Peek Inside: A Professional Organizer's House....{Nate's Room}

It's the last day of the month, and you know what that means....."Peek Inside" time! And since we've been talking about boys' bedrooms all month, today we'll get to look at my son Nate's room.

 Zone 1: Desk & Lego corner. My son is in first grade, and does not have a tremendous amount of homework. (He can knock it out in about 10 minutes, so we just use the kitchen table downstairs.)

So, the main purpose of his desk right now is to:

1). Serve as a work area for building Lego creations and

2). Display his creations.

 He has one tiny drawer in his desk and I've allowed him to keep whatever he wants in there! I hate to call it a "junk drawer," because it's not junk to him. (But it is to me, ha!) I just threw a few drawer organizers in there from the Dollar Tree. I make him go through the drawer every few months when it's getting too cluttered & full.

I did a post earlier this month on storing Legos; click here to view that post. But basically, Nate likes his Legos sorted by BOTH color & set. These plastic drawer systems came from Target & have done the trick so far. As well as more drawer dividers from none other than Dollar Tree.

 Zone 2: Bookshelves. I absolutely adore the built-in bookshelves Nate has in his room. (They came with the house when we moved in 3 years ago; we got really lucky!) And since my son is an avid reader & Lego builder, these shelves provide plenty of storage for both of his passions. Look at the below picture for each corresponding number:

1. All of the book series he has read.
2. Coin collection
3. Bin of action figures & bin of binders with all of his Pokémon cards
4. More Lego display
5. His "nightstand" - a tray corrals the current books he's reading, a booklight, and Kleenex
6. More Lego storage; see second picture down for more detail.

 

Nate's Lego cabinet, where we store larger sets

 

Close-up of the Left side bookshelf

Close-up of the Right side bookshelf

Zone 3: Closet. Nate's closet is the smallest in the house, so we had to get creative on some of his storage.

1. Sleeping bag

2. Basket of quilts

3. Bin for all his cards/mementos

4. Short-sleeve polos

5. Long-sleeve polos & sweaters (aka "church clothes")

6. Bin with extra sheets

7. Bin with Holiday Books (My mom is a retired teacher, so we have 10+ books for every holiday from Valentine's Day to July 4th to Christmas!)

8. Bin with Summer stuff (mostly bathing suits)

9. Bin for clothes that are "Too Small"

10. Play clothes - long-sleeve & sweatshirts

11. Play clothes - pants

12. School uniforms

It's essential to have clothes where your child can reach them easily! (So you don't have to hear "Mooooom! Where's my ______?!") On Nate's lower hanging rack, I have his school uniforms to make mornings go more smoothly, and then he can easily change into play clothes when he comes home.

Close-up of closet bins; I just made a simple label with my labelmaker

 Zone 4: Taekwondo Gear. Nate takes TKD two days a week, so I wanted a place where he can easily find his uniform, as well as keep it wrinkle-free. (They are strict at TKD!)

So there you have it! :)

Let me know your favorite part of Nate's room, as well as a favorite spot in your own son's room!

How to Organize Legos

All month long, we've been discussing ways to keep your son's bedroom organized. Well, today, I want to talk about the "L" word.....Legos!

 

My son is 7, but has been interested in Legos since the age of 4. We knew early on that we wanted to store his Legos in his bedroom instead of the playroom. (The biggest reason for this was to keep the Legos out of his younger sister's hands - and mouth!)

 

Back then, he only had a box of miscellaneous Legos, we were able to have a small table like this with rolling storage underneath (the green bin), and that was sufficient.

 

Fast forward 3 years and now my son can put together 1000+ piece sets in a few hours. And he asks for them every birthday and Christmas! Obviously, I had to expand his Lego storage system.

 

Currently, this is the Lego corner in his room:

 Both of the drawer systems were purchased at Target. And my son decided he wanted to sort his Legos by BOTH color & by set. So I bought a ton of small red bins from the Dollar Tree, to act as drawer dividers. For each (small) set he has, I cut out a piece of the box with either a picture or name of the set & taped it to the bottom of each bin.

And then, in another part of my son's room, we have larger bins that hold the larger sets. Same idea - I cut out a piece of the box that shows a picture or the name of the set & taped it to the bins.

 This system is working for us right now, but I can't help but drool over these other options:

{1.} The IKEA Trofast system, with custom labels:

{Source}

 

{2.} A mobile Lego center, made from rolling drawer units, a 4 foot board, and a few Lego mats glued together. Genius!

{Source}

 

Because of my son's Lego obsession these past few years, 

I consider myself to be a Lego expert :)

Here are a few tips when organizing your child's Legos:

1. Allow room for growth.  Like I mentioned, I did not do this at the beginning. Which is okay, because I didn't know how big of a role Legos would play in my son's life. I started simple and then added onto the system once his collection expanded. And there is still room for more bins in his cabinet, so I feel like we can still accommodate a few more birthdays....

2. Designate a small bin as a "drop zone." My son has to clean up his room every night before bed, but I'm not such a stickler that every.single.lego.piece has to be in the correct colored bin every night. I have a small red bin in his drawer system that he can put miscellaneous pieces in, and then periodically go back to sort them & find their "home."

 

3. Displaying is important. No child wants to work hours on a creation, only for you to tell them to take it apart or put it away the next day. My son displays most of his creations on his desk, and also has a shelf above his bed. (Once they get too crowded though, I insist that he take few apart.) And here is another cute display option:

{Source}

4. Get your child involved. Ask if they'd rather have their Legos sorted by color or by set, and plan accordingly. Like I mentioned, we sort by BOTH color & set, and that was at my son's insistence. (He likes to be able to take apart a huge NinjaGo temple, put all the pieces in a bin, and know that when he's ready to rebuild it, all the pieces are already together. Clearly he got my OCD gene!)

 

5. Keep those manuals. I am the crazy person that keeps every single manual that enters our household.....for electronics, for toys, for appliances, you name it. While that may not be 100% necessary, I do know that those Lego manuals are important to keep! Sure, everything is online these days, but it's nice for your child to have them at their fingertips when needed. My son has his in the bottom drawer of his storage system, but I love this idea of putting them in a file box & using hanging folders to organize them:

{Source}

Peek Inside: A Professional Organizer's House... {Abby's Room}

I got an overwhelming response last month when I had my first "Peek Inside" post. As a result, I've decided to go room-by-room in my house, and give you the specifics on what organizing methods I use. Today, my daughter's room is featured!

 

{Now, let me just give you a little background on Abby first. She is 5, going on 15. She's full of sass & personality, and has the most infectious laugh I've ever heard. She loves anything pink, dancing & singing in her room, playing dress-up, coloring, and pestering her older brother....}

The diva herself

Growing up, I was a huge tomboy - and still kinda am! - so the word "princess," and the color pink was just not in my vocabulary. It still isn't. But oh the things you will do for your daughter....

 

Zone 1: The Bed & Nightstands. I store a few space bags under Abby's bed, filled with clothes she has outgrown and I need to consign. As for the nightstands, I wanted them to have lots of storage, so each has a drawer and cabinet.

 The top right picture is Abby's "junk drawer".....I let her put whatever she wants in there, as long as it fits in that little bin. The top left picture has a container for all her bookmarks, and the purple case holds her Pokémon cards. (Yes, her brother is rubbing off on her a little bit!) The bird pillow is her Tooth Fairy pillow....haven't had to use it yet though. The books on the bottom left are ones we have been reading lately, and the picture on the bottom right holds her piggy bank, wallet, and cds (her clock doubles as a cd player/radio.)

 Zone 2: The Dresser. I'm pretty proud of this beauty, because I refinished it with a friend. (She even did a fabulous stencil on the side; look 2 pictures up!) We painted it a light gray with white hardware, and then I purchased the glass knobs at Hobby Lobby.

 I lined the drawers with metallic wrapping paper, just because I thought it was pretty! (And my daughter loves all things shiny.) I glued it on with a spray-on adhesive, like this one. The bins are from IKEA, and help to organize socks, leotards, underwear, and tights.

 This bow organizer was another DIY project of mine. I bought an old frame from Goodwill, spray- painted it, removed the glass, and hot glued pieces of thick white ribbon on the back. (The reason I used hot glue was because the frame is plastic. If you have a wood frame, I would recommend using a staple gun.)

 Zone 3: The Kitchen & Art Wall. I feel like this kitchen is a bit of an eyesore (Thanks Nanny!), but Abby loves it and plays with it constantly. When she outgrows it in another year or two, I'm picturing a white desk or maybe even a vanity in it's place.

Abby is pretty good about keeping the kitchen organized, so this is what it looks like on a good day! All the white bins are from The Dollar Store, and do a great job containing all of her "food."

 I created an Art Wall for Abby because she is constantly drawing pictures for her family, friends, and strangers on the street :) These are some of her current favorites, and the frames are super easy to change out at a moment's notice. Another great IKEA purchase! (Or you could get similar ones at Michael's when they are on sale.)

I purchased the watercolor in the middle from a friend...
let me know if you want her contact information!

 

Zone 4: The Closet. Wow, that's a lot of pink! I have Abby's dresses, and out-of-season short-sleeve shirts on the top bar, since she can't reach that high. Down below, I have her dress-up clothes (tucked in the left corner) and her long-sleeve shirts. She insists on picking out her clothes each day (and it's always a very colorful ensemble to say the least!), so it's important that she can reach the clothes herself. I also think *every* kids' closet needs a hanging organizer (far right). Abby's holds extra hangers, large & small blankets, and an extra set of sheets.

 The pink bins on the middle shelf are a lifesaver. In fact, I blogged about them a few months ago, in my "Tuesday Tip" post.  I've found that the easiest way to deal with the constant influx of clothes is to designate two bins in Abby's closet as follows: "Too Big" and "Too Small." Since I am a mom that loves to shop at consignment sales, as well as sell/consign my kids' clothes, these bins are a tremendous help with in those two areas! For example: when I buy something for the next season, it goes in the "Too Big" bin. And when I've decided those shorts are just toooo short, they go in the "Too Small" bin. (I previously mentioned that I have space bags under Abby's bed with out-of-season clothes. The pink bins will eventually be emptied into those; they just serve as a temporary holding spot when I'm in a rush.)

 

If you're wondering, I got the canvas bins from Target. And I created the labels using these name badges, Microsoft Word, and some scrapbook paper!

 

The first bin on the left is labeled "Summer," and holds swim suits & sandals.

 Looking up into Abby's closet, you will see a box labeled "cards", a basket for "quilts," and then the one on the far right is a memory box I gave to Abby on her first birthday. It holds a few special pictures, my hankie from my wedding, and a lock of hair from her first haircut.

 As previously mentioned, my daughter loooooves to play dress-up! I have her costumes tucked away into the left corner of her closet. She loves the easy access, but we are still working on her being able to correctly hang them back up. (Right now, I just ask her to put them in a pile when she's done with them.)

And here are her two bins - one has miscellaneous items like wands, boas, tiaras, etc. And the white bin holds all of her dress-up shoes. These she can definitely pick up & put back on her own.

 Zone 5: Bookshelf & Table Set. On the top shelf, I have hardback books of Abby's that are keepsakes or gifts (translation: she's not allowed to mess with them!). The bottom shelf holds the rest of her books, and her jewelry box. (Oh, how my girl loves to accessorize!) Again, these are right at her level and provide easy access.

The cabinet underneath holds her Legos. The two white bins are from The Dollar Tree, and I just cut up part of the boxes from each set so they could be easily identified. (If you've already thrown away the original packaging, just stick a chalkboard label on there with the name of the set, or print a picture off the internet.) The two clear bins inside the gray box hold Lego sets as well, just smaller ones.

 

Now, I know a lot of people tend to store Legos by color, but I have found that my kids prefer to store them in sets, so they don't have to go hunting around for pieces. To each his own! (When I feature my son's room, you will see that it was more of a challenge to create his Lego storage, since he has a gazillion sets!)

 Abby's table & chair set was a present from "Santa" this year, so we are still getting used to it. Right now, she's using it to display (& play with) her Lego sets after she assembles them. In the future, I see her using this for tea parties as well.

 

And the large basket in the corner holds all of Abby's "friends." Whenever the basket reaches capacity (which it pretty much is right now!), I tell her we have to donate a few or find a new home for them.

 Zone 6: The Bathroom. I told you my daughter was a diva, and she a bathroom attached to her room. (It was put in by the previous owners, right before we moved in 2 years ago. Score!)

 

I refinished the cabinet on the right, by painting it white and then giving the interior cabinet a coat of sea foam blue. I removed the glass from the cabinet doors and added chicken wire. And 300 cuts on my hands later, it was complete! :) The baskets are mostly used for extra hair accessories, nail polish, and combs/brushes.

And that concludes the tour of Abby's room. Stay tuned for more rooms in the upcoming months!


**I want to make it clear that - for the most part - these are staged pictures. My daughter is five years old, so her room is not this spotless all of the time! The main things I have her do to stay organized is to make her bed every morning, and then clean up her toys/dress-up clothes before bedtime. I'm happy with just those two chores, and I don't feel like it's asking too much of a five year old. So please just keep that in mind when you're viewing these pictures!**

If you'd like to share how your kids' keep their rooms clean, please leave a comment below. I'd love to hear from you!