girls don’t want to part with!).
I used my trusty label maker to label the last two trays.
It was so nice to just pull out this single tray in December and have easy access to all of our Christmas movies!
I also added “Kids Performances” to the last tray. So nice to have a place to keep all of the DVDs of plays, school performances, dance recitals, etc. for the kids.
When we travel I just pull out the DVD sleeves we want and put them in a large ziplock bag. I love how it takes up NO space. This set up has been a dream!
So that’s it! DVD organization in my home. FINALLY. I wish I would have done this years ago! But instead of looking back, I will just celebrate the fact that it’s done now.
A before and after that was definitely worth waiting for. :)
{POST SOURCES}
Yay! Love how they are all alphabetical, too! Where are you storing them? I would love to do this and get all our dvds organized like this!
It feels so good to have done Gina! A project I’ve had on my to-do list for years! Right now they are in the family room entertainment center cupboard but I might move them up to the theatre room when it’s finished. I’m going to pay attention to where we watch them most! :) xo
Wow! This looks so great! About how many were you able to fit on one tray?!
Thank you Joanna! I’ll count at some point today and get back to you! xo
Wow, that looks like an amazing solution! Congratulations for being able to finish what you had started and that it is working out so well for you all. That has got to be a wonderful feeling! I hope this finds you recovering well. I saw on your IG stories that your daughter won the part of Ariel in an upcoming production. WOW! Fantastic! I am so happy for her!! What a little powerhouse she must be. :) Thanks for sharing this great organization idea and that great news. Hope you aren’t pushing yourself too hard to do too much. Wouldn’t want you to have a recovery setback! :)
Thank you Jeanne! Oh my word.. we are so excited about Addison’s play! Sweet of you to mention. :) I wish I could say she got some of her singing talent from me, but nope.. ha. :) I am definitely trying to take it easy (as much as is possible with 3 kids!). My parents are in town this week and it has been so nice to have some help and company. Baby steps around here. :) I hope you’re having a good month so far! xo
The Barbie DVDs… my daughter would love to watch these—she’s 27!(and has a son) 😂 We had one VHS of a Barbie show back in the 1990s and it was a live stage show that was running at Walt Disney World. She would watch it over and over! They unfortunately didn’t make Barbie shows back then… She still LOVES all things Barbie—maybe she will have a daughter one day and she can live out Barbie fantasies once more!
I digress—love the DVD organization!! I will be implementing this system for our DVDS!
Oh my word Dawn.. you know what’s funny? Kenny and I love those barbie DVDs! They take us right back to when our girls were little. There are a couple of them that the girls watched over and over and we love hearing the music! My girls still take them and watch them on family trips. Have you seen the Barbie Christmas Carol? It’s so cute! A family favorite every December. :) I honestly think we’ll save them forever. Love that your daughter loves them too! And so happy you like the DVD organization! xo
Beautiful system! I’m an alphabetical girl too 😊 I’m curious, did you toss our all the original boxes or store them someplace —like the attic??
Thank you Katie! I’m so excited about it. I recycled them! Gone. :) xo
This made me laugh because it was really hard for me to get rid of all the cases. What if I NEED them??? Ha. I also recycled them — all but two or three. We use them when our kids want to take a movie to the Grandparents’ house or to a sleepover. I was worried at first about sending them in the sleeves, but now that we’ve used them for quite a while, I think they would be fine.
I paused for about 20 seconds feeling the same way!! What if I regret tossing them!? But I quickly got over it.. ha ha.. ;) Thank you Jenny! xo
Wow that looks fabulous Erin! SO organized!! You’ve inspired me too! Currently ours all sit in boxes in the attic – not convenient! Hope you are feeling better!
Thank you so much Lisa! I am feeling better! Not totally myself yet and crutches aren’t a party.. but every day is a little better. :) xo
I got the same DVD organizers this summer after we moved into a new home with different storage areas. Could not be happier. So many dvds in so little space!
Aren’t they a dream Jennifer!? I agree.. such a huge space saver and now they are so much easier to keep organized! xo
Love this, Erin! We don’t have kids yet so not a lot of DVDs here but I am sure our collection will grow when we add little ones! Saving this idea for sure! Do you just keep the trays in the playroom hutch? Can’t wait for more organization posts!
Thank you Kaitlin! Yes.. you will definitely add to your collection once kids come around! Right now I have the trays in our family room entertainment center but I might move them up to the theatre room when it’s finished! I’m watching to see where we use them most. I’ll share a pic of them when they land in a permanent spot! :)
This is great! Thanks for sharing.
Would you do a post on your family’s favorite movies to watch together? Maybe your top 10 kids movie favs, your husband’s, your son’s and each of the girls’ favorites?
Thank you!
Hi Grace! That’s a fun post idea! I’ll try to do that some time! :) xo
Erin, BRILLIANT! You crack me up; I wish you could hear me giving you applause because this is awesome. I also immediately spotted Band of Brothers on your table because well, you can probably guess ;)
Ha ha.. thank you Kelley! Seriously this took me so long to finally wrap up! But I’m thrilled to have it done. So happy you like it! :) xo
Looks good! I love the alphabet dividers. I put all of our DVDs into a different type of clear sleeves (Atlantic – from Amazon) a few years ago, and have never looked back! We have them stored in the drawers of our entertainment center (a.k.a. dresser). We have one drawer for grown-up movies and another for kids. They fit nicely turned sideways. I have them in alphabetical order, but it would be very nice to have dividers! I love that you made a section just for Christmas movies. GREAT idea!
Sounds like a perfect solution Jenny! Love that! I wonder if the dividers would work with your sleeves!? Might be a perfect addition to your system. :) xo
Hey Erin – any suggestions on organizing VHS TAPES????
Yes, I know. Yes, I’m THAT old.
Please help.
Ha ha.. that made me laugh Jenifer! We have VHS tapes too! Did you know that you can get them made into DVDs!? You can take them to Costco and they will transfer them for you! Just one option. I’ve done that with some of our old family videos. :)
This is AH-MAZING! You are speaking to me today! We have a cool media room, but the cupboards of the VERY large entertainment unit are full of DVDs in baskets, but I ran out of space. I am seriously going to buy some of these and get back to work! I love it!
YEA! I’m so happy this post was helpful Rebecca! DVDs can take up so much space. You will LOVE this system! It’s working like a dream for us. :)
That is an impressive piece of organizational work Erin.
Wow!
Thank you so much Jane! I’m so happy you like it! :)
Great idea! I have the same problem! We have shelves built that are dvd depth size so we can see them and read the edges of the movies- but the DVDs in the case take up so much space. Would these trays work if you stored them sideways on a dvd shelf rather then pulling the tray out from the front? Seems like I would need a lot of space to store these trays? Thank you!
Hi Kristin! I think the only thing that would be hard about storing them sideways is that you couldn’t easily see the dividers or movie jackets to see what movie you’re looking for! And yes.. you would need more space storing them that way. I’m not sure how many I had total but I’ll count and share that on the blog soon! And yes.. I just got two packs of the dividers to have C for Christmas, B for Barbie movies and K for Kids performances. Also just to have extra if I add any more categories down the road. :)
Oh my gosh Erin, I love this for so many reasons! First, those pics of Kole! 😍😍
Second, just thinking about the Barbie DVDs makes me smile! I loved the age of our kids when your girls were so into those, all the ones I have I bought after you would recommend them to me! Do you remember that? You had all of them so when I’d see one or a new one would come out you’d tell me if it was one that was worth buying! Oh I miss our girls being little! So funny side story, (going to be a long comment here!) about a year or so ago I was cleaning out laundry room cupboards and found a new Barbie DVD that I had bought for Madi and hid it to save as a gift! I was so bummed!! It must’ve been there for years! Of course she’d totally outgrown them so I gave it to one of Jensen’s girl friends as a gift. I also found an old bag of Easter m&ms I had hid in there too! 😂 nice!
I love this sleeve idea! I organized ours a few years ago and put them in those big Logic Case dvd organizers but I don’t love them, the DVD’s fall slide out easily and of course the kids never put them back in the right place because they don’t want to bother looking for it. I have wanted to put them alphabetical but with the sleeves we have I’d have to move DVDs every time I needed to add a new one, which would be such a pain! So I’m totally going to buy these! Looks like a much better idea and makes alphabetizing practical! Can’t wait!! Where are you keeping the trays at though? That’s my only concern in thinking about mine.
Hope you are feeling good, love you!
Josie! Loved your comment! Oh my word.. I totally remember rating the Barbie movies for you! Ha ha.. that seems like it was yesterday! I so miss them being little too. Part of the reason none of us are parting with the Barbie movies. ;) And I have SO done that before! What is it with Easter candy!? SAME! Found some in a bedroom cupboard like a year later. I’ve had to be so careful with Christmas gifts because I used to hide them all over the place and then forget about them! Wish we could go to lunch and catch up! Missing you. I was thinking about you a few days ago because I was having a Twilight marathon. ;) And yes.. you will love these DVD dividers/sleeves if you buy them. I can’t believe I didn’t do this YEARS ago. I’ll share where I’m keeping the trays soon! I have a spot for them but am waiting for the theatre room to be finished to see if they work in that space. :) Love you cutie! xo
Also- question…. why did you get 2 pro divider packs? One pack should have all the letters A-Z correct? Did you get the other pack for the Christmas movies and performances? (Are they all blank or lettered?)
And curious, How many DVDs did you end up with total?
What a great idea! I am going to start working on my collection also…it looks very similar to how yours started! Do the trays come in singles or are there more than one in a pack. I see you said you bought three but i noticed you had 5 sitting out. Just curious. Thanks so much for the great idea!!
So happy you like this solution! The trays come in singles and I just fixed my blog.. thanks for pointing that out! I bought 5 not 3.. 3 for our regular DVDs but 5 total because I added the Christmas and Barbie/Kids DVDs. :)
Great idea! I would gain an entire bookcase if I organized like this! My only question, are the sleeves open at top or do they close? I tend to think if my 2 year old got his hands on them, would it be worse than dvd boxes everywhere?!
Thanks Liz! Oh my word.. right!? They save SO much space. I will try to take a picture of the inside of the sleeves for you but if you click on the link on my blog (pic of the DVD sleeves) and go to the Container Store’s site they have a video that shows the inside of them!
Hi Erin, I just stumbled upon your blog via Pinterest and it’s amazing! Beautiful home. I was wondering about the rug that’s pictured here in your living room. We are thinking of a similar piece but wondering how well the materials (it looks like jute?) hold up with normal family life (kids, vacuuming, etc). And if it’s soft or scratchy? Share any info you can, thank you!!
Hi Lindsey! Thank you! I’m happy you found me. :) That is my all time favorite rug and I have two of them! I wrote all about it in the post below. Let me know if you still have questions after reading it!
https://www.thesunnysideupblog.com/2015/09/lets-talk-rugs/
Great solution! Simple, organized and taking up a lot less space is,a huge win!
Be Still My Heart!!!!! I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with all my DVDs or many years. My grand babies come over and look through the movies…you guessed it, all messed up again! Can’t wait to use this system in my own home. My sweet sister put all hers in a DVD folder without covers, but I like being able to see what the movie is. My littles that can’t read yet, can find their favorite by looking at the cover. I’m a little dreamy right now, picturing a organized space…..
Yea! So happy if this was helpful Linda! I felt the same way. I wanted to be able to see the movie jackets! Especially nice for little kids. Happy organizing! :)
I love this! We have tried many things over the years. Maybe this one is next.
So happy it was helpful Nita! xo
That’s impressive! I love how much space you’re saving and how organized they are. Do you keep them all inside a cabinet?
Thanks, Erin for the tip. I just ordered a set for our movies and CDs! Love your blog, Keep up the good work. We organizers need to stick together!
Yes we do! So happy this was helpful Lisa! Thank you! :) xo