Room Number Two

I realize that I am a bit behind here.  Along with the crazy January itch to reorganize, I also seem to have a crazy January itch to lay in bed and watch t.v..  Wait...maybe I have that itch every month.

However, room number two is now complete.  It feels fantastic to have two of the kids' rooms sorted out and it is so much easier to maintain now that we have adjusted some of the storage to be more practical.

Let's go step by step through the process.  As with Cate's room, Eli's had a few problems that I wanted to solve.

One

The lego table was overflowing.  My oldest has his lego in here too but they kinda like to keep their finished products separate.  I wanted to give them both space to stand their creations, but, still allow me to vacuum!  I used the corner shelf, which was really not being put to practical use before.  Jake gets 2 shelves for his built lego, Eli gets the table top, and then the loose stuff is in the pull out drawer.

Before

After

Two

The closet was overflowing with toys and they never got put back properly.  There is still a lot in there, but I gave each category of toy its own storage.  Bullets, guns, costumes, transformers, bionicles...no excuse now for not cleaning up after play time.  

After

Before

And it's okay to store a lot of stuff in there, because the curtain keeps it looking clean all the time.  I got this and the window curtains on sale at Zellers and hung this one inside the closet with a tension shower rod.

Three

So many little THINGS!  Isn't it the trickiest task to keep your kids' collections reigned in?  I purged a garbage bag full of bits of garbage and broken items and little toys that will not be missed.  But every child has some special treasures.  I used the red basket to "cage" the items that are special to Eli.  As with Cate's room, I left one blanket on Eli's bed but removed the rest to store in a shared bin in the hallway.

Before

After

Treasures

Four

Last time I arranged this room, I tried a configuration that did not end up working well.  This shelf was difficult to access and as a result, always messy.  Rearranging the furniture helped to create more space.

Before

After

Five

The books on the window sill were never used, so I purged them and brought the books we do read out in the open and easy to find.

Before

After

Six

The furniture did not optimize the space.  Now the room feels much bigger.

Before

After

By focussing on one issue at a time, it made a job that felt a little overwhelming, easy to tackle.  I also called Darla again to help me which sped up the process, and as it happened Jake was home from school that day so he was able to get involved with his brother's redo.  It was really handy to have him do the lego moving and gun sorting.  

Thanks for the help guys!  

Eli's response?  

"THIS IS THE BEST ROOM EVER!!"