Organizing A Child's Bedroom

Do you have shadows in your home? I'm not writing about the shadows that are created by the sun streaming through your windows. The shadows I'm writing about are the ones that linger longer than they should creating feelings of unrest (well for me they do). One such shadow in my home has been my children's bedrooms. I was ok simply shutting the doors and slowly chipping away at the cleaning. However, shutting those doors also meant I was keeping the younger siblings out of their rooms because (if we're honest) the space was not safe for littles to explore. So, it was time for a change.

Do you have children that want to keep everything? You know, the ones that see something you've thrown away and say "mom, this isn't trash I want to keep this" and then proceed to take it back out of the trash. Or how about the ones that are sentimental and want to keep random candy wrappers or every shell found from your beach trips? These are my older children. They very innocently collected these things which increased the "shadows" in their rooms. I'm all for keeping treasures for memory sake but they just had too much! Their rooms were no longer enjoyable to play in. With two younger children sharing these bedrooms; it became impossible to keep little hands from the older children's "specials things". This is my home and I needed to change the atmosphere.

Before

It took an entire week to work through each bedroom but I've now claimed them back and I'm doing my best to shine a light in those dark places. I know this will be something I need to continually revisit with my children. They ultimately need to have ownership in this as members of our household! Do you struggle with this in your home? Do you need some inspiration? Below I have compiled a list of ideas that supported us in the endeavor. Please leave a comment and share your ideas too!!!

After

Maintaining A Clean Child's Bedroom:

1) Rotate Toys: Contain groups of toys in large bins and rotate through them once a week or as you're able. I would recommend clear containers, so you can easily find a requested item. I only use this rotation process with the toys that my two and three year old explore. See more here on my post: Toy Rotation

2) 1 Minute Clean-up: Right before bedtime spend 1 minute quickly picking up items together! I'm always surprised at how much we get picked up! 

3) Be In Control: Do your best to know what is being brought into the bedrooms from school and family adventures. Despite my best efforts; I still find things like tools that belong in the garage, Sharpe markers, candy, etc.  

4) Create An Art Folder: For those special and unique pieces of work; designate a folder for each child. This is our little secret...I throw away ALOT of art work!!! I love my children's creativity but if I kept everything, we would need to rent a storage unit just for their creations! As they each start school, they'll have one crate with a folder for each year (I'm hoping one crate is enough to get us through to their senior years). Are work can also become beautiful pieces for special cards and thank you notes!

5) Use Containers and Baskets: I am a collector of baskets and containers. You can use them often for creating boundaries during certain activities and containing similar toys on shelves. In addition, utilize containers to help the older children keep their items organized. These containers work well for all those souvenirs and memories they just can't part with. More Tips: I use a lot of ziplock bags too!!

Shoe Closet Organizer Turned Treasure Holder

8) Create A Safe Space: It is so hard keeping a 2 and 3 year old from exploring a 7 and 9 year old's special things. Things like Lego structures and lip gloss need a safe place to be stored. We have designated the closets for the big kids as their safe place. Here are some items we have provided: * clear containers with lids that little hands can't open * hanging closet organizers * extra shelving up high (already available when we bought the house) * collapsible drawer organizers from Ikea  ***Seriously my kids were so excited to receive new containers for organizing! So, it became a perfect incentive to encourage them in this cleaning process!!!***

7) Delegate: I feel like this is the most important tip of all! Bringing your children on board to support this process will be key to its success. See Kids and Cleaning for more ideas on that!!!

Will you be taking on this challenge? I wanted the children's rooms to be utilized, comfortable and organized! Do you have a vision for your child's playroom or bedroom? Maybe pick some goals and work on just a couple at a time. In the end, may you feel confident in creating a space that works well for your family and have a fabulous time enjoying the space together.

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