Sunday, October 17, 2010

Max "Cleaned-up" His Room

Last weekend I told Max that we could decorate his room for Halloween IF he cleaned it up first. He disappeared and returned about 20 minutes later to tell me that he was finished cleaning his room. This is what I found:





After taking a closer look at his room, I realized that this job was going to take more than 20 minutes and an eager 5 year old. Although it didn't look "that bad", under the surface it was an unorganized mess. Since Lily's arrival I haven't had a lot of time to focus on maintaining the organization in Max's room and I decided to jump in head first.

First, I had Max try on all of the clothes in his closet and we packed up the ones that were too little. We ended up with two bags full of clothes to pass on to Cruz. Bittersweet.

We finished the closet, but decided to wait until this weekend to tackle the bookshelf.



Today I decided I needed to finish what we had started. Here is what I faced:


We sorted the toys into categories and placed them in their appropriate baskets. Then came the fun part...

In an attempt to create an effective organization system (and use a little chalkboard paint) I made these wooden chalkboard labels for Max's baskets.

I started with a can of chalkboard paint and some wooden slats from AC Moore ($2.19 for a pack of 6). I sprayed the slats and drilled holes on each side.


I then "conditioned" the mini chalkboards using these directions from e-how: Condition your chalkboard surface. Rub over the entire chalkboard surface with chalk. Using a felt cloth, wipe off the chalk you just applied. Then use a slightly damp cloth to wipe the chalkboard clean.

Next, I cut pieces of twine (approximately 6 inches each) and used them to fasten the chalkboard plates to the baskets.






I love how they turned out. It is such a simple and inexpensive way to add personality to your organization. Max loved them too...we plan to draw on the labels as well to help him remember what is in each basket.




Please leave me a comment if you plan to use this idea in your home. I would love to see pictures and share them here on my blog!

3 comments:

  1. Looks GREAT...send some of that motivation this way PLEASE!!

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  2. Great Job. I think the white trunk looks better in the closet. I wish my son had as few toys as yours. His buckets are bursting at the seems.

    He gets too attached to his toys. It's such a task to do the annual clothes try-on. I put if off as long as I can and than we take about a day to do it.

    This year I had a bag of almost unworn size 10 TCP & Gap Jeans. Now they are sitting in my guest room waiting to go on ebay.

    I love the blue bookcase and the map wall.

    Stopping by from Sugar Bee.

    Janet

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  3. I like the white trunk in the closet too. It holds all of my son's larger toys. I do try to keep the toys to a minimum. I store his arts and crafts in the kitchen and we also have a "toy closet" under the stairs. I refinished the blue bookshelf myself and plan to share more about the process in the near future. Thanks for stopping by!

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