As we entered 2011, like so many households with kids, we had new toys to contend with. Before Christmas, Noah (my 5 year-old) and I went through all our toys and decided which ones we could donate. I thought I was getting the toy room ready for new toys. I knew the toy room (which is really a storage room turned into a toy room) was in desperate need of a makeover.
But I wasn't prepared for the insane overflow of toys that ensued after Christmas. We didn't go overboard with gifts for the kids and neither did other family but just the addition of a few toys for both kids made our entire toy room and family room explode with toys. With the exception of having the "baby toys" separate from the toy room, there was NO organization to them at all. The kids didn't even really play with anything because they could hardly walk much less play!!
When I get an idea in my head I just go for it. My nature is to just jump in feet first without much thought or planning. And that is exactly what I did with the toy room, on super bowl Sunday no less (my husband thought I had gone nuts, but he is used to my spontaneous, spur of the moment projects by now).... I decided to paint the toy room. It was nap time and I had finally hit my breaking point with the toys. I began to gut the toy room by putting all the toys in huge storage bins. Then the room was empty. Now what?! I had no plan, no shelves, bins or anything to organize the toys any differently. But I was going to paint. After the toy room was gutted I went to our paint supplies and found about a quarter of a gallon of two colors that I thought would work together (blue and green). And I painted....and Noah came in while I was painting and said, "wow Mom what else can you do?!" Not sure if I should find this laughable or insulting, my kid obviously think I could do much of anything :)
The next day....I walked down to the toy room and thought oh no, what did I get myself into?! I have nothing to put the toys in to make it any better than before! It is not as if the paint was going to organize the toys. So it was off to Ikea I went, in my small Toyota Corolla, by myself (While the kids were at a friends house and my hubby was at work). I came home with my car stuffed to the gills with two Trofast Shelves and an Expedit shelf. Then onto Menards I had no carpet in the toy room (we had used the foam letters for flooring) and wanted a cheap way of putting in carpet. I had heard of carpet tiles and found them at Menards. They were VERY easy to lay down.
After the carpet was laid and the shelves were put together we sorted the toys into three piles:
1. Give Away
2. Throw Away (criteria being if it is broken or missing pieces it is to be thrown away).
3. Keep
This process was not as painstaking as I expected. It was very invigorating. I felt like all the "junk" toys were gone. I can't stand clutter and I love DECLUTTERING. I then sorted all the toys that we were keeping into the bins (I did this myself so I had them exactly how I wanted them organized). Now instead of having the "baby toys" and the bigger kid toys separate they are all in one room. If there are toys that are not appropriate for the younger one, they put up higher, out of his reach. So far this has worked. And the end result......I think turned out great.
I took these pictures before I finished labeling and I plan to put some cute things on the walls to make it even more "kid-ish" Other than that, here are the before and after pictures:
After the toys were put in the places I wanted them, I took pictures of what was in the bins or on the shelves. I printed them out, mounted them on colorful construction paper and taped them to the outside of each bin or on each shelf. Now what is inside the bin is clearly pictured on the outside of the bin.
The kids are loving the toy room and BOTH of them actually put the toys where they need to go. I actually have to remind Noah that is OKAY for him and his brother to take the toys out and make a mess. Today playtime is much more fun for the kids, mom and dad are not going insane with all the toys laying around and we all know where they toys go. It makes for a much happier home all the way around!! Thanks for stopping in to check out the latest!
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