A productive little day!

I was absolutely pumped for some decluttering today. There is nothing like the refreshed feeling you get after tackling a hot mess zone, and B4's room (though improved from early days) was screaming out for another purge.

He's at the age now where his clothes seem to be shrinking at an alarming rate, and the toys he actually plays with only make up 50% of what he owns! All of this means there are things taking up space in his room that really needn't be there anymore.

I had already bagged up most of the tiny clothes and passed them onto my gorgeous little nephews, and donated some of the toys that were no longer age appropriate. But I was SURE there was more I could do! Okay, so maybe this was more about my organising urges, and not really about B4's room needing organising. I did just recently do all of this, but it was just one of those days....I HAD to organise SOMETHING!

Welcome to B4's room...

Colourful and fun is the general theme! And behind those robe doors is where the real fun begins...

 A few months ago, I tackled the mess of books, so we'll take a look at that first.

Visually hectic!

But in less than 5 minutes, everything is feeling much better! No DIY, no decluttering, no major changes, just plain old-fashioned organising!

 Now let's get into the big project!

Here's the robe stripped of it's doors. You can see where we have made improvements with tubs to hold the toys, and an assortment of different organisers to corall all of the other 'stuff'. But it's a kids room, and a multi-purpose space, so things don't stay in place for long.

In the circular shelves were boardshorts and swimwear, but it's Winter here, so I was able to tuck them away into a tub, ready for the warmer weather.

These shelves are great for a space like this, and were a super thrifty find at $25 on the local news board a couple of years ago, but they weren't really being used effectively.

This side was just random.

Not exactly the picture of organistion huh?

 So, the tricky thing about this robe is that it has to neatly house clothes AND toys, and that's where things get out of control all too quickly. I needed to improve the clothes area, and tidy up the toys.

So I took down hanger above the shelf unit, as it was basically useless there...

...and installed it under the other hanger. This was so simple, and I wish I had done it when we first moved in! All it took was a screw driver and a pencil to get it in the right spot, and now the space can be utilised effectively :o)

Then I tidied up the rest! The games got moved next to the books, and some of B4's less 'messy' toys, like his trucks, got put down the bottom where he could easily reach them (and perhaps be less tempted to go for a whole box of little tiny toys to throw around!).

I put back the shoe shelf, but shortened it a little by pinning it up. Partly because I had to, and partly as a reminder that one little boy only needs so many pairs of shoes! I also found that the red and white shelves could sit atop the hanger which freed up some floor space and made it more accessible for me and Hubs.

So, without further ado.......

Before...

After!

I'm super happy with results, and managed to satisfy my organising urges for the day :o) It would have been great to have some more shelves for the right hand side, but I'm far to happy with the rest of it to worry!

The best advice I can give you for tackling a project like this is always the same: Take everything out of the space first. I had stood in front of the 'before' robe for about 5 minutes just wondering where to start. I eventually reminded myself to take everything out and only then did I have the light-bulb moment about moving the hanger over. I wouldn't have been able to see that solution through the clutter.

I was also worried that doing this project would create another 'list' of things to buy to improve the space, but I worked with what there was and didn't feel the need to buy anything for the space!  As an added bonus, I have been able to look at all of the toys B4 has and re assess what he actually needs in the future. 

Jen over at I Heart Organising has a great post on their old playroom, and it was here that I read some really great advice:

"A: When family and friends are inquiring on gift ideas, I ask that they expand upon current play sets that the kiddos already enjoy vs receiving a ton of random things that may or may not get touched.  B:  We must clean out our toy bins and areas every single birthday party and Christmas holiday, and donate old toys when replacing with new.  Sometimes it's hard for the kids to understand or let go, but they are learning some very valuable life lessons.  It also ensures that we don't need to build an addition onto our home just for toys, because that is just crazy talk."

I'll be making sure we do this in the future so that Ky can really appreciate what he has, without ending up overwhelmed and a little spoiled for choice when it comes to his toys :o)

Being the kid's room that it is, I will no doubt be back here again in 6 2 months re-organising the chaos that will have ensued, but that's just the way it goes *shrug. I don't ever want to run out of places to declutter, organise and improve, so that's just fine with me!

Now all I need to do is replace some of the cosy clothes that have 'shrunk' since last Winter!

xo Cassie