Emerald + Aubergine: Playroom Organization!

Now that I have a little one of my own, I can see how toys and stuff magically accumulates. It's hard to keep all the knick-knacks organized and even harder to teach little kiddos how to put their toys away after they have been played with. I get it. Especially for busy working parents, who wants to put their children's toys away at the end of a long day???

I believe the best way to organize toys is to compartmentalize and to label everything. It seems tedious, but once they see that there is a home for everything they own, I find it is a lot easier to encourage putting things away into their designated places. It may not work on an everyday basis when they are just learning to pick up after themselves, but even a once a week family clean-up session with your munchies will teach them to appreciate and take care of what they have and to nurture the ever-important values of organization for later years.

I had the pleasure of working with friends of the family on their girls' play room. It was so much fun working on this space not only because I love the girls to bits, but simply because they are GIRLS! I secretly LOVE all the girly stuff! And let me tell ya, these kids have it all.

It was not that they didn't have the room to house all their toys, it was just that there was not a designated place for everything. The clutter seemed unmanageable at first glance, but in the end all it took was a few hours of weeding through everything. Both kids and parents helped me make mutually agreed upon piles of 'keep', 'donate' and 'toss', (just like any organization project) then I went to work laying out the space, labeling all the bins and creating some desk space for art projects and homework. Enter IKEA. I found practical storage solutions on a budget and all in all, I think that the play room turned out quite cute. I got to incorporate a lot of pink which I don't get to do with my little boy...

The after pics were taken a few days after the project was complete and I think that sisters K and K are doing a great job making their play room their own by adding their own touches and mom and dad report that they are quickly learning to put their toys in their respective homes.

Here are some before's and after's. Enjoy!

Before Pictures...

Up the stairs to the 3rd floor play room!
Let's see what we have to tackle.

Games - Rule of thumb: Don't stack boxes too high
or things at the bottom will never get used.
I like to stack boxes 3 high at the most.

Existing Bins... Not labeled = Not used.

Little closet full of under-utilized space!

Old behemoth TV... Perfect place for some desks!
Now who is going to move this thing downstairs?

Lots of room but too much stuff out in the open.

When the floor isn't clear, there is no room to play! = toys end up
all over the house because kids will try to find available
open space elsewhere to do what they do best... PLAY!

This cute little art desk was never used because there was
too much stuff on top of it. This is a great place for a
few chairs for a reading nook and for watching TV.